10 Unnecessary Doctor Who Details You Need To Know

The Doctor Who: Lockdown! tweetalongs were a great opportunity for fans to discover some new facts about their favourite show.

Case in point: the Vincent and the Doctor tweetalong of March 2020, which featured live commentary from various individuals involved with the episode’s production, including the one and only Bill Nighy!

Unsurprisingly, Nighy didn’t have a great deal to say. His character, Dr. Black, is only in the episode for about five minutes! But the one bit of insight he did give – about Black’s bow tie – was golden.

“It said in the script ‘he wears a bow tie’", Nighy recalled. "The designer asked me ‘what kind?’ I said ‘how about navy polka dot?’”

The only problem here was that finding a navy polka dot bow tie was easier said than done. In fact, the brief proved so difficult to fulfil that the costume team had to make the bow tie themselves, from scratch. This meant sewing on each of the polka dots individually, one by one. Can you imagine the patience required?!

The end result was a completely bespoke bit of neckwear – fitting for a character as trendy as Dr. Black, and an actor as accomplished as Bill Nighy.

You might even call it modern art.