Doctor Who: 20 Things You Didn't Know About The Ninth Doctor

19. Eccleston Didn't Want His Costume To Be Too Eccentric

Doctor Who Ninth Doctor
BBC

Sporting a simple leather jacket and dark top, the Ninth Doctor's outfit is a much more toned-down look compared to the costumes worn by his past and future incarnations.

There are no scarves, bow ties, long coats, braces, or umbrellas in sight, and not a single stick of celery. In fact the flamboyancy level is pretty much zero, and this decision to go with a more grounded and accessible Doctor was undoubtedly the right one for the show's modern reboot.

It's also something that Eccleston supported and pushed for, with the actor stating that he didn't want his costume to dominate his performance, and that he wanted any "flamboyance and colour" to stem purely from his acting. He added:

"I think it's quite a big performance already, so I think if I was wearing a 'big' costume as well I'd need a circus tent!"

That'll be a "no" for the technicolour coat then, eh Chris?

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!