A Knotty Question - The 2nd Doctors Costume.

Patrick Troughton in  episode 3 of The Wheel in Space

This is a post that I have been meaning to do for quite sometime, but has always been bumped in favour of other information and research that has come my way. Now, following on from the hankie, I want to look at another iconic piece of the 2nd Doctor's costume and one that I think is always taken for granted or overlooked. So, at long last, and prompted by a recent purchase, its an in-depth look look at...
The bow tie.

The bow tie is quite an iconic signature part of the the 2nd Doctor's 'Cosmic Hobo' costume. Hanging there on the shirt, by just a safety pin (who came up with that... its genius). Now its curious, but In every medium, whether its, books, comics, toys, fan artwork, figures or Toby Jugs(!), whenever the 2nd Doctor is portrayed, the bow-tie always depicted when representing his costume is dark blue with white spots. Ah, but whats wrong with that I hear you say, that's the bow tie he always wore. Well, actually no it isn't... would it surprise you to know that this incarnation of our favourite Time Lord sported several bow ties and each with different designs? Not only that, but the variant commonly associated with Troughton's Doctor, was only worn in 5 of his original run 21 stories! Now, this begs the question as to why is it that a bow tie worn in just a handful of stories, is the 'go to' design when depicting the 2nd Doctors costume? I have my own theory as to why, but before I go into that, let's have a look at all the bow ties worn by the 2nd Doctor during 1966-69. Here we will also discover how many he had and which design was actually worn the most during his era. So without further ado, lets have the rundown...

BOW TIE 1

The Plaid Tie

Worn in Season 4

Stories = The Power Of The Daleks  - The Highlanders 

From colour photos taken during Power of The Daleks & The Highlanders, we can see that this bow tie is royal blue and black plaid with a white spot at each intersection. Its a fairly firm bow-tie that holds its shape well. There's a medium knot with medium sized, curved bows. Note, that even though worn in The Highlanders, is was only seen for the location filming of episode 1... more on that later!

Publicity photos of Patrick Troughton taken during the filming of The Power of the Daleks

BOW TIE 2

The Paisley Tie

Worn in Seasons 4,5 & 6

Stories = The Highlanders (studio) - The Mind Robber

Sadly, there is only one set of colour photos of this Bowtie. These were taken for publicity purposes during the filming of The Ice Warriors, one of which was 1st used for a front cover of The Radio Times. Luckily we can see the detail, which helps match it up with many of the black and white images and photos taken over the years. (I have tried to get it as sharp as possible for you to see above) It is blue, with red paisley shapes and splashes of yellow within the red paisley shape. It has a long/wide knot. This pattern matches black & white publicity photos and screen images from all of the above stories, plus the 5000 year diary and 2nd Doctor hat publicity photos and I would suspect, the photo taken for the title sequence, though I would like clarification on that.. A section of photos from those stories are presented below, as well as the one from The Wheel in Space above.

The paisley Bow-tie as worn in The Ice Warriors, Fury from The Deep & The Web of Fear

This is the smallest bow tie and, probably due to the fabric used, the one that became the most crumpled and scruffiest as time went on. To my mind this version seems not to be made from a pre-tied bow tie, unlike the others, but from a strip of material or from a self-tie bowtie sewn together. This can be seen in detail from the Telesnap taken during studio filming of episode 1 of The Highlanders below.

Here the loop of folded material and distinctive long knot can be clearly seen that marks it out from the others, and is recognisable even in the most grainiest of photos or screen grabs. At this point the bow tie, being new, still has a good shape to it. 

BOW TIE 3

The Spotty tie

Worn in season 6

Stories = The Invasion - The War Games

..and here we are. This is the version most associated with the 2nd Doctors Costume, but annoyingly there are no clear, colour photographs of it... so far!  From what we can see this one is either Black or Dark (Navy?) Blue with light, possible white spots. These spots run in a straight grid of 3 across the width and 4 across. The bows are quite narrow and unlike its predecessor, it keeps its shape well over the months.  Strangely as the Doctor's appearance grew even scruffier during the tail end of his last season, this version sticks out against that look, as it is the stiffest and smarter looking of the bow ties worn.

As seen in Season 6 - (from Left to right) The Krotons, The Invasion & The War Games

So, there you have it, the full set of bow ties that Troughton worn during his original run of 21 stories, however (ha, there's always an however isn't there?) there is evidence that points to another bow tie being worn. To look at this we need to jump back to the very early days of the 2nd Doctors reign...

BOW TIE 4

The Diamond tie

Worn for the 1967 The Annual photo- shoot

Stories = ???

This is a fatter dark blue bow tie  with red bumpy diamonds shapes and yellow centers. Evidence of this being worn can be seen in 1967 Dr Who Annual only... until 2019. In that year, Doctor Who Magazine, dedicated its March issue (no. 541) to the Director Christopher Barry, publishing unseen photos from his private collection during his time on Doctor Who. The front cover used one of those photos of Troughton wearing the 'publicity tie' only previously seen in the annual. Luckily for us, the design can bee seen in great detail and is certainly the same one in the annual photos. However this throws up a few questions.
1). Why would there be a separate bow tie for publicity purposes
and
2). Why would Barry, a Director have a publicity photos in his collection? Surely a different department at the BBC would be the ones taking and therefore storing the photos?

As seen in the Doctor Who Annual 1967 and more recently (middle photo ) on the front cover of DWM

The answer is perhaps a very simple one, there wasnt a publicity bow tie, there were in-fact two different bow ties worn by Troughton during filming of The Power of The Daleks and that is why it is in Barry's collection. If this is so, why were there two worn?

Well, lets look at the filming dates to help solve the mystery shall we? All studio recordings for Power were taped in Riverside 1 every Saturday from 22nd October to 26th November 1966 (returning on 21st to film the new ending with Jamie entering the TARDIS). Location filming for episode 1 of The Highlanders took place on 14th and 15th November 1966 at Frensham Ponds. Which means that the location filming took place during the week of rehearsing Power of The Daleks episode 5. This type of scheduling was common practice in the early days of the series. Therefore, the same bowtie worn in The Power of the Daleks up to that point, can clearly be seen in publicity photos taken during the location filming of The Highlanders.

Publicity photos taken on location during filming of episode 1 of The Highlanders

Now lets look at the telesnaps of Episodes 5 & 6 of The Power of The Daleks. Here The Doctor has his bow tie on (of course), but it does look a different shape. It is certainly fatter than in earlier episodes. So why is there a different bow tie worn at the tail end of one story. My guess is that perhaps it was likely that a replacement was necessary because the original was lost after, or during, location filming. Quick somebody go down to Frensham Ponds and do a bit of digging.. you may unearth an original piece of the 2nd Doctors costume in the mud!

A selection of Telesnaps of episodes 5 & 6 of  The Power Of The Daleks

I have to thank Si Hodges for pointing out the possibility of a different bowtie being used in episodes 5 & 6 of The Power of The Daleks, as this originally had escaped my attention. To be honest, until he mentioned it, i just thought that a spare was used for publicity purposes, but now that I think about it, that didn't really make sense at all. A replacement bow tie does. Thankfully another photo of it appeared again on the front cover of DWM 541 and helped me link the information together. Of course the exact bowtie worn in those episodes is pure speculation, so until further proof is presented I don't offer it as fact, but with a bit of further research, or forgotten photos resurfacing, who knows? If it was indeed used in those episodes  it could also place the time frame of when the Dr Who Annual publicity photos were taken. But what about continuity I hear some cry... Well, let us not forget, back in 1966, no one would have thought that these episodes would ever be seen again, let alone scrutinized over by the likes of myself and others. Lets face it, if the production company wasn't bothered about a swap of actress playing a character during the run of The Macra Terror later, a change of bow tie wouldn't have been a major problem for them.

Dr Who as seen in TV Comic

Interestingly, this variant of bow tie was briefly referenced for a time, during the early colour TV Doctor Who comic strips. The Artist John Canning must have been handed the Annual publicity photographs, because the bow tie he illustrated was blue with red spots, a sort of mashup on the 1st two bow ties Troughton wore. (see picture opposite)

So, there we have it, 3, possibly 4, different designs of bow tie worn by the 2nd Doctor. If we tot up the screen appearances, the one he wore over most stories by a country mile as the saying goes, (and my personal favourite) was bow tie No 2 - The paisley one. This was as worn in a total of 14 consecutive stories or 81 episodes and appearing in each of Troughton's three seasons. All very different when you compare it to the 11th Doctor, who wore a different bowtie per story!

If you want to have a closer look yourself of all the bow ties worn in every story, then head over to the official BBC Doctor Who website. http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/photonovels/power/
You will be able to access all the telesnaps taken to compare and contrast. Be warned... you will probably need a magnifying glass if you are looking on your phone!

OK, that's it then, bow ties all sorted, nothing else to add, but here's a question for you, ... if the blue, red & yellow paisley bowtie is the one worn the most, why is it that bow tie 3 (the spotty one) is the 'go to' design when depicting the 2nd Doctor's costume? Odd isn't it? Well, after a bit of head scratching I think I've settled on an answer. To my mind it comes down to several reasons, missing episodes, clear and available publicity photos etc, but I actually think it all stems from when Troughton had stopped officially playing The Doctor. Which brings me neatly onto part 2 of this post...

TIES WITH TARGET

During Trougton's time on the show there was not the wealth of tv tie-ins produced that there is toda. So other than The Radio Times or the World Distribution Annuals, images of him in character were scarce not helped by the actors reluctance to promote the show. There was next to little merchandise with the 2nd Doctors image on. However, in 1973 all that changed...

With 3 years of Doctor Who under his belt, Jon Pertwee was riding high with his portrayal of the Timelord. The show was hugely popular and there was a wealth of merchandise with Pertwee's image blazened upon them. The 3rd Doctor was everywhere. He could be seen in or on, comics, annuals,  jigsaws, chocolate bars, jellies and of course books! Target books acquired the rights to publish novelisations of his and other Doctor's TV stories in 1973. These books, as we now know, were hugely popular. they were the 1st mass produced pieces of merchandise that finally put the 2nd Doctor's image squarely on show and firmly back in the mind of the general public.

The Abominable Snowmen, The Cybermen, and The Three Doctors respectively, were the 1st books published that featured the 2nd Doctor on the cover. Aĺl the covers had one thing in common, the publicity photos used as reference by the artist Chris Achilleos were all taken from The Three Doctors and of course in those photos the bowtie is spotty, but it doesn't stop there... After a gap, The Web Fear was the next novelisation to see Troughton on the cover. However, since the 2nd Doctor's last appearance, the house style had changed slightly making The Web of Fear the 1st novel to illustrate the 2nd Doctor in colour. So, for this cover Achilleos took a bit of artistic licence with the bow tie and coloured it dark blue. That's quite understandable as in some photos, due to lighting and contrast, a black bow tie can appear to be blue. Even my own performs this trick when photographed! Again a reference photo taken from The Three Doctors was used. Ironically, as Si Hodges points out, it is a black & White photo! 

1st edition Target Covers featuring the 2nd Doctor - illustrated by Chris Achilleos

So, despite the paisley bow tie being worn in the majority of Troughton's stories It is my belief that The Three Doctors publicity photos used by Target for its range of books, help cement he blue bowtie with white spots as the design most associated with the 2nd Doctor's costume. This design, or variation of it, then continued when Troughton reprised the role in The Five Doctors and The Two Doctors.

So, there you have it, that's my theory... It's mainly down to the Target novels.

SPOT ON!

While it is true that The Three Doctors is spotty, very like the last original one Troughton wore in his final stories, It certainly isnt the same. That spotted bow tie is different from bow tie 3 as the white dots are set diagonally, not in a straight grid. I have to admit, it did take me a while to reailse myself that they were not quite the same style.

Compare the dots! - The original spotty bowtie as seen in The Krotons (left). The Three Doctors spotty bow tie from The Radio Times photo-shoot (right) and the two versions from my own collection.

...and staying with my collection, a slight indulgence now as I showcase the three I currently have, both in colour and in Black and White. I thought it might be a bit of fun when comparing them against the originals seen in the TV series. Note that the 3rd one looks blue in the photo, but in 'real life' it is a light black that does look dark blue in some lights. As yet, the red Diamond version has escaped me, but in truth, its not something I am burning to find for some reason. That said, if I find it I will of course add it to my collection, along with any closer matches to the 1st and 2nd bow ties.

The three bow ties from my own collection both in colour & glorious black & white!

Now, I'm not claiming that the 1st two are a 100% exact screen match, but each one, including The Three Doctors version are genuine bow ties form the same era. The only exception is The 1st one, though vintage, it was made from using the material of a necktie. As mentioned in a previous blog, its the rule I always use in hunting for all my 2nd Dr costume pieces.  For those interested bow tie 3 is the latest addition to my collection.

As always, thank you for reading. I you have anything to add, on any of my posts, please feel free to do so in the section below, especially if there is something that you want me to look at in a future. My next blog, already in the planning stage, will once again feature another dip into the 2nd Doctors costume... Ooh, now there's a clue for you all! ☺️

Until next time.

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