RTD Explains Why Tennant Didn’t Wear Whittaker’s Costume Post-Regeneration
Speaking in issue 584 of Doctor Who Magazine (out now), Davies has now explained his reasons: “I was very certain that I didn’t want David to appear in Jodie’s costume. I think the notion of men dressing in ‘women’s clothes’, the notion of drag, is very delicate. I’m a huge fan of that culture and the dignity of that, it’s truly a valuable thing. But it has to be done with immense thought and respect.”
He continued: “With respect to Jodie and her Doctor, I think it can look like mockery when a straight man wears her clothes. To put a great big six-foot Scotsman into them looks like we’re taking the mickey.
“Also, I guarantee you it’s the only photograph some of the papers would print for the rest of time. If they can play with gender in a sarcastic or critical way, they will.
He added: “We could have the Doctor dressed as a knight, or dressed as God, or dressed as William Hartnell, and the only photo they’d print would be of David in what they considered to be women’s clothes. Then it becomes weaponised — as a mockery of feminine traits, a mockery of drag, of that culture. So that was never going to happen.
“Knowing that David was coming in, I was absolutely certain that the clothes would regenerate. Nothing would’ve changed my mind.”
