The Magician’s Apprentice - publicity image released

Today the BBC released the first proper publicity still for the series nine opening adventure, The Magician’s Apprentice.

The Doctor’s sunglasses - positive ID!

It’s barely been 24 hours since the series nine teaser trailer was shown, and the Doctor Who cosplay community already has a positive ID on the sunglasses!

Several eagle-eyed forum members have found them to be Ray Ban’s original Wayfarers.

Ray-Ban RB2140 Original Wayfarer Sunglasses

Well that was easy - for once!

San Diego Comic Con 2015

Today has effectively been the launch of the series nine publicity machine.

Steven Moffat, Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and Michelle Gomez are all out in San Diego at the Comic Con to promote the series, and part of their presentation included the first tester trailer.

Flicks And The City have released a single-camera video of the entire panel - so if you weren’t there, this is a great way to catch up!



You’ll notice that the trailer screening at 17:50 is omitted from the video.

Luckily you can watch the full trailer on the BBC YouTube channel. Phew!



There are a couple of brief shots of The Doctor in action, showing he IS wearing the Label Lab t-shirts as part of the series nine wardrobe.

First we see the Negative Flower design.

Then we see the Misty Mountain version.

Finally we see his new sunglasses.

Bow ties are cool? No - THE DOCTOR is cool!

Paul Smith jumper - consigned to Room 101

One of my readers spotted this - thanks Thomas! - while watching an episode of Room 101 on the BBC.

Hosted by Frank Skinner, who appeared in Mummy On The Orient Express, guest celebrities get to put the things they hate into the fictional room 101 from George Orwell’s 1984.

This week the guests were Miles Jupp, Dragon’s Den investor Kelly Hoppen and quiz show presenter Vernon Kay - who was seen sporting a somewhat familiar jumper!

If you look closely you can see it is a salmon pink colour way of the holey Paul Smith jumper, favoured so much by the Twelfth Doctor.

Personally I wouldn't mind seeing that jumper thrown into room 101, never to be seen again.

Viewers in the UK can re-watch there episode on the BBC iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer - Room 101 (Extras Storage) Series 3: Episode 4

The Magician’s Apprentice - teaser images released

These things tend to creep up on you, but it’s only a few weeks until series nine hits our screens (working on the basis it will debut around the August Bank Holiday weekend).

Slowly the BBC publicity drive is creaking into action, with the announcement this week that Peter Capaldi, Jenna Colman and Steven Moffat will be at San Diego’s Comic Con - only a week or so away.

To publicise the announcement (i.e. publicise the publicity) Peter gave his first official interview about series nine to Entertainment Weekly.

Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi teases season 9: Exclusive first look | EW.com

Alongside the interview, they released the very first official publicity photo of the Twelfth Doctor in action.

And today the BBC released a second, very similar image via its YouTube channel, Doctor Who: The Fan Show.

It all looks very mood and mysterious.

Roll on series nine!

Off the cuff

Just a little something I’m working on right now.

The velvet underground

Anyone who’s spoken with me in person about the Twelve Doctor’s look will know that although I respect what the costume designer came up with, I was never truly taken with its overall appearance.
As series eight progressed I increasingly was uninspired by the dilution of the design and its unnecessary embellishments. There's Cosmic Hobo and there’s Space Tramp.

So it’s with some glee a friend sent me some candid pictures of today’s location filming for series nine.

Peter now sports a smarter look with a dress (Budd?) shirt and waistcoat.
But it's the coat that's finally got me excited. Although it appears to be the same cut at the series eight Crombie, it’s in an eye catching deep burgundy velvet.

I’ve read a lot already that it is very Pertwee in appearance - but I’m getting much more of a Pyramids Of Mars vibe!

This new look is coming quite late into the filming arc of the upcoming series, but I hope it's not just a one-off appearance.

Eitherway, I’m looking to my velvet suppliers already and how quickly they can deliver!

Wales Online - Report on Cardiff filming 10th June 2015

Ticket BREEZE - Radio Times Festival

Today I heard about a three day event being run by the Radio Times.

Radio Times Festival
24 - 27 September 2015

Taking place in the tranquil surrounding of Hampton Court Palace, the Radio Times Festival is the first such event and has attracted a Stella list of celebrities and powers that be to give a range of talks and seminars.

With the Radio Times' close association with Doctor Who down the years, it goes without saying there are two seminars of particular interest, both on the Friday of the event:

DOCTOR WHO - 2:30-3:30
Doctor Who holds a unique place in British popular culture. Here, the Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi, is joined by creative chief Steven Moffat and executive producer Brain Minchin to talk Time Lords, Daleks and Cybermen. Together, they will reveal the inner workings of the Whoniverse.

RUSSELL T DAVIES - 4:00-5:00
From busting social taboos with dramas such as Queer as Folk to inspiring the reboot of Doctor Who, Russell T Davies is one of Britain's most innovative screenwriters. Here he explains how he made the journey from Swansea schoolboy to one of the leading creative voices in television.

As a subscriber to the Radio Times, I get the chance to book my tickets early, so I went on the website; choose the two events; paid my money; got my email confirmation. That was painless.

Why can't all events with headline names like this be as easy to book?


UPDATE
An extra seminar has been added to the programme. I may as well book for this too!

THE SCIENTIFIC SECRETS OF DR WHO - 5:30-6:30
Join Simon Guerrier and Dr Marek Kukula, authors of The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who, as they explore the possibilities of time travel, life on other planets, artificial intelligence, parallel universes and more. Using clips from the acclaimed series, they will show how science has inspired Doctor Who, and how, on occasion, it has come remarkably close to predicting future discoveries.

Doctor Who Festival - cosplay comes of age?

Today the BBC announced a new official “convention” - they don’t like using that word, the 50th Anniversary event was a CELEBRATION and this year it’s called a FESTIVAL.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10am - so precious little notice as usual - expect the traditional ticket scramble.

I’m sure you have read all about it on the various news feeds and forums, where there are a plethora of opinions and speculation - which I have no intention of adding to.

But the things that’s catching my eye is the costume display - someone likely to be akin to what was set up at the 50th Celebration exactly two years prior to the Festival - and the Cosplay Showcase.

I’m hoping the Cosplay Showcase is the BBC finally taking the cosplay community seriously and not just using them as the geeks in silly costumes. Here’s hoping.

Capaldi coat - FINISHED!

With work on my tv commission occupying a lot of my time lately, I just haven’t had a chance to get any pictures posted of my finished crombie coat.

So for those who have been patiently waiting, here it is!

It’s a deceptively simple coat, with a few clever tricks up its sleeves (forgive the pun).


The notch on the lapels is surprisingly high, making for a very short collar.

Most of the outer seams are flat felted, which is easy to do though a little time consuming to execute.

I’m pretty please how the lining has come out. It’s been worth the effort in getting it woven.

I found the perfect genuine horn buttons to finish the coat off.



Let me know what you think.

I’m back - and it’s about time!

Sorry if the postings in my blog have been a bit erratic over the past few weeks, but I have been working flat out on a secret commission for a tv series to be shown later this year.

I’ve done a couple of small side jobs for tv late last year, but this has been the single largest job I have yet taken on.

It was intended to be just two to three weeks work on half a dozen costumes, but spiralled into over six weeks and nineteen garments - all with their own quirks and challenges.

Now it’s finally over I can get back to what I like doing most - making Doctor Who costumes and writing for my blogs!

Label Lab Misty Mountain - SOLD OUT!

It took less than a month, but all online stocks of the Misty Mountain t-shirt have already SOLD OUT!

In fact, the item has been totally removed from the House Of Fraser website, so aside from a few shirts hanging around in high street stores, it really is UNAVAILABLE!

If you missed out - or like to wear your Doctor Who costume subversively on a daily basis - there is an option left.

As well as putting the design on a lightweight t-shirt, House Of Fraser has a version on a sweatshirt with long sleeves and a thicker fabric.

For some reason its called Air Misty rather than Misty Mountain, but it is the same artwork.

House Of Fraser
Label Lab Air Misty crew neck sweatshirt

I know it’s not full-on “screen accurate” but I like that it’s a bit more wearable and it harks to the Capaldi costume.

Not being a big fan of short sleeve tops, I’m gonna grab one just for the fun of it.

Are you gonna do the same?

Stocks of this shirt are quite low across the board, so grab this while you can too!