The Time Meddler Guest Post: Mediaeval Clothing

By Eazal

My Doctor Who watchmate, Eazal, is an afficionado of mediaeval clothing and expends considerable time into recreating and wearing clothing from various periods. She had very strong opinions on the props and clothing in The Time Meddler and has graciously shared her expertise in this guest post.

Clothing in The Time Meddler

I know fiction is fiction, Doctor Who is not a History documentary, The Time Meddler is not supposed to be an authentic portrayal of Middle Ages in Yorkshire, and that TV in the 1960’s was not all about accuracy. I get all that, yet I was expecting something more from BBC, call me a fool.

Costume accuracy is usually put aside in most TV shows and movies, sometimes intentionally, sometimes because there is no money for proper consulting, but most of the times is because no one is really bothered about it, and basically thinks… who cares? Guess what, I do. And it is a pity, because doing things wrong takes as much effort, time and money as doing them right. It takes very little to have the sort of costume accuracy that fits any fiction.

When the Doctor and companions arrive at their destination at the beginning of The Time Meddler, they find a helmet with two horns. The Doctor uses this as evidence that they’re in the past – after all, it’s a Viking helmet! We all wished it were a Viking helmet. There is no evidence (now or in 1960’s) that horned helmets were used by Vikings other than maybe some rituals. But popular culture is powerful, so horns we have.

Shortly after, the Doctor meets some villagers, and what do we get? Perfectly neat and clean loose hair in women. This happens all the time, mainly because the audience is more comfortable with a modern haircut. In fact, for a very long period of time there were only two kind of women who would leave their hair loose: little girls and prostitutes. Really? Really. And Edith didn’t seem to belong to either group. A working woman would have her hair tied, and also covered (veil, cloth). Think about it. Have you ever seen any woman doing physical labour (working the land, washing clothes, cooking, sewing…) while her hair falls in on her eyes so she can’t see? I haven’t.

And what about Edith’s clothing? There are so many things that are wrong: she is only wearing a tunic with no chemise (a lighter piece of cloth that would be used also to sleep); her tunic covers only up to her knees when it should be down to her ankles; she’s wearing sandals with some very fashionable laces around her legs (as a working woman she should have some more solid footwear and her legs covered with some kind of cloth to keep her both warm and safe from any wound); her hair would be covered and tied as said before. At least Edith’s arms are covered, one of her female friends has bare upper arms and equally bare legs.

Many tend to think modern viewers would not tolerate an accurate look, because it is “ugly” from our present point of view: layers and layers of clothes can not compete with a sexy look, or the idea we have now of what is beautiful or comfortable (how many times have you heard how uncomfortable corsets are? As someone who has worn corsets from different periods the answer is: They are not). We judge clothing with our present standards and that is why producers usually try to make us feel more comfortable by using concepts we are familiar with, specially with women. So the next time you think about how Middle Ages women dressed, remember this: nuns look like women in Middle Ages looked like, not the other way round, and “ugly” is not a thing.