Seventh Doctor - Personality - Appearance and Personality Quirks

Appearance and Personality Quirks

The Doctor's outfit in this incarnation was calmer than his previous attire, but as idiosyncratic as any other. It consisted of an off-white safari-styled jacket with a red paisley scarf worn under its lapels and a matching handkerchief in the left pocket, a fob watch chained to the left lapel, a plain white shirt, a red paisley tie, a yellow fair isle-inspired pullover adorned with red question marks and blue-green zigzag patterns, sand-coloured tweed plaid trousers, white/brown brogued spectator shoes, a white colonial-styled Panama hat with a paisley hatband and an upturned brim and an umbrella with a red question mark-shaped handle. As with the three other Doctors costumed during the John Nathan-Turner era, the above mentioned question marks on the Doctor's pullover and his umbrella handle continued the red question marked clothing motif that was introduced in the Fourth Doctor's final season and ended before the Seventh Doctor's regeneration.

Although a seemingly casual outfit that reflected the Seventh Doctor's initially easy and whimsical manner, it took on a new light when he became more scheming and prepared in his missions – to reflect the emergence of his personality's more mysterious and darker aspects, his jacket, hatband, handkerchief, scarf and tie became more muted and darker in colour, now in shades of burgundy and brown. In the New Adventures novels, images of the Doctor on the covers usually omitted the pullover and eventually depicted him in a cream single breasted suit. On a DVD featurette ("Light In Dark Places") for Ghost Light, when drawing attention to the stylistic choice of performing in most of the serial without his hat and umbrella, Sylvester McCoy expresses some disdain for the garment, feeling it detracts somewhat from the mood of the story. The changes in colours make the Seventh the only Doctor under Nathan-Turner's tenure to greatly alter his costume; the changes to the outfits worn by his three previous selves during this production period tended to be more subtle and less noteworthy. The Seventh's own attire was repeatedly revised during his first season, initially including a red/black tartan scarf and red braces, along with the bamboo-handle umbrella.

In the TV Movie the Doctor's costume changed again, with a return to a lighter jacket, now a light brown tweed. Gone were the question mark pullover, scarves, paisley tie and question mark umbrella, replaced by a red waistcoat and a brown/black zig zag pattern tie. However, the Doctor retained his Panama hat.

The Doctor enjoyed using his hat, umbrella and the TARDIS key, amongst other items, as physical props, usually as showy affectations or to command attention, while the umbrella could also be used to disarm and trip foes (Paradise Towers, Battlefield, Ghost Light, Survival). Like most of his previous selves, the Seventh carried any number of random items in his pockets, including technological devices and books (Dragonfire, Ghost Light). In a break from his past however, he spoke with a mild Scottish accent with rolled Rs, rather than in his past selves' Received Pronunciation speaking patterns.

This Doctor also displays strange and 'alien' characteristics playing with the perception of his senses, as he smells an apple and listens to cheese in Survival, and listens to an apple briefly in Delta and the Bannermen. He also displayed a talent for hypnosis on various occasions that appeared to be much stronger than in past incarnations (Battlefield). The Greatest Show in the Galaxy shows him to be a capable entertainer, performing a variety of well known magic tricks. In Ghost Light, he reveals his pet peeves to be burnt toast, bus stations, unrequited love, tyranny and cruelty.