When Jon Pertwee reincarnated into Tom Baker in 1974, the Fourth Doctor of the popular sci-fi show Doctor Who ditched the foppish look of velvet jackets and frilly shirts, and went for the “Romantic adventurer” style, with floppy felt hat, long overcoats and, most iconically, his multicolored scarf.
Fan legend has it that costume designer James Acheson picked up a load of multi-color wool and asked knitter Begonia Pope to create a scarf, and Pope, perhaps mishearing, used *all* the wool, resulting in a scarf that ran 12 feet long. The mistake was perfect, and suddenly many UK grandmothers were being asked by their grandchildren to recreate their hero’s look.
The above memo isn’t dated, but comes from sometime in the early ‘80s when the BBC sent detailed instructions to a fan’s mother on making the scarf. (Click here, then click again, to view the document in a larger format.) The colors include camel, rust, bronze, mustard, grey, green and purple and should be knitted with size four needles (that’s #9 US size). The requests must have come regularly, because a similar memo is reprinted from many years later to another fan’s family.
The original scarf only lasted a few episodes, then was altered, replaced, and subtly changed as the show went on. There were stunt scarves for stand-ins.
Come Season 18, costume designer June Hudson rethought the entire costume and streamlined the colors to three: rust, wine, and purple, to match the Doctor’s more swashbuckling look. It also became the longest scarf of the series, some 20 feet.
The following year, the Doctor reincarnated again into a cricket-jumper and striped trouser-wearing young blonde man. The Scarf Years were over.
For a very in-depth look at the scarves, including Pantone color references and wool brands, there is nothing better than DoctorWhoScarf.com. So, get knitting, Who-vians!
Related Content:
How Doctor Who First Started as a Family Educational TV Program (1963)
The Fascinating Story of How Delia Derbyshire Created the Original Doctor Who Theme
Ted Mills is a freelance writer on the arts who currently hosts the FunkZone Podcast. You can also follow him on Twitter at @tedmills, read his other arts writing at tedmills.com and/or watch his films here.
My amazing wife knitted me one for Christmas several years ago and she did it right under my nose, too. She would be knitting with her knitting bag on her lap right out in the open and I never realized what she was making until I opened my gift from her. I have worn it every winter ever since. It’s the most amazing gift she’s ever gotten me. I love it so much!
I used to knit these scarves for our PBS station’s fundraisers… I must have knitted twenty over the years…still have three including the maroon version. There’s a Doctor Who craft book with instructions. My mother knit me the Nyssa sweater! The book has many fun items… I also made the K‑9 purse…good times…
Thanks. You solved a mystery for me. I used no. 9 needles, and a friend used U.S. no. 4.
I made a long scarf, and she made a shorter one. I had no idea why, as we’d used the same pattern.
I love Dr Who and that scarf. Are there any more patterns?
Ask at public library.
Also search / Google for
dr who knitting patterns
Many years ago I got one of those scarves from PBS for my son for Christmas. He’s 45 now and still a fan. I’ve been watching Dr. Who since I was 13 and still never miss it, and I’m in my 70’s now.
I was one of 14 grandchildren of a knitting grandma. She made afghans for each us, but my older cousin Kurt absconded with my favorite, as was his right, being older and moving off to college sooner.
My grief was short-lived, however, as she worked on her concept of the scarf…no official pattern, just 11 feet of random…grandma colors: coral. Green. Pearlescent…everything. baby turd brown, you name it!!
I proudly wore it to debate tournaments in high school, to much acclaim, and then about the quads at university. And while I gratefully accepted (and still have) the blanket, pride of place is for the scarf, her unique, singular gift to me.