Design for Doctor Who by Britton & Piers D. University of Redlands & Southern California & USA

The long-running popular TV series *Doctor Who* is, Piers Britton argues, a 'uniquely design intensive text': its time-and-space-travel premise requires that designers be tirelessly imaginative in devising new worlds and entities and recreating past civilizations. While *Doctor Who*’s attempts at worldbuilding are notorious for being hit-and-miss – old jokes about wobbly walls and sink plungers die hard – the distinctiveness of the series’ design imagery is beyond question. And over the course of six decades *Doctor Who* has produced designs which are not only iconic but, in being repeatedly revisited and updated, have proven to be an ever-more important element in the series’ identity and mythos.In the first in-depth study of *Doctor Who*’s costumes, sets and graphics, Piers Britton offers an historical overview of both the original and the revived series, explores theoretical frameworks for evaluating *Doctor Who* design, and provides detailed analysis of key images. Case studies include the visual morphology of *Doctor Who*’s historical adventures, the evaluative character of cosplay, and the ongoing significance for the *Doctor Who* brand of such high-profile designs as the Daleks and the TARDIS interior, the ‘time-tunnel’ title sequence, and the costumes of the Fourth and Thirteenth Doctors.