Board Thread:The Reference Desk/@comment-6511852-20130302022313/@comment-188432-20130303185339

Different eras of the programme handle the issue differently. Welcome to Doctor Who.

During the Hartnell era, it was generally observed that everyone, including the Doctor, would make some sort of effort to blend in to local clothing customs. You'll find exceptions of course, but generally people played dress-up.

This often occurred in the Troughton era too, with Two frequently trying to blend in, particularly during season 4 and to some extent in 5.

Doctors after that often didn't actually fit the customs of modern day Earth, anyway, so there was a sense in which their standard dress was somewhat timeless.

I think it's mainly down to what a particular writer wants to stress. It's a good gag — once — to have modern day dress remarked upon by people from the past, but there's probably not much enthusiasm thereafter. That's why you'll occasionally hear about a stranger's "peculiar dress", but not always, even from the same writer. Why does RTD insist in the script for Rose that Nine be seen in historical dress in the photos in Clive's shed, but then allow Gatiss' apparently contradictory line at the top of The Unquiet Dead? Why does RTD have Ten crave Queen Vic's indulgence of "the naked child" but not excuse his own unkempt appearance?

A reason it might not be so prominent nowadays is the effect of the psychic paper. Think about The Idiot's Lantern where Ten flashes it to a policeman and the cop mistakes him for royalty. I think the paper makes the person "see what they want to see" and therefore imagine a different appearance for the Doctor's clothes.

Course that doesn't apply to those who haven't seen the psychic paper, and it's speculation. But I do think we're meant to believe that the psychic paper does more than just present credentials but also an "acceptable aura" around the holder.

At the very lease, we can say without speculation that it removes the need for disguises since it's more credible than a disguise.