We could argue until the end of time about which Doctor Who lead actor is the definitive greatest and still not come out with an answer. However, that's not what we're here to decide. We're here to elect the most stylish Doctor, from a group of twelve men who care not for the whims of fashion. These are men who forge their own sartorial path, sometimes inadvisably...
N.B. We're only counting official Doctors here, so no complaining about a lack of Peter Cushing or John Hurt. But feel free to argue with our choices.
Also, see our list of the Best Dr Who Doctor
(Images: AllStar, BBC)
12 - Colin Baker
Just awful. That jacket is where all your mum’s old table cloths went to die and there’s an air of the Child Catcher about him.
11 - Sylvester McCoy
A bit over-enthusiastic on his question-marks motif. Teamed with a paisley tie, two different kinds of tartan and a silly hat, he looks simultaneously like The Riddler’s daffy uncle and that man you pray won’t sit next to you on the bus.
10 - Patrick Troughton
Nothing fits and nothing goes with anything else. He looks like a visitor to a Doctor Who convention who only thought to put together his outfit four minutes before leaving the house.
9 - Paul McGann
Hogwarts supply teacher.
8 - Christopher Eccleston
He doesn’t look in any way absurd, certainly not by the standards of most of the other Doctors Who, but are you really allowed to wear a double-breasted leather jacket and a V-neck jumper (without shirt) if you’re anyone other than Eastenders'' new market stall owner with a shady past?
7 - Jon Pertwee
His New Romantic shirts with the titanic collars would have looked a bit overly louche even in the early 70s and his whole wardrobe was finicky and costumey – even more so than almost every other Doctor. Pertwee had the gravitas to get away with it, but that doesn’t mean he looked in any way enviable.
6 - Peter Davison
Not bad, but not very distinctive. You probably wouldn’t even think he looked especially strange if you passed him in a country village. He looks like the rakish teacher at a very posh school who always smelled slightly of gin.
5 - David Tennant
As a look, it’s quite ‘student formal’. A suit, but in need of pressing and worn with Converse. Points have to be given for making an effort, but points are immediately retracted for one thing: A four-button suit. Never acceptable.
4 - William Hartnell
He was the first Doctor and the oldest actor to play him, and you need that age to be able to properly do elegant eccentricity. The wing collars and cravats are a bit prissy but it’s all put together well and the fact he doesn’t appear to give a monkey’s about what he’s wearing makes it somehow stylish.
3 - Peter Capaldi
He might well place higher once he’s been seen in action, but it seems unfair to bump him up the list based on a single image. However, the jacket, cardigan (?) and trousers all match and that red lining is a bit dandy-ish. Shoes also practical for galumphing over alien planets. That shirt collar is mental, but he’s a timelord. You’ve got to be a bit eccentric.
2 - Matt Smith
Does Matt Smith’s Doctor dress like a normal person or did normal people start dressing like Matt Smith’s Doctor? Because nothing in his look, from the bow tie to the watch chain to that natty frock coat, would look out of place in east London. This Doctor looks sharp. As long as he ditches the fez.
1 - Tom Baker
With good tailoring, like Smith or Capaldi, just about anyone can look good, but it takes a very stylish man to make big hats, bigger scarves and elbow patches work. Tom Baker did it. He had hair that could blot out several suns and a wardrobe that if broken down to its individual elements isn’t obviously slick, but Baker carries it all off. Even though his outfit is very identifiably of the 1970s Baker could make it look good today.
