{"id":5752,"date":"2021-10-14T15:52:28","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T13:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1389598"},"modified":"2021-10-14T16:33:10","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T14:33:10","slug":"doctor-who-reveals-dirty-filthy-warmonger-redesign-for-the-sontarans","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/doctor-who-reveals-dirty-filthy-warmonger-redesign-for-the-sontarans\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who reveals \u201cdirty, filthy warmonger\u201d redesign for the Sontarans"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Huw Fullerton\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 14 October 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The Sontarans are back! It\u2019s been confirmed that the warlike alien clone race will be returning for Doctor Who<\/a> series 13, where they\u2019ll face off with Jodie Whittaker\u2019s Doctor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the Sontarans, and I thought they were due a comeback,\u201d showrunner Chris Chibnall told Doctor Who Magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d had the idea about Jodie\u2019s Doctor going up against them for a long time \u2013 you might remember that she mentioned them in her online COVID\u00a0message last year. That was a little hint!<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll find that the Sontarans pose quite a threat in this series.\u00a0They\u2019re great villains. One of the episodes, in particular, is a massive Sontaran adventure.\u201d<\/p>

And this grand re-entry to the Whoniverse meant that the Sontarans were in for a redesign, with costume designer Ray Holman and prosthetics expert Danny Marie Elias working together to create the new look for the classic Who foes.<\/p>\n

Rather than the slicker modern design (below, which debuted in 2008 and has appeared sporadically since) Holman decided to go back to the classic look for the characters, as created by make-up designer Sandra Exelby and costume designer James Acheson in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spin we needed for Series 13 was to make them look more warfaring,\u201d Holman told DWM.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went right back to the classic Sontaran designs. I did research into what they used to look like, and thought it would be great to reference the various designs that have gone in the past.<\/p>\n

\""Sontaran"\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
The 2008 Sontaran design as seen in Doctor Who (BBC)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

\u201cThe 2008 Sontarans are gorgeous, but the scripts we\u2019re working with are about war and battlefields. These Sontarans should be down-and-dirty warmongers in the mud, conquering the universe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was either Chris or me who said they need to be dirty, filthy Sontarans. After that, they were always referred to as \u201cthe dirty, filthy Sontarans\u201d. Chris and I laughed about that, but it really helped inform the tone.\u201d<\/p>\n

This meant making their armour look like rusty, battered steel, developing a quilt-like undershirt (which also helped make the actors look more uniform and clone-like) and generally making them look a bit more rough and ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really interesting to see how they\u2019d morphed over time,\u201d prosthetics designer Elias said, \u201cfrom really being broken down and beaten up, and that classic shape and style, to later versions where their faces\u00a0became a lot more animated, with a lot more detail.<\/p>\n