A fez was a type of brimless hat in the shape of a flat-topped cone. Fezzes were made of felt and typically, but not always, had a single tassel attached to the centre of their flat tops. They were particularly popular in the Ottoman Empire and in Egypt.
Ibrahim Namin (TV: Pyramids of Mars) and Kemel (TV: The Evil of the Daleks) both wore fezzes.
When the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, and Zoe Heriot visited the Frenko Bazaar, the store We Sell Hats had a fez, which the Doctor admired. (COMIC: Bazaar Adventures) When they visited Alexandria, he almost purchased a fez from a vendor, but his companions opined that it was not his style and so he left it for "another time". (PROSE: The Anti-Hero)
The Seventh Doctor briefly donned a fez while searching through the basement of Windsor Castle, before passing it on to Ace (and also picked up a mop, for that matter). (TV: Silver Nemesis)
The Eighth Doctor wore a fez to a football game in 1977. He originally intended to land the TARDIS near the River Nile which was why he wore the fez in the first place. The Doctor lost the fez soon after the police began to chase him from the stadium. (COMIC: Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game)
Whilst in his eleventh incarnation, the Doctor took a fez from an exhibit in the museum where the Pandorica was and wore it as he leapt back and forth through time. When River Song queried this by asking, "What in the name of sanity have you got on your head?" he answered, "It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool", much as he did when defending his bow tie. River Song and Amy Pond promptly destroyed it, before continuing to reboot the universe. Later, he noted that he was missing his fez, but concluded that he could buy a new one. (TV: The Big Bang) This led to a particularly unusual obsession in trying to acquire a fez to wear.
When the Eleventh Doctor dropped his fez over the TARDIS' controls, it resulted in the fez' original owner, Albert Einstein, materialising via a time window. (TV: Death Is the Only Answer)
While taking Abigail Pettigrew out one Christmas Eve, the Eleventh Doctor and Kazran Sardick donned fezzes. (TV: A Christmas Carol)
The Eleventh Doctor wore a fez again while spending a two-day brooding session in the TARDIS after being accused of crimes against the Overcast. (COMIC: Pull to Open)
The Eleventh Doctor considered sporting a fez when he, Amy and Rory visited Nevada in 1861. However, Amy and Rory insisted against it, so the Doctor wore a Stetson instead. (PROSE: The Good, the Bad and the Alien)
When a version of Rory from the future appeared, the Eleventh Doctor used a fez taken from the TARDIS storeroom to differentiate him from the present Rory. (PROSE: Touched by an Angel)
The Eleventh Doctor claimed he looked good in a fez. (PROSE: The Way Through the Woods)
The Eleventh Doctor wore a fez while dancing in a Laurel & Hardy film. He later requested a fez while in the White House. His request was ignored. Later, he blamed his inability to do the work assigned to him as well as he had promised on his lack of a fez. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut)
Rory later mentioned to an older version of Amy that the glasses he had to wear were better than a fez. (TV: The Girl Who Waited)
In 2013, the Eleventh Doctor, while picking a new outfit, briefly donned a fez, although he quickly took it off. Soon afterwards, he used it to collect tips from people at the South Bank of London who were impressed with the TARDIS materialising. He then gave the fez to a young boy. (TV: The Bells of Saint John) He owned four fezzes in the TARDIS, although he said he couldn't wear those because they were "presents from Tommy". (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor)
In 1923, the Eleventh Doctor wore a fez trying to stop Miraclo taking a rabbit out of a hat. (COMIC: The Hat Trick)
In 1930, the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald went to Baghdad to visit Omar, the best fez-maker in all of Mutter's Spiral to replace his previous fez, which was eaten by a slime-frog on the Third Moon of Puggo. (COMIC: A Wing and a Prayer)
One piece of art deemed "unfit for public consumption" by the crowned heads of England was a fez, and it was placed in the National Museum's Under Gallery as a result. When the Eleventh Doctor and Clara visited, the Doctor was excited to see the fez, much to Clara's bemusement and stole it, and later used it to test the safety of time fissures opened onto his personal time stream. As a result, the fez was brief handled by the War Doctor and the Tenth Doctor before being confiscated by Queen Elizabeth I's guards in 1562. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
During a visit with the Eleventh Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith tried on his fez. The Doctor asked her to give the fez to Clyde. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Horror of Coal Hill)
Upon receiving a delivery from Kerb!am inside the TARDIS, the Thirteenth Doctor was pleased to see that she had ordered a fez, although she believed she had ordered “ages ago” due to not remembering doing it. The Doctor briefly wondered whether she still fitted the look, while Graham O'Brien sarcastically stated she looked “nice” in it. (TV: Kerblam!)
Behind the scenes
- Head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat said [source needed] that Eleventh Doctor actor Matt Smith grew fond of the fez worn by the Doctor in the series 5 finale The Big Bang, so they had to destroy it to stop him from insisting on wearing it for the next series. Matt Smith had also once said [source needed] that he hoped the Eleventh Doctor costume would evolve to include a hat.
- Following the airing of The Big Bang, Doctor Who Adventures started running "top five" lists, with the #1 item being awarded the "Golden Fez".
- The series 5 episode guides in The Brilliant Book 2011 feature items which relate to each episode. A fez is featured on the page for The Big Bang.
- The fez worn in The Big Bang appears to be lacking a tassel.
- Among the hats that can be collected in GAME: The Eternity Clock is a fez.