A kilt was a knee-length skirt-type garment of tartan which was the traditional dress of men and boys in the Scottish Highlands. It was characterised by Zoe Heriot as "a barbaric form of garment as worn by a kiltie." She associated it with Scandinavia, specifically Denmark. (TV: The Wheel in Space [+]Loading...["The Wheel in Space (TV story)"])
Worn by the Doctor
The Fifteenth Doctor sometimes wore tartan kilts in either navy and crimson, (TV: The Church on Ruby Road) or burgundy and chocolate. (COMIC: The Hans of Fear)
Worn by Companions
During a trip to Edinburgh in 1645, Nardole wore a kilt complete with a Sporran and tam o' shanter before being told to remove them by the Twelfth Doctor. (PROSE: Plague City [+]Loading...["Plague City (novel)"])
The Brigadier wore a kilt when meeting the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan in Scotland. He explained to Sarah Jane that the reason he was wearing it was that his family was from the clan Stewart, even though he was embarrassed at her and the Doctor mocking him for it. (TV: Terror of the Zygons [+]Loading...["Terror of the Zygons (TV story)"])
Being a Scottish Highlander, Jamie McCrimmon spent his time travelling with the Second Doctor wearing his kilt, even when it was too cold to do so. (TV: The Highlanders [+]Loading...["The Highlanders (TV story)"], The Abominable Snowmen [+]Loading...["The Abominable Snowmen (TV story)"], The Two Doctors [+]Loading...["The Two Doctors (TV story)"], etc.) He got annoyed with it being described as a skirt. (AUDIO: The Glorious Revolution [+]Loading...["The Glorious Revolution (audio story)"]) He wore a brown version when he reunited with Zoe Heriot on the Memory TARDIS. (TV: The Mind Robber [+]Loading...["The Mind Robber (TotT TV story)"]) When the Fifth Doctor was giving Erimem a tour of the TARDIS, he told her the kilt in the wardrobe belonged to Jamie. (AUDIO: No Place Like Home [+]Loading...["No Place Like Home (audio story)"])
Worn by Others
Highland soldiers fighting as part of the British Army in World War I wore kilts, leading their German adversaries to call them "the devils in skirts" and "the ladies from hell" in reference to their attire. (AUDIO: The Mouthless Dead [+]Loading...["The Mouthless Dead (audio story)"]) Similarly, a Selachian once mistook Jamie McCrimmon's kilt for a skirt, and therefore believed Jamie to be female. (AUDIO: The Selachian Gambit [+]Loading...["The Selachian Gambit (audio story)"]) Zoe initially mistook Jamie's kilt for a female garment. (TV: The Wheel in Space [+]Loading...["The Wheel in Space (TV story)"])
On 19 May 1884, Justice Burrows compared the Judoon Captain Kybo to "a rhinoceros in a kilt". (AUDIO: Judoon in Chains [+]Loading...["Judoon in Chains (audio story)"])
Behind the scenes
There was some initial discussion about the possibility of Strax wearing a kilt in the TV episode The Name of the Doctor [+]Loading...["The Name of the Doctor (TV story)"], as Strax is in Glasgow at the start of that episode. The character would have worn the kilt throughout the instalment. However, the garment would have required Strax actor Dan Starkey to wear prosthetic legs and there was insufficient time for those to be crafted. Starkey remarked about the kilt, "It would have been hell to wear. But it would have been great!" Vastra actress Neve McIntosh agreed that having Strax wear a kilt throughout the episode would have been "fantastic." (DWM 475, p. 18)