The Continuity GuideUniforms
by Martin Willey
The Continuity Guide
The standard uniform is worn both on and off duty, and even on Earth or on space missions (Dragon's Domain; note other missions in The Lambda Factor, Matter Of Life And Death, Brian The Brain & The Bringers Of Wonder favour beige jackets).
The unisex uniform consists of flared trousers, tunic and belt. There are no pockets.
Tunic The tunic is crew-necked, with a zip fastener on the outside of the left arm from mid-forearm to neck. It is worn outside the trousers, extending over the hips (female tunics may be slightly longer). The zip is a large upholstery zip, to show up better on screen.
The seams are down the sides (on the top and underside of the arms) and down the centre of the back. The left arm is joined at a seam to the torso, but the right arm is not (arm and torso are made of the same continuous material).
Trousers and belt The trousers have a zip from waist to mid-calf length. (Incidentally, the names of actors were written on the insides of the zips on tunic and trousers). The light tan belt (2 inches /5cm in height, covered in vinyl) is used to clip on the commlock (worn on the left hand side). A stun gun holster may be worn on the right hand side (everyone appears to be right-handed).
Normal underwear would show through the material, so special seamless underwear was required. Some actors found jockstraps uncomfortable and wore nothing.
The uniform is beige except for the left arm up to the shoulder seam, coloured in the section colour code (Bergman and Simmonds do not have section colours). On screen and in photos this appears paler or even white. The material is a cotton/wool mix, and the large zips are upholstery zippers (to show up better on screen).
Security uniforms (purple sleeved) also include a light tan sash extending from the belt on the right side over the left shoulder.
The command uniform (worn by Koenig, Jackie in Alpha Child & Gorski in Breakaway) has a turtle-neck collar in "black" and a stripe on the outside of the right arm, extending from the wrist to the collar. (The actual colour is charcoal gray, but this appears black on screen)
The boots and shoes were white or beige. Landau, Bain and Morse wore boots from Bally, the Swiss-based designer shoe company. All others wore boots from the UK department store Marks and Spencer, although through the series many cast introduced their own, more comfortable footware, including Clarks desert boots.
The over-sized upholstery zip along the left sleeve. The zipper brand is mostly "Robin Samson", or, for Koenig and Helena in earlier Year 1, "Talon". The zipper pull tab has a square hole for the Robin, and a half-circle for the Talon. Koenig has a uniform with a Talon zipper until Alpha Child, after which his new uniform has a Robin zipper. Helena has a Talon zipper until the last scene of The Troubled Spirit, from which it is a Robin zipper.
The coloured sleeves are vivid against the beige uniforms and sets.
Commander uniforms have a "black" colour code (actually charcoal grey). Uniquely, they have a black collar, and a stripe down the right sleeve.
Bergman's uniform does not have a coloured sleeve, although it is the same pattern as the others. The vinyl belt holds the commlock. Uniquely, Bergman conceals the flap of his belt under his commlock; most others, like Koenig here, attaches the belt in the centre. Among the few like Bergman who hide the belt flap under the commlock are Simmonds and Mateo.
Occasionally the belt shows extra holes
In early episodes, footwear is white Marks and Spencers boots or, for the leads, white or cream boots from Bally. Men and women have heels.
Within a few episodes, the cast were wearing more comfortable shows,
Copyright Martin Willey