Doctor Who: Why I love the return of the diamond logo

Back in Oct 2022, the new logo for Doctor Who was revealed. Well, I say "new" logo. While it was presented with a slightly different color scheme - a focus on blue with a bright yellow border on the word "Who" - the logo was exactly the same as the one introduced in Jon Pertwee's final season.

The diamond logo was used for seven seasons from 1973 to 1980. That was an incredibly long time for a single logo to be used in the TV series. A key reason why it worked so long is that it suited the title sequence so well. This became even more true once Tom Baker arrived, who arguably had one of the greatest intros for the series. The logo might have been introduced with Pertwee, but the Doctor it's most commonly associated with is arguably Baker.

And like any great logo, it wasn't just used for the TV series. The diamond logo - or at least variations of it - could be found on countless merchandise. Books under the Target imprint; video covers; Missing Adventures novels, and so much more. Even when other logos for the TV series came and went, you could still see the diamond logo used on various merchandise.

Diamond's end

It's perhaps somewhat ironic that the diamond logo wasn't phased out until another Pertwee logo came back. When the TV movie starring Paul McGann was released in 1996, it reused the logo introduced in 1970 and was used for most of Jon Pertwee's era. It was given a major update, of course - the new variation was given a blue metallic look - but it was essentially the same logo.

And this logo itself would have a long lifespan. Not on TV, but at least in other media. Even when a new era began in 2005 with its own distinctive branding, variations of the Pertwee/movie logo continued to be used across a great deal of media covering what was now branded as the "Classic Series". Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat had their own distinctive logos for their TV eras, but neither of them replaced the movie one for anything related to the Classic Series.

That ended in 2018 when all of Doctor Who - Classic and New - was suddenly branded under one logo. Specifically, the one used for Jodie Whittaker's era. This even included merchandise such as Doctor Who: The Collection, which aims to release the entire Classic Series on Blu-ray. In fact, while most merchandise uses the diamond logo now, The Collection will continue to use the Whittaker logo for the sake of continuity.

Diamond's return

Which brings me back to the diamond logo's return. I won't say "long overdue", as the truth is no one was really expecting it to come back. Especially in an era where Disney is at least partly funding the series. So why bring it back?

Well, for one thing, there was the anniversary. A 60th-anniversary - also known as a "diamond anniversary" - is definitely the perfect time to bring back a diamond logo. In fact, for some of the merchandise, a slight variation of the logo was used, with an actual diamond used as the background and the label "60 Years" added.

But that's only a small reason. After all, diamond anniversaries come and go very quickly. No, the real reason the diamond logo was brought back was that, over five decades after it was introduced, it's still one of the best logos. There's a beautiful simplicity to it that's still so distinctive. It was used across so much merchandise back in the day because it was instantly recognizable as the Doctor Who logo.

Nostalgia versus the future

Does nostalgia factor into it? Of course. As previously mentioned, the logo was used for most of Tom Baker's era on television. For many fans of the Classic Series, Tom Baker's Doctor is still the most iconic. So perhaps some association with one of the show's most popular Doctors helps.

At the same time though, that only really applies to fans of the Classic Series. For many fans watching the show for the first time on Disney+, they will have none of that association. To be honest, that will be true for many fans that started with Christopher Eccleston, too. Some fans who started with the New Series will have gone back to watch the Classic, but certainly not all.

The diamond logo works because it's simple, it's classic, and yet it's like nothing else out there. (Well maybe Paw Patrol, judging by so many early Facebook comments and tweets. But I can't blame the makers of that show too much for being Tom Baker fans.) To this day, it's still one of the best logos the show has given us. And it's a logo that still works beautifully.