19 things we learned from the set of the Doctor Who Christmas special

Daleks! Easter Eggs! Boiling hot snow! We have plenty to look forward to in Twice Upon a Time…

  1. Despite the snow, everyone was absolutely boiling during filming

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Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi and David Bradley in the Doctor Who Christmas special (BBC)

South Wales was undergoing an uncharacteristic heatwave during the filming of the Doctor Who Christmas special, meaning that despite the chilly appearance of many of the scenes (some of which are set in the Antarctic) the entire cast were absolutely roasting.

“Well there’s lots of snow in our opening scene, the floor of the studio was set in the Antarctic and there was wind machines going and the blizzards blowing and it happened to be in Cardiff during a heat wave,” said David Bradley, who had to remove the First Doctor’s heavy frock coat when he wasn’t filming to avoid overheating.

“I don’t remember Cardiff ever having a heat wave and it was just ironic, that we were wearing all these different layers, cloaks and scarves and hats and things. It was just absolutely sweltering.”


  1. Steven Moffat didn’t actually want to do a Christmas special this time

 

While it’s become a minor tradition for Doctors to regenerate around Christmas time – the last three Time Lords have made their first or at least their first significant appearance in festive specials – Moffat has revealed that he didn’t actually fancy ending Capaldi’s run in a Christmas special, and only did so due to new showrunner Chris Chibnall’s reluctance to start with one.

“Chris didn’t want to start at Christmas, which I think makes perfect sense and I can understand why,” he said..

“I didn’t really want to end at Christmas. But we were going to end up not having a Christmas episode and we would just lose the slot if we did that.”

And the screenwriter actually had a very good reason for his lack of festive cheer, as he went on to explain.

“If you are going to kill a children’s hero, maybe not on Christmas Day,” he said. “But also if you are doing a grand last stand of the Doctor as he gives up everything for what he believes, then that’s the finale isn’t it? It’s not really Christmas Day.

“The grand last stand of the Doctor [was] in [series 10 finale] The Doctor Falls. Now we’ve hopefully got an hour of him deciding to continue. I had to find something to make that special and interesting, so I had him with the First Doctor who’s going through the same crisis.”


  1. The Tenth Planet has been painstakingly recreated

David Bradley in Twice Upon a Time (BBC)

While it apparently doesn’t feature during the majority of the finished episode, scenes from 1966 story The Tenth Planet (the episode where the First Doctor regenerated) are set to appear briefly onscreen, recreated in HD colour – which meant much poring over old photos from the partially-lost episode.

The production team also perfectly recreated the Snowcap Base from the Tenth Planet (managing to include some of the original props) as well as the original interior of the Tardis – though in that case (as we noted earlier this week) there were a few changes made.

“I immediately thought ‘Well that bit’s wrong;’” Moffat joked. “The trouble is the fan boy thing only ever trips you up. It only ever trips you up.

“And then I realise, well, I’m trying to be consistent with the set that was itself not remotely consistent in the old show. What does it mean to be correct to the old Hartnell set. Which one?

“It’s a different set in episode two and by the time of The Tenth Planet it’s just two walls jammed together.”


  1. David Bradley worked hard to embody William Hartnell

David Bradley as William Hartnell’s First Doctor

As it turns out recreating the first Doctor is no easy task, and required a lot of prep from Game of Thrones star David Bradley.

“Sometimes I’d rehearse a scene and I’m thinking that didn’t feel like Hartnell, it felt like me, it didn’t feel like Hartnell,” Bradley told us.

“So, I’d plug in to an episode, an old episode and just catch his way of looking.

“There’s little things like his physicality, he’d slightly look to one side or down his nose at people when he’s talking and all of this of course,” he continued, grabbing his lapels in Hartnell’s trademark stance.

“So you try, you don’t want to be doing it all the time or the people will say ‘Oh he’s hanging onto that, literally hanging onto his jacket gag..’

“His voice was always rather clipped and precise, so I have to remind myself about things like that. Sometimes before a scene I’d just get my iPad out and I’d just listen to his voice, just to remind myself, because sometimes these things are just like a slippery eel and they just go.

“You feel you have to get it right as near as possible without being too over-fussy, otherwise you find yourself in a bit of a strait jacket capturing all the mannerisms but none of the character.”

Based on what we’ve seen so far, we think he’s nailed it.


  1. Steven Moffat has one major regret from his days on Doctor Who…

Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi (Getty)

As we’ve explained elsewhere, Moffat said he’d step back from the limelight if he had his time in charge again, saying he regretted being quite so “visible” during his Doctor Who years.

“Being visible as a writer is not…. we are not designed by nature to be seen by people, let’s be honest,” he said. “We should be concealed as far as possible.”

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