It's almost time. New monsters are becoming real, old friends are returning to Cardiff and somewhere in Wales, a tweed jacket is being taken from its hanger and lovingly dusted off. It can only mean one thing... Filming on the new series of Doctor Who begins on 20 February, 2012!
The first director to shout 'action' will be the award-winning Saul Metzstein whose previous credits include Micro Men (starring Alexander Armstrong and Martin Freeman), the critically acclaimed Late Night Shopping and BBC Wales' Upstairs Downstairs. For the very first time, Doctor Who will be produced at the new BBC Roath Lock Studios in Cardiff, which officially open in March. The production team includes Steven Moffat (Executive Producer and lead writer), Caroline Skinner (Executive Producer) and Marcus Wilson (Producer).
The new series will see Matt Smith return as the Doctor in what Steven Moffat has described as 'the biggest, the best and the most ambitious season we've ever made'. Karen Gillan (Amy) and Arthur Darvill (Rory) are both back, for what will be their final voyage with the Doctor - a thrilling rollercoaster ride which will culminate in a heart-breaking farewell to the Ponds. But there will be more shocks, surprises and adventures to come when the Doctor meets a new friend, in the last very place he could ever have expected...
And yes! We've been promised the return of some old monsters, but some new and terrifying ones lie in wait for the Doctor...
We'll be bringing you all the news about the incredible new series as it emerges, so stay tuned for some big surprises!
“I’m writing that right now, the big Rory and Amy heartbreaking finale. It will be quite heartbreaking. I think you’ll be in trouble watching it.”
“Amy and Rory will leave ‘heartbreakingly’ during next series and The Doctor will get a new companion.”
“Steven Moffat says plenty of Amy and Rory in next series, but they will leave ‘heartbreakingly’. New companion not yet cast"
“The final days of the Ponds are coming during the next series. Then the Doctor will meet a new friend”
”The big thing is, nothing in the next run is starting out as a two-parter. At this stage, everything is a single episode, and the only reason anything will become a two-parter is if we think it needs to be; not so much that the story is too long for 45 minutes, because nothing is too long for 45 minutes, but if it feels as though there are two distinct stages to the story…"Were you a fan of two parters? Are you happy with the idea of a series full of standalone story series? Tell us below!
"I was looking at the facts and stats and it’s not true that the two-parters save us money. We’ve assumed it for years. They don’t save us money at all. Not a penny. So what’s the point in them? The viewing figures always go down. The AI goes down, even if the second episode is the better one. The press coverage goes down. The trailers are a bit boring. I want to be able to say, every week, we’ve got a big standalone blockbuster, and then a trailer that makes it look like nothing compared to what’s going to happen next week! That’s the form for next year.”
Matt Smith spoke to What’s On TV to discuss the Christmas special, Doctor Who’s upcoming seventh series and BBC Threes choice to cancel behind the scenes show Doctor Who Confidential. Read the full interview below:
Can you tell us anything about next year’s series?
“I think we’ll be filming from February. It’ll be a busy year. I’ve just heard the pitch from Stephen Moffatt. Amazing. Very exciting. I can’t give anything away though.”
Were you sad when you heard Doctor Who Confidential has been axed by BBC3?
“Yeah, really sorry. It’s a pity as I think it’s a show which can reinvent itself year on year and it’s one of the biggest shows on BBC3. But I guess people come in and have new ideas and want to have their own fresh take on it but, hey, some you win, some you lose…”Can you set the scene when widow Madge Arwell and her children turn up at this draughty manor house and meet the Doctor?
“He’s very excited to see Madge and her children and make Christmas wonderful for this family who’ve been through so much. It’s very cosy and Christmassy in this house. It’s quite nice to see children as the central characters in a Christmas special."
Why does he call himself The Caretaker?
“He just wants to give himself a new name for a while. But he’s ridiculous and they’re like, this isn’t how caretakers behave! He just wants to take care of things but of course The Doctor taking care of things is making the house twirl about in ridiculous ways. It’s the Doctor landing in a normal situation and changing it in a way only he can.”
What happens to the Doctor and the family at Christmas?
“There’s a sort of slow-burning magic to the story and it has a Narnia-esque feel to it – they all get to crawl through this mysterious blue present and into an enchanted forest that looked amazing. They covered this forest in snow. It looks incredible. We covered whole forests in snow. The scale of it is vast and it feels magical. We never see that in this country. It’s never THAT snowy.”
Is there a monster in the forest?
“There is a monster. There is a threat in this magical world, a definite threat. I’ll keep the monster as a surprise. It’s one of our best. The design of it is classic. There are others in the forest, too, who are like forestry workers in these great armoured suits. Their leader is played by comedian Bill Bailey!”
How does he get on with Madge?
“Madge is a plucky feisty mum who is quite clumsy, too, but takes care of things. The Doctor finds out something tragic about her life – and subsequently tries to give her and her children the best Christmas ever - which turns out to be the best Christmas ever in a really dangerous forest! Claire Skinner, who plays her, is great. I’m a big fan of her in Outnumbered.”
What can you reveal about the black space suit he wears at one point?
“At the beginning of the episode the Doctor finds himself in this space suit and he crashes to Earth in it. His helmet’s on backwards and he can’t see to navigate – which is funny, hopefully.”
Do you get a lot of stunts in this episode?
“Oh yes. It’s quite action-adventurey which I like. I’ve done all my own stunts this year – well I’ve done two. There have only been two! There’s a big explosion and I do the jump. And another one involves leaping over something which hopefully will be very funny as I land awkwardly. I really enjoy that. Maybe we’ll see more of an action hero Doctor next season.”
How do you get into a Christmas frame of mind when you start filming it in September?
“The wonderful set does it for you – the snow, the pine trees and the smell of them. I’m so looking forward to Christmas! There have been a few night shoots – they can be tough.”
What were your favourite Christmas memories as a kid?
“I didn’t have Doctor Who as a kid sadly. Boxing Day was always the football in my house. I love Christmas. I can’t wait – family, presents and the rest. The older you get, the more you like buying things for other people. Working so much has meant I haven’t had much time with my family as I have previously, so to have a run of two or three days with them is good.”
Will you watch Doctor Who with your family?
“We will sit down and watch it together. My sister usually gabbles on during the middle of it. My dad will be like sssshhhhh. They like the surprise. I always get a text every Saturday saying they liked each episode.”
Australian television website TV Tonight is claiming that there are rumours for some of Doctor Who series 7 to film in Australia! See what they said below:
TV Tonight is hearing whispers from the UK that the long-running science-fiction series is considering a move to film multiple episodes in Australia in mid-2012. That’s enough to get any Who fan, anywhere, excited…
Last season the show featured two episodes filmed in the US, “The Impossible Astronaut” and “Day of the Moon.” It has previously filmed in international locales including at Rome’s Cinecittà studios for “The Fires of Pompeii” and the United Arab Emirates for “Planet of the Dead.”
There’s still much that needs to be sorted before an Aussie sojourn becomes a reality, but it’s certainly a tempting idea.
Next year the show will screen in the UK’s autumn season, but filming in mid-2012 would likely be for episodes in 2013.
Doctor Who producer Marcus Wilson told Doctor Who Magazine that series 7 of Doctor Who will see the return of classic monsters from the 60s and 70s:
“We’ve got a couple of returning monsters, some old fan favourites, but we’re going to move them on a bit, that’s how they were done in the 60s or 70s. Here’s what we can do with them now. Kids these days are really good at spotting bad CGI or prosthetics, so we can’t do anything substandard. One flick of the remote and you go from Doctor Who to Harry Potter. We’ve got to compete at that level, on a hundredth of the budget.”
Which classic monsters would you like to see return? Fan favourites include the Zygons, Ice Warriors, Sea Devils and Omega!
