Doctor Who Series 12B: The Timeless Chibnall (Xmas special & pre-Series 13 chat)

[daf]

Trailer

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Tonight's tweeters :
JAMES MORAN : @jamesmoran (writer)
TRACEY CHILDS : @TraceyChilds50 (Metella)
FRANCESCA FOWLER : @TheFranFowler (Evelina)
FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : @difficultstage (Quintus)
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Combined link : #VOLCANODAY

[daf]

Part 1

JAMES MORAN : Bit nervous/excited now, it feels like the first day the episode aired- when you have a show on telly it weirdly feels like everyone's staring at you... 12 April 2008 seems like 100 years ago. I've got butterflies all over again!
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TRACEY CHILDS : Me too. Strange feeling
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : Very strange. Weirdly got nervous too
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TRACEY CHILDS : I just pressed play ‪#AncientRome‬
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : Here we go! G&T in one hand, cushion in the other! Enjoy peeps
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TRACEY CHILDS : Like Mother Like Son - G&T at the ready too x
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JAMES MORAN : Aaaaaand... we're off! Here we go! Ancient Rome! But not really! #VolcanoDay



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JAMES MORAN : First problem to solve: why would the Doctor go to Pompeii on #VolcanoDay? Why deliberately get caught in the eruption? He had to *think* he was going to ancient Rome, but ended up in Pompeii by accident.
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FRANCESCA FOWLER : Fun Fact: My 7 year old son hasn't seen me in Doctor Who yet as (naturally) natural disasters freak him out [volcano + scream-face emoji] Maybe he'll be up for it next year [fingers crossed]
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JAMES MORAN : I was always a big fan of episodes where the TARDIS would end up somewhere completely different to the Doctor's intention. Is she malfunctioning? Or was she drawn there by the timeline being wrong?
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JAMES MORAN : Karen Gillan's first appearance in Who! I had NO idea she'd come back later as Amy, and NO idea Peter Capaldi would come back as the Doctor. I predict @TraceyChilds50 will come back the Rani in the next season.
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TRACEY CHILDS : Oooohhh yea please!!!
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JAMES MORAN : "I had nothing to do with that fire- well, a little bit" was a reference to "The Romans" - I wanted to put it in, just for a fun continuity thing, but also because it works as a joke even if you don't know what he's referring to.
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JAMES MORAN : I remember being stuck on the Doctor's first line, I kept thinking "the Doctor wouldn't say that, that's me saying that", because to me, the Doctor is a real person... Also, EXT. SPACE - day or night?? Neither!
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JAMES MORAN : Typing "INT. TARDIS" blew my mind. That first day of writing was a read mindmelter, I couldn't BELIEVE that I was actually writing for the show.
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : Bet those soothsayers would be a right laugh at a party!
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JAMES MORAN : When I was writing my first outline, I started on the train home from Cardiff. I was so worried someone would see my screen, I wrote "Dave" instead of "The Doctor", and "The Car" instead of "The TARDIS". "Dave arrives in The Car"...
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JAMES MORAN : One of my favourite stories is "City of Death", so there's a deliberate reference to that - Caecilius buys the TARDIS, thinking it's a piece of modern art. Years later, chronologically, John Cleese and Eleanor Bron also mistake it for art.
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TRACEY CHILDS : So I nearly blew my audition for ‪#TheFiresOfPompeii‬ as before I went in, I had been given a note about playing Metella as a rather camp, over the top 'Miss Whiplash' style character - which was not what @jamesmoran or Director ‪#ColinTeague ‬ had in mind at all
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TRACEY CHILDS : You will notice that note still creeps into my performance though. Rather heavily in the beginning! Sorry @jamesmoran
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JAMES MORAN : Lovely family! Some of the character names came from the Cambridge Latin course - Caecilius, Metella and Quintus. Except Evelina - they didn't have a daughter, so I added her, and picked a name. "Evelina" means "little bird".
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : There he is. Who knew back then ay @TheFranFowler @TraceyChilds50 & @jamesmoran ?
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JAMES MORAN : Russell wanted the family included, as he did that course at school. In the books, the family are killed in the eruption - Russell wanted to save them, and so did I once I'd read the books!
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JAMES MORAN : Mary Poppins joke! Always steal from the best.
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TRACEY CHILDS : The first time I remember seeing ‪#PeterCapaldi ‬ onscreen (showing my age here) was a series called Chandler and Co. He was gorgeous and talented and I'd been a fan ever since so I was a bit in awe of meeting him. He couldn't make the readthru so we first met on set.



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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : Now, according to The Writer's Tale that toga I have on was the subject of many a meeting...unbeknownst to me!
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TRACEY CHILDS : Haven't I got beautiful children?!
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : It's all in the genes mother!
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JAMES MORAN : Had a weird out of body moment when I visited the studio. Standing in the villa, full 360 set, talking to David about how natural the TARDIS looks in any environment. Talking to the Doctor about the TARDIS, in ancient Pompeii...
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JAMES MORAN : I love love LOVE writing for Donna. There were pages and pages and pages of her and the Doctor trading quips and arguing, way too much, because it was so much fun. Catherine is absolutely wonderful.
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JAMES MORAN : I'd forgotten some of this, there was a whole section where they trade insults - he calls her Biggius Mouthius, and she calls him Pompous Gittius...
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : no amount of shaking has an effect on me. Unvibratable me!
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TRACEY CHILDS : I should probably 'fess up to an appalling faux pas at the readthru for this episode. As DT & I shook hands, I said 'Lovely to meet you' at the same time he said 'Lovely to work with you again'.OOPS! I racked my brains but had no idea what he was talking about....
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TRACEY CHILDS : Embarrassingly I had to ask DT to remind me - I had no memory of him played Feldwebel Kurtz in ‪‪@bigfinish‬ ‬ audio drama ‪#Colditz‬ when I played Klein for the first time. Thankfully he is one of the least egotistical men in showbiz & was fantastically gracious about it
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TRACEY CHILDS : The silly thing is, I thought DT was BRILLIANT in Casanova & a great Doctor but I had no memory of working with him previously. Very embarrassing. I went on to appear briefly in ‪@BroadchurchTV‬ & loved working with him again.



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JAMES MORAN : When the Doctor calls himself Spartacus, it's the first Roman-type name he can think of. Donna then says "So am I," as a joke, referring to the film. My up to date references from 1960, for the kids...
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TRACEY CHILDS : The joy of having DT as the leading man of any company is he is such a hard-working, delightful professional that his behaviour doesn't give anyone else the licence to behave badly so you have very happy companies, devoid of divas - which is a HUGE relief, believe me!
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : Well said. They both made me feel very relaxed on set as did you my friend. You went out of your way to reach out and that never went unnoticed and when I look back your kindness, humour and interest in my life stays with me.
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TRACEY CHILDS : Ahhhh gorgeous son - you turned out sooooo well
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JAMES MORAN : I've been a Doctor Who fan since I was 3 or 4, so this is literally a childhood dream come true. I used to sit and watch all the credits on the show as a kid, never believing I'd actually be in them one day.
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JAMES MORAN : When I met David at the readthrough, I was so star-struck, the first thing I said to him was "you're very tall". He is. Most actors are *tiny*! He's a 6 footer. I'm STILL embarrassed about this first meeting.
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FRANCESCA FOWLER : Fun Fact: @difficultstage kept referring to his costume underwear as 'period pants' and it took me years to realise that he meant 'Ancient Pants' rather than menstrual cycle pants [facepalm emoji + blue underpants]
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TRACEY CHILDS : I have been a HUGE fan of ‪#PhilDavis‬ for years but he was particularly brilliant in a great ‪@Channel4‬ series called ‪#NorthSquare‬. I have no idea why there wasn't a 2nd series but it is great to work with your favourite actors - when they turn out to be as nice as him!
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : as lovely as ‪#PhilDavis‬ is I found him utterly terrifying.
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TRACEY CHILDS : Catherine Tate was the same - hard working and completely professional. In fact the whole job was fab from start to finish. I knew lots of the crew previously from ‪#BornAndBred ‬& loved working with them again.
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JAMES MORAN : When Russell's rewrite came back, it had all this "returning" and "something on your back" serial stuff for later in the series, but he wouldn't tell me what it meant! They were all VERY good at keeping things quiet...
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FRANCESCA FOWLER : Fun Fact: I was acting to no-one in this scene! The whole cast had their close ups the day before and we ran out of time for mine. So I went in the next day and acted by myself. Aaaahhh the magic of editing.
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JAMES MORAN : You can thank Russell for the Welsh gags and the water pistol too - even though when he rewrites, he copies your style, it's BIZARRE but brilliant, feels like you've written it yourself in your sleep...
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TRACEY CHILDS : Whoa I'd completely forgotten this scene MAke Up Department brilliant as always
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FRANCESCA FOWLER : Too many vapours for poor Evelina!!!
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JAMES MORAN : It was such a fast, frenzied process, the show is a runaway train when it's in full production, I just had to hang on. I wish I'd taken a moment to stop and enjoy it, I think I was just terrified the whole time.
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JAMES MORAN : The biggest challenge was, what can the Doctor do? He can't stop the eruption, it really happened. So you spin it around - there is no eruption, but HE has to set it off, to save the world.
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JAMES MORAN : There was originally a big fight scene here in Lucius' villa, with the Doctor and Donna having a big punchup with the guards - Donna smashes a giant vase over someone's head, and we get to briefly see "Pub-fight Donna".
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TRACEY CHILDS : Remember when you discovered @difficultstage that the rest of the family weren't going to Rome with you and we'd only meet in Cardiff?!
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : Yeah I was gutted and very scared. Abandoned me AGAIN!
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[daf]

Part 2

JAMES MORAN : There was a subplot about the fountain waters turning to acid, when they mixed with volcanic gases. The Doctor gets a graffitiing kid to paint an "out of order" sign- the kid was called Banksius. Not my best joke...
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TRACEY CHILDS : Love the TK Maximus joke @jamesmoran
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FRANCESCA FOWLER : Fun Fact: I got a sick bug on my first day of filming! Had to run off set to throw up before I'd even shot anything [green face + vomit emoji]  BBC got me this amazing anti-sickness medicine. Wish I remembered what it was called b/c it was incredible. Magic (non vapour) medicine.
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FRANCESCA FOWLER : *any promotional pics you see of ‪#evelina‬ were taken just after I'd been sick, which is why I look like I've lost the will to live...‪#accidentalmethodacting‬



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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : All those exterior shots were at cinecitta. Where they filmed Ben-Hur. If I remember correctly there'd been a huge fire at the studios just before we filmed and only a small part of the Roman streets remained. Still an honour to be on that set regardless.
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : ...apparently it was due to the Italian crew smoking on set. Typical [roll-eyes shrug emoji]
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JAMES MORAN : I was on set for this big scene where the Pyrovile comes out of the vent (CGI creature not present at the time...) The villa was a full 360 degree thing, with roof, working steam. Amazing. All in a Cardiff studio!
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FRANCESCA FOWLER : Fun Fact: The boys got to go and shoot in Rome on the original set of BBC/HBO's series 'Rome' that I'd been on a few years previously when I was in Rome playing Egeria. Small world!
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JAMES MORAN : A bucket of water doesn't "kill" the creature, the further they get from the volcano, the less structural integrity they have, so a bucket of water tips the balance, THANK YOU INTERNERRRRRDS
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JAMES MORAN : The Pyrovile were originally called Pyrovillaxians. Then this was shortened to Pyrovellians. Then Pyrovile. If in doubt, when making up an alien name, throw in X's, V's, Z's...
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : ..being one of the few that got to go to Rome was bloody brilliant. Lucky sod I was. loved every second and felt very jammy. Apparently it was the first time they'd filmed abroad...am I wrong?
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JAMES MORAN : It's true, they didn't have a word for "volcano" - they had no idea what was happening. The earthquake that Caecilius mentions really happened - there were regular tremors, but everyone was used to them, and thought it was just the gods rumbling.
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : This is me in lockdown...on a good day!



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JAMES MORAN : Ironically, the eruption happened the day *after* Vulcanalia, the festival of Vulcan. So I guess Vulcan wasn't listening. Or was hungover.
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TRACEY CHILDS : I was always called to set before PC & released later, as my hair and make up took longer. So we had a silly 5 mins when, after a week of filming long scenes together, we bumped into each other in a Cardiff street & he had no idea who I was without Metella's red wig!
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JAMES MORAN : "The most terrible choice..." I'm basically stealing from Genesis of the Daleks, one of my favourite stories. Forcing him to set off the volcano just tortures him even more (we love SadDavidFace)
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JAMES MORAN : I'd seen concept sketches of the creatures, but nothing more until the finished ep- I watched it on a tiny screen in a cupboard at The Mill, and cried my eyes out- couldn't believe what an amazing job everyone had done, and that I was part of it.
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JAMES MORAN : The lever bit always makes me cry, even now, as does Donna's pleading later. Quite late at outline stage, I added in that Donna helps him push the lever, so it's not just his responsibility - they do it together. Shared burden. Because that's what best friends do.
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TRACEY CHILDS : I LOVE this. YES!
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JAMES MORAN : The Doctor says 20,000 people died - we can't be sure exactly how many, but 20,000 people did live there, and it's thought that at least half of those died. I didn't want to cheapen that, or undo it.
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TRACEY CHILDS : I remember us all feeling totally ridiculous when we rehearsed this scene & yet, when we went for it on the actual filming, none of us could stay upright & it felt genuinely scary. In reality we were surrounded by crew members shaking plants & scenery!
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : [four tongue-out laughing-face emoji]  yes, Roman ornaments rocking on bits of string!
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JAMES MORAN : I'm ugly crying yet again, THANKS DOCTOR WHOOOO
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TRACEY CHILDS : I seem to remember we were all black and blue the day after filming this sequence. Remember the bruises @TheFranFowler @difficultstage ??!!
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : I still have them! I got them tattooed!
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JAMES MORAN : AMAZING work from the Mill, and from RealSFX here. Just stunning.
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FRANCESCA FOWLER : I would love to see this scene without the shakey FX. They called action and we all had to wobble around and hope it looked ok... [tears of laughter emoji]
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JAMES MORAN : When Donna is shouting "don't go to the beach, go to the hills" she's trying to save lives - many people thought they'd be safe on the beach, but it was completely covered by the pyroclastic cloud.
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JAMES MORAN : Catherine Tate SLAYS me in this scene, I've seen it so many times and I'm snotting tears every time.
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FRANCESCA FOWLER : Peter Capaldi kissed my forehead... and I haven't washed it since!
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : not to kill the moment but that ash was tricky to keep out of your mouth and in the next shot when we get saved (spoiler) you can actually see me spit some out!
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TRACEY CHILDS : Such good writing @jamesmoran Such good acting from David and Catherine ‪#JustSaveSomeone‬
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TRACEY CHILDS : Ooh this was a horribly uncomfortable day of filming. We got through a lot of eyewash this day!
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : Ummm yes we did indeed !

‪‬

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TRACEY CHILDS : I NEVER actually went inside our modern artwork, the TARDIS. I managed to avoid stepping through those iconic doors throughout filming. I didn't ever want to break the illusion. For me, the TARDIS will always be ‪#BiggerOnTheInside‬
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JAMES MORAN : Obviously we couldn't save everyone and undo a real event. But there was NO WAY I was leaving that family to die.
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TRACEY CHILDS : Thank you!
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : Now someone remind me was that scene looking at Pompeii on Mountain Ash?
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JAMES MORAN : There was a scene snipped out where you see the family inside the TARDIS- but they're terrified, hiding in the corner.
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : WHAT???!!! [shocked-face emoji] fuming
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JAMES MORAN : I wanted to say this about people remembering and finding Pompeii. It's a subject I've been fascinated with since I was a kid, and I wish the victims knew that we still talk about them today. Never forgotten.
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TRACEY CHILDS : It still makes me cry!
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FRANCESCA FOWLER : This scene was FREEZING! Night shoot on a windy hill in Wales
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JAMES MORAN : I remember when some online quarters were complaining about Catherine, thinking the show would instantly become a comedy- I just laughed, because I knew what she could do. Then I stopped looking at those sites, because life's too bloody short, mate.
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JAMES MORAN : And the final twist... Thank you everyone for watching! What a strange, brilliant experience, to know that loads of people are all watching at the same time again, just like the first night it aired back in 2008.
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FRANCOIS PANDOLFO : Second that. Cheers all for watching. It was a real treat to film and has been a real treat to revisit all these years later.
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JAMES MORAN : Pics of baby me from 2008, when Brian Minchin snuck me onto the set to take some TARDIS pics... I don't *think* I broke anything...

‪  ‬

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TRACEY CHILDS : am loving this walk down memory lane, thank you @Emily_Rosina I wonder what happened to them all @jamesmoran
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JAMES MORAN : On the Doctor Who Lockdown YouTube channel any second now - a sequel to The Fires of Pompeii! Thank you to Fran and Tracey for agreeing to do this, and HUGE thanks to Murray Gold for doing beautiful music for us!
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JAMES MORAN : As always, MAHOOOOOSIVE thanks, kudos, props, and big ups to ‪@Emily_Rosina‬, who organises all these watch-along tweet-along fun-alongs, and has brought much, much joy to us online. Shower her with praise and love! And don't complain about it! #VolcanoDay
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TRACEY CHILDS : I had a blast, thank you everyone for joining in. Great to see #VOLCANODAY trending I need a little lie down now!
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JAMES MORAN : It also has to be said, there would be no Doctor Who NOW without Russell. Bringing it back the way he did, and exercising such control over the content and tone, set it up forever. He gave us DW back, gave me a TV career, and made us all look better than we are.
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Emily Cook : Well... let's find out what happened to them all shall we? The Fires of Pompeii exclusive new SEQUEL coming imminently... ‪

THE DESCENDANTS OF POMPEII - Written by James Moran, featuring Tracey Childs and Fran Fowler, with music by Murray Gold

[Thomas]

Thanks again, daf! This is fun:

JAMES MORAN : When I was writing my first outline, I started on the train home from Cardiff. I was so worried someone would see my screen, I wrote "Dave" instead of "The Doctor", and "The Car" instead of "The TARDIS". "Dave arrives in The Car"...

[Malcy]

Listen: A Steven Moffat Poem

https://youtube.com/watch?v=caY9oIZaKEE

Fear Is A Superpower

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BR5PglmopFE

The lockdown channel posted this A-Z of Impressions thing with Jon Culshaw. Probably some Who stuff in it.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=H2YwhjmB66M

Trailer for the AAISAT Tweet along.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=pRvlT02d-iM

[Replies From View]

You probably know about this; I haven't been paying much attention:  https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-05-21/doctor-who-doctors-assemble/

[daf]

Doctors Assemble! - Written by JAMES GOSS

The First Doctor - DAVID BRADLEY
The Second Doctor - CHRIS WALKER-THOMSON
The Third Doctor - JON CULSHAW
The Fourth Doctor - JON CULSHAW
The Fifth Doctor - JON CULSHAW
The Sixth Doctor - ANGUS VILLIERS-STUART
The Seventh Doctor - WINK TAYLOR
The Eighth Doctor - ANGUS VILLIERS-STUART
The War Doctor - JONATHON CARLEY
The Ninth Doctor - PETE WALSH
The Tenth Doctor - ELLIOTT CROSSLEY
The Eleventh Doctor - JACOB DUDMAN
The Twelfth Doctor - JONATHON CARLEY
The Thirteenth Doctor - DEBRA STEPHENSON

[Replies From View]

Some of those impressions are wretched.  Jon Culshaw's Peter Davison clearly doesn't get much practice.  And the Patrick Troughton is just random bloke.

[Old Gold Tooth]

Quite enjoyable bit of nothing but yeah some of those impressions were a painful listen. When 8 came on I had to double-check the profile pic to see which one it was supposed to be.

[Replies From View]

Even David Bradley is mostly doing 'random old bloke' until towards the end.

[olliebean]

I can't help thinking that by focusing on the poor quality of most of the impersonations, you're all failing to adequately appreciate how dreadful the script was.

[mjwilson]

It's less painful that way.

[Replies From View]

Oh yes don't get me wrong it was shit on more than surface level

[Norton Canes]

_{I really liked it}

[Replies From View]

_{I really liked it}

what for

[Norton Canes]

For what it was. Bit of fun (yeah, I know, faint praise). A few nice in-jokes, a few knowingly-used catchphrases (like 10's "So, so sorry..."). A decent hit-rate on the impressions, most of which rightly concentrated on exaggerating vocal quirks and tics, rather than going for absolute similitude. The McGann, for instance, was a brilliant pastiche, as was the lampooning of McCoy's ersatz gravitas. Davison was actually spot on in terms of capturing his mannerisms but Culshaw's voice is just too deep. The guy doing Troughton started well but seemed to lose interest once his lines became more sparse. The only disappointment (and I use the term guardedly) was David Bradley, superb as Hartnell on screen but whose understated performance in this was a bit jarring amid everyone else playing so large.

The Colin Baker. Come on. "Fam?!" almost made me want to watch The Twin Dilemma.

[Norton Canes]

Almost.

[Replies From View]

It was kind of morbidly fascinating in the way Dead Ringers could be, I suppose.


It depends whether you want to think of it as a Doctor Who story or a display of people doing Doctor Who impressions.

I would hope that for the average Big Finish story - I mean one that uses an impersonator rather than the real actor - one tends to be carried away by the story and the impressions press less firmly on your consciousness the entire time.


Because for me this was kind of exhausting.

[Thomas]

Haven't watched it in full, but the Matt Smither is brilliant. Got the Big Finish job after posting an impression on YouTube, I think.

He's been practising a few of the others, too. His Eccleston is surprisingly great, as I've never heard a good one.

[Shaky]

Some of the impressions are excellent (particularly the 3rd and 11th doctors) but I actually burst out laughing at Culshaw's stab at Davison.

Aside from that, I quite enjoyed this silly throwaway thingy.

[Malcy]

Haven't watched it in full, but the Matt Smither is brilliant. Got the Big Finish job after posting an impression on YouTube, I think.

He's been practising a few of the others, too. His Eccleston is surprisingly great, as I've never heard a good one.

His Smith is good but ive never listened to any of his Big Finish stuff. Not really into the releases without the original actors.

Enjoyed this video he did with Culshaw.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fAY-tgKr52s

[Malcy]

New Earth/Gridlock double tweetalong this saturday with RTD.

[Norton Canes]

I actually burst out laughing at Culshaw's stab at Davison

Like I said upthread, I actually think Culshaw brings his craft to bear and gets the vocal inflections very well. He also captures the permanently stressed demeanour with which Davison imbues the fifth Doctor. Unfortunately he just doesn't seem to have the right basic voice type to be completely convincing, no matter how hard he tries to modulate it.

It would seem that Davison's voice is as difficult to capture in an impression as his likeness was in an illustration. He really was a summer cloud...

[Malcy]

John Simm does a cracking Davison impression on his third "hello" after he regenerated.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=sSNJRQPlE60

[Replies From View]

Was that his intention?  I'd be very surprised.


Amazing if Davison's voice can only ever be reached by mistake.

[Mister Six]

New Earth/Gridlock double tweetalong this saturday with RTD.

Hooray! RTD's tweetalongs (and to a lesser extent Moffat's) are great because he clearly thinks a lot about the nature of storytelling and craft, and he has such wonderful insights into why his scripts do and don't work. So many of the others just come down to "Ooh I was proud of this line" and other inane nothings.

[Malcy]

The tweetalongs are ending with whatever story they do after the double bill on Saturday.

RTD doing a sequel story for these 2.

[daf]

Oh Balls! I Just found out there was one yesterday for The Rings of Akhaten . . . 

~ (placeholder while I knock this shit together) ~

[weekender]

As Neil Cross said before he sat down to write the script.