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

[Malcy]

Gaiman trying to take credit for male to female regeneration there? Episode was shite I thought. I wish we had got to see the original plan of revealing the shopkeeper with the parrot in the SJA as being the Corsair though.

[Replies From View]

Gaiman trying to take credit for male to female regeneration there?

Yes he's been doing that for a while.

[daf]

Part 2

[James Whale-Spencer] : What was best part of being on set?
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NEIL GAIMAN : Going back to the prop room and meeting Daleks and Weeping Angels.
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NEIL GAIMAN : I was so grateful to @michaelsheen for making House work. Even under the Voice Treatment, the acting is glorious.
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RICHARD CLARK : Patchwork creatures were a beautiful idea from @neilhimself But not easy to get the balance right - tragic but funny.
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RICHARD CLARK : So much going on in this story. Such lovely precise lines of dialogue. Moving, funny and scary from one moment to the next.
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NEIL GAIMAN :  ...well, and the glorious @michaelsheen
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RICHARD CLARK : I remember had a battle with CGI trying to figure out how best to show House entering the Tardis
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MICHAEL SHEEN : HOUSE IS KIND
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NEIL GAIMAN : Originally, when it was just Amy, and she was sent back to the TARDIS, she found her engagement ring. But Rory didn't exist.
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RICHARD CLARK : Again, great set. This was I think only the second or third episode that Michael Pickwoad, the new Production Designer, had tackled. Huge talent.
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NEIL GAIMAN : Matt Smith is such an excellent actor. "I had an umbrella like you". There's a Doctor Who reference...
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RICHARD CLARK : Suranne so nailed this performance.
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NEIL GAIMAN : I think this is my favourite moment: Bitey Mad Lady, they get to talk. Whetever makes you think I would ever give you back?
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RICHARD CLARK : I remember I was keen to keep Suranne moving, forever curious.
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RICHARD CLARK : We built the exterior set in an old quarry outside Cardiff.
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NEIL GAIMAN : The phones on Cameras were a bit rubbish ten years ago. This, then, is a phone photo I took of ‪#BiggerOnTheInside‬  director @rclarkie in all his glory on the set:



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NEIL GAIMAN : Headcanon: the TARDIS takes the Doctor where he needs to be, not where he wants to go. Since I was about six or seven. So I finally wrote it down.
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[hayley st. james] : I love that this episode is just professional fanfiction-made-canon wish-granting. That's maybe why I love it so much.
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NEIL GAIMAN : It really is.
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RICHARD CLARK : We went through multiple versions of the CGI spaceship you see on the exterior.
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MICHAEL SHEEN : They put the effect on my voice after I'd done all my stuff but I did do a bit of growlspook myself
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MICHAEL SHEEN : Sounds a bit like the lovechild of HAL in that bit
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NEIL GAIMAN : I was on set for only two days of shooting. In one of them, Suranne talked to Matt through her hexagonal prison bars. In the other one Karen ran down a corridor, over and over...
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RICHARD CLARK : The constant playing with time was a genius conceit from @neilhimself It was the main thing that guided us in creating the character.
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RICHARD CLARK : You call me.. sexy. What a glorious line.
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RICHARD CLARK : Wow. CGI has moved on!
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MICHAEL SHEEN :  "I'm rather enjoying the sensation of having you running around inside me!" Hahaha! Very good.
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RICHARD CLARK : There were only two corridors inside the Tardis. Almost every shot is a cheat. The whole lot had to be storyboarded so we could hold the geography in our heads.
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NEIL GAIMAN : The "Tardis junkyard" bit replaced a whole scene, some of which was even shot. I'll put up a bit from it here.
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NEIL GAIMAN : I wrote so many Rory and Amy adventures inside the TARDIS. Most of them were defeated by budget. One of them was defeated because at the time ‪@karengillan‬ couldn't swim.
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[Stef] : You mean, we were supposed to get a glimpse of the Tardis pool?
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NEIL GAIMAN : A whole sequence in it, yes.
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NEIL GAIMAN : There was a version of this where Rory and Amy were a few moments apart, and trapped in time, for example.
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RICHARD CLARK : Possibly my favourite sc. Genuinely moving relationship. Wanted Matt to move backwards and forwards to reflect how he felt about his Tardis.
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NEIL GAIMAN : "Bring home strays." I think the TARDIS thinks of the other people inside her as pets...
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[Nicholas Slayton] : What about Susan?
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NEIL GAIMAN : She wasn't a stray. She was family. (So was River.)
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MICHAEL SHEEN : I RRALLY like it when Neil does messing about with Time stuff
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RICHARD CLARK : Suranne looking at herself in the mirror was completely improvised. I saw her do it in a rehearsal and we built it into the scene.
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NEIL GAIMAN : Rory and the Zero Room. I remember writing a few different versions of this. In one of them Rory levitated, but budget reasons took us down to this, and then budget reasons took our room away...

‪ ‬
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[daf]

Part 3

[Blogtor Who] : The junk TARDIS was based on a design by Susannah Leah, who beat 2,000 entries in the Blue Peter competition for a child to design it & got to visit the set to see it completed. ‪



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NEIL GAIMAN : It also meant that Blue Peter gave us the money in the budget we needed to build the junk TARDIS. ‪#BiggerOnTheInside‬
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[KatMEW93] : Ooh could you imagine Ten doing it though? Damn, I got chills just from imagining Eleven doing it but Ten would just be something else entirely. Especially when House takes over the Tardis. Ten would have just gone wild
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NEIL GAIMAN : I can imagine any of the Doctors in the story, including the current one.
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RICHARD CLARK : Amy and Rory were actually crawling along the floor with a wind machine blowing at them to make it look like they are climbing up.
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[jacob saul] : if this was originally written for when rory didn't exist, i wonder what the original scenes of amy running around the tardis alone were like [quizzical chin-rub emoji]
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NEIL GAIMAN : Lonely.
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RICHARD CLARK : Every shot of the flying broken Tardis had to be storyboarded. Limited budgets always keeps you one your toes.
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NEIL GAIMAN : I was thinking of Harlan Ellison's short story I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST SCREAM when I wrote the version of Rory and Amy's adventures in the House TARDIS that made it onto the screen... I called Harlan and told him.
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NEIL GAIMAN : "Petrichor" is a word I loved for a thing I love, and I delighted in telling it to people.
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RICHARD CLARK : Think the CGI integrates with the sets pretty well. Challenging to do with this story.
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NEIL GAIMAN : I had the idea and the plot early enough that I could ask them to not disassemble the original Ecclestone/Tennant TARDIS set. They had to lie to everyone about why it was still there.
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RICHARD CLARK : 'Did you wish really hard.' Another gem.
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NEIL GAIMAN : LOVE THIS SCENE SO MUCH. Steven Moffat added Amy's "Did you wish really hard?" which makes it 1000 times better!
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RICHARD CLARK : Control rooms materialising inside control rooms. Can't tell you what a headache it was trying to achieve that.
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[@WhovianTrev] : I would think that with all those T.A.R.D.I.S. components just lying around, it wouldn't have been too difficult for the Doctor to snag a replacement chameleon circuit. Then again, perhaps he's kind of fond of the police box motif.
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NEIL GAIMAN : But he LIKES a police box.
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NEIL GAIMAN : 'Fear me. I've killed all of them.' Another classic.
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NEIL GAIMAN : And @michaelsheen is the best of evil villainous disembodied voices. "Fear me..."
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RICHARD CLARK : I have to say the whole show was beautifully lit. The DOP went on to do Penny Dreadful.
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NEIL GAIMAN : I asked Steven Moffat for a line that the TARDIS could tell Rory. He gave me one. I didn't know what it meant...
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NEIL GAIMAN : This is also from an early draft, from when ‪#BiggerOnTheInside‬ was meant to be in Season 5, and Rory had gone from the universe, along with their engagement, and it was the original ending. The ending we have is better, but I miss the Amy conversation and the daisy chain



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[Dylan] : I know this is a @neilhimself story, but Idris reclaiming the TARDIS is such a Moffat moment ^^
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NEIL GAIMAN : I think it's a Doctor Who moment.
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RICHARD CLARK : It was not easy trying to hit the right emotional pitch for this end beat between the Tardis and the Doctor. Need to be painful, moving, enchanting and moving. Talked with Matt about the Doctor being at his most vulnerable.
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NEIL GAIMAN : We added the final goodbye scene at producer Beth's request, mostly to make it clear that Idris wouldn't ever come back. That this was it. I wrote it. And then Matt and Suranne made people cry. Including us.
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MICHAEL SHEEN : I did have it coming. Fair enough.
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NEIL GAIMAN : "I love you" is there, as the last thing she says, a long way back in the mix...
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RICHARD CLARK : Decided to put Matt under the floor, working in the heart of the Tardis.
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MICHAEL SHEEN : Matt sitting amongst the wiring in his goggles with his legs dangling is so good.
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NEIL GAIMAN : Bunk beds. That was a line I wrote because I wanted to hear Matt say it.
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NEIL GAIMAN : Of course he doesn't have a room. The TARDIS is his room.
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RICHARD CLARK : Well that was a glorious trip down memory lane.
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RICHARD CLARK : Thank you to everyone for watching
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NEIL GAIMAN : And that was The Doctor's Wife. THANK YOU FOR READING AND WATCHING. If you haven't seen it watch Rory's Story which @RattyBurvil and I and a special guest made for you.
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RICHARD CLARK : And a big thanks to @neilhimself for penning such a cracking episode. Joyous, original and so touching.
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MICHAEL SHEEN : What fun! Lovely to be a part of. Both the episode and this event tonight. Thanks always to @neilhimself You have enriched my life - as a fan, as a boss and mostly as a friend. Goodbye little humans. Take care x
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NEIL GAIMAN : Best of angels.
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NEIL GAIMAN : Thank you to ‪@Emily_Rosina ‬for making ‪#BiggerOnTheInside‬ happen! I hope it cheered your lockdown, wherever you are. @rclarkie and @michaelsheen
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MICHAEL SHEEN :  And many thanks to ‪@Emily_Rosina‬ for putting all this together and giving everyone such a lovely way to come together.
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Big Finish : Neil, they all - *gestures at our Twitter feed* - want a spin-off series of adventures for the Corsair. [picture of a tiny Pirate flag] We've done our part by sending you this message cube...
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NEIL GAIMAN : I'm in.
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Alice X. Zhang : A painting for #BiggerOnTheInside‬

[mjwilson]

Slightly surprised by the number of times Gaiman says "oh Moffat wrote this line", I would have thought he would have been high-profile enough not to have been rewritten.

[Replies From View]

Nice new Ponds video here written by Gaiman:  https://youtu.be/eVqW4XjZwC8

[Mango Chimes]

Thanks as ever, daf.

Gaiman's very self-assured, isn't he.

[Mister Six]

Lovely, thank you daf!

[Malcy]

How's Rory charging that smartphone then?

[daf]

Nice new Ponds video here written by Gaiman:  https://youtu.be/eVqW4XjZwC8

ARTHUR DARVIL : Oh.. Look who's back.. (sorry I couldn't tweet along this evening ...what an absolute joy to be able to do this.. thanks so much @neilhimself)

[daf]

Next one will be 'Heaven Sent' on Tuesday 14 April (Peter Capaldi's Birthday) - #hellofabird

Tweeters (so far) :
STEVEN MOFFATT @StevenWMoffat
RACHEL TALALAY @rtalalay
JAMI REID-QUARRELL @JReidQ

[Mango Chimes]

People must like this tweetalong format, but it seems a waste of the people involved[nb]Not so much the bloke in the sheets.[/nb]. I'd much prefer a live commentary like the one posted in the Four Lions thread, and not just to save daf's admin time. I'd love to hear Moffatt and Talalay having a chat about the complexity of this episode.

[Replies From View]

How's Rory charging that smartphone then?

An electrical wall socket of some kind, like they had in 1946?  He must have had a USB charging plug and cable in his coat pocket when he was unexpectedly sent back in time.

[Malcy]

An electrical wall socket of some kind, like they had in 1946?  He must have had a USB charging plug and cable in his coat pocket when he was unexpectedly sent back in time.

And an adaptor!

[Thomas]

I'd love a more in-depth discussion of an episode like Heaven Sent, too, but I'm looking forward to this one regardless. A stunner of an ep. Genius, beautiful telly.

An electrical wall socket of some kind, like they had in 1946?  He must have had a USB charging plug and cable in his coat pocket when he was unexpectedly sent back in time.

If they retrieved it from Henry VIII's bedroom. Speaking of series 7, I recently learned something interesting about The Power of Three's lame ending. From IMDb:

Steven Berkoff proved difficult to work with. He repeatedly went against the wishes of Douglas Mackinnon, in some cases just plain refusing to do what he was told, deliberately ruined takes (sometimes by reading his lines as badly as possible), and had several temper tantrums. Virtually all the footage they shot featuring Berkoff was unusable, and the ending as broadcast is all they could cobble together from the few scraps they were able to salvage, plus some pick-ups filmed later on with just Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill (as well as some shots of Berkoff which were allegedly taken from when the camera was left running between takes, because even the filmed footage of Berkoff walking across the floor could not be used) - it was not originally the intention for Sharki to be a hologram, or for the plot to effectively be resolved entirely by the sonic screwdriver, but that was all they were able to do with what they had.

I'm glad Brass Eye pre-emptively got him, if so. I Googled around and it seem to have come from TV Tropes. Don't know if it's been discussed on here before.

[olliebean]

Slightly surprised by the number of times Gaiman says "oh Moffat wrote this line", I would have thought he would have been high-profile enough not to have been rewritten.

I think in the end, after numerous attempts to get it right, it came down to Moffat having to rewrite it because Gaiman's high profile didn't make his script not shit.

[Replies From View]

And an adaptor!

That's what I meant by the USB charging plug.  And he'd need the correct charging cable.  I know it's far fetched but it's not impossible he'd have been carrying that around with him.  I carry mine around quite routinely as my phone constantly needs charging.

[Mister Six]

Maybe The Doctor just soniced it, like he did with Rose's in The End of the World, or whatever it was.

[Malcy]

That's what I meant by the USB charging plug.  And he'd need the correct charging cable.  I know it's far fetched but it's not impossible he'd have been carrying that around with him.  I carry mine around quite routinely as my phone constantly needs charging.

I meant a UK to US socket adapter thingamajig.

Maybe The Doctor just soniced it, like he did with Rose's in The End of the World, or whatever it was.

Having an unlimited battery upgrade on your phone would be worth going on at least one dangerous trip in the TARDIS!

[Replies From View]

I meant a UK to US socket adapter thingamajig.

Having an unlimited battery upgrade on your phone would be worth going on at least one dangerous trip in the TARDIS!

Maybe he already had an unlimited battery upgrade the last time he was in there.

[daf]

[daf]

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STEVEN MOFFATT @StevenWMoffat
RACHEL TALALAY @rtalalay
JAMI REID-QUARRELL @JReidQ
KATE WALSHE @MFXkate [Special Effects]
MIKE COLLINS @MIKECOLLINS99 [Storyboard Artist]
Twitter feeds combined link - #HellofaBird
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[Mister Six]

What a lovely, generous (and funny) thing to write.

Got a proper man-crush on Peter Capaldi.

[daf]

Part 1

STEVEN MOFFATT : Okay. So as with last time, I've prewritten and loaded some tweets in advance (including this one.) Which means batches will come through every few minutes, sometimes in a timey-wimey order. If I'm off on a rant, follow the numbering! Also tweeting live.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : Third time round, worried I'm getting boring. You were entitled to think you were rid of me 3 years ago. So make me interesting with BRAND NEW QUESTIONS (none of the ones from the attached article) on ‪#asksteven‬ ‪#HellofaBird‬



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RACHEL TALALAY :  Just taking a moment to thank the entire history of ‪#DoctorWHo‬ for leading up to this
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STEVEN MOFFATT : Background 1. It's an odd episode, so why do it all? I think it's generally liked, but two good friends have confided to me that they don't like it all (still my friends) and to be honest, there was probably quite a lot of "Will Dr Who be back on next week, Mummy?"
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STEVEN MOFFATT : BG2. So here's why. In 2014 I'd been writing Doctor Who for ten years, with then three seasons as showrunner. There were challenges enough, God knows, but I wanted to set myself some writing challenges. As showrunner, here's what you mainly write ...
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STEVEN MOFFATT : BG3 Ep 1s. Bombastic, highly sugared restatements of the show. It's back and it's loud and there's running!! Usually incredibly popular at the time, before fading quickly in the memory. Chocolate basically. Love ep 1s and (radical) every ep1 of Modern Who is superb.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : BG4. Finales. Great fun. It's the END OF THE UNIVERSE. Again. But WORSE. Ep1 finally gets out-bombasted. Writing at the top of your lungs for most of the second part.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : BG5. Christmas. It's the most Christmassy Christmas ever. Or rather it's Dr Who with a bit more Christmas. Maybe cos they're more "reluctant viewer friendly" these tend to divide the fans from non-fans - non-fans liking them way more! Divide clearest on Dr Mysterio.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : BG6. And of course there was always the endless rewriting and fixing and now and then you'd pop up mid-season with a basic bit of arc-maintenance - so eventually I missed just writing an episode. Esp quirky departures from the beaten path like I'd done for Russell.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : BG7 So with Capaldi I gave myself mid-season "experimental" episodes. Listen (the Dr once said "fear itself is largely an illusion"), Extremis (is the Dr smart enough to realise he's fictional - he wished us Merry Xmas once) and Heaven Sent - Dr No(body else.)
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STEVEN MOFFATT : BG8. Now whether this was a writer's craven vanity or an attempt to push the boundaries of the show (or both probably) I think it resulted in some pretty good episodes (YMMV obvs) and I think this is probably the best of them.
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RACHEL TALALAY : blood -- in doctor who!
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RACHEL TALALAY :  My understanding was that Steven originally pitched this idea as Capaldi alone in a haunted house with weeping angels.
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RACHEL TALALAY : After reading the first 10 pages of the script, it was clear the entire budget was blown. And so...onwar.. with the help of Pete Bennet and Brian Minchin — "there is no crying in filmmaking"...NO letting the Moff down.
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RACHEL TALALAY : When they first told me it was a one-hander, I thought they were kidding. duh!
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RACHEL TALALAY : i had to convince the prods that "I will never ever stop" was the place for the titles. They were later in the script
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RACHEL TALALAY : Steven's instructions were 'make it beautiful, make it scary" And no source of light, except the scripted firelight in the drying room.
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RACHEL TALALAY : We shot in Cardiff Castle, Caerphilly Castle and sets by the brilliant Michael Pickwoad. A lot of work to make the connections seamless. From one step to the next might be a set to a location, even within script sentences.
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RACHEL TALALAY : So, the first 10 pages of the script were so huge and complicated, they felt like the whole budget. It was a major challenge to figure out an affordable version, all very piranesi



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STEVEN MOFFATT : Dull fact!!! In the first draft the pretitles ended as now, with the Doctor's speech. In subsequent drafts I switched to the first appearance of Veil. In the edit we switched back to the original (and better) plan. Look, I told you it was dull.
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RACHEL TALALAY :  Oh, those flies. We bought rubber and plastic flies and tested them on fishing wire. We tried raisins. First AD Scott Bates was full of ideas - the fly-guy. He is the best!
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RACHEL TALALAY : The fly wrangler showed up and said the flies hadn't hatched. Producer Pete Bennet, who also did some 2nd unit and fly-shooting, exhaled a bit of smoke. "You had one job...".
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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : The graphics and look of the whole episode stunned me when I first saw it - truly epic
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RACHEL TALALAY : I believe Michael Pickwoads daughter did the Clara portrait.
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RACHEL TALALAY : We learned the Veil looked great out of focus. Learning as we went along.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : Always had this idea that the Dr jumps off the building before he figures out how he's going to survive the fall - he can't really concentrate till he's about to die (see the stellar cliffhanger of ep 1 of The Creature From The Pit.) This is me unpacking that.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : That Colony Sarff is a lot slower without his segway, isn't he?
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RACHEL TALALAY : The Bedroom. Peter Capaldi rehearsed the old woman story with gravity and pathos. it was beautiful scary and emotional. He was surprised when I asked him to try the scene with humour. But he loves experimenting. It was delightful
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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : That was a very important line - The Veil is female, according to the Doctors psyche/ memory
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MIKE COLLINS : Evening! The falling boards... Pretty sure every time I work with@rtalalay we drop the Doctor from a great height...

 


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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : I remember watching Peter falling through the sky - the effect was achieved in a very different way from what you'd think - probably the opposite in fact - more later
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MIKE COLLINS : Brilliant use of timing by @StevenWMoffat showing how fast the Doctor thinks...

 


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MIKE COLLINS : when I was boarding this, with @rtalalay we were getting the scripts in sections as @StevenWMoffat was writing it, so I had NO IDEA how the Doctor survived the fall! It was like getting a thrilling chapter play to work on
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RACHEL TALALAY :  we shot some of those falling closes up with Peter lying on a table. the producers of Lego Movie were visiting. I felt very Roger Corman.
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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : Love the mugging from Peter after 'how I survived '
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STEVEN MOFFATT : And Doctor Who glances at the camera. He KNOWS. He KNOWS he's in a TV show. Clever Doctor Who!! ‪#HellofaBird‬
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RACHEL TALALAY : some of my vfx notes on the complexity of the falling and underwater work



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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : So Peter skydiving with no parachute as Rachel documents here was not in harness and wires but with Peter lying on his back on a green screen platform and the rest was camera work and wind machine. So GOOD! The position he held wasn't easy either.
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MIKE COLLINS : Brucie bonus! My thumbnails for both sequences, drawn up for @rtalalay to go through and tweak before the final boards

 

[mjwilson]

Stolen Earth & Journey's End next, on Sunday.

[daf]

Part 2

RACHEL TALALAY :  We spent the better part of a day doing lighting tests in the tardis — yeah! whomp! Beat that!  ‪#HellofaBird‬
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STEVEN MOFFATT : The Doctor's red cuff button. Signature touch from Ray Holman, who also stitched red into Sherlock's lapel button hole. And you think I didn't notice, Ray!
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RACHEL TALALAY : The first scene - 3rd floor of Caerphilly castle -- one small round staircase - a lot of crew!
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RACHEL TALALAY : i wanted to keep tension in the kitchen - with the pots and pans rattling. All about textures. the small stuff.
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RACHEL TALALAY : Steven originally scripted the Garden as formal/classical. We had to dig the grave and we couldn't find a garden that would allow that. I asked about a scragging horror film garden. (Roger Corman in me?) Scarier.
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RACHEL TALALAY : Peter did a rehearsal of all the scene in the garden in Tom Baker's voice. Obviously I wish i had that on film.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : My son, Joshua, told me about a dream he had: there was tiny slug-like creature somewhere in the world. It was very far away and very slow, but it was inching closer to him all the time, and when it finally arrived he knew it would kill him. The origin of Veil.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : I have a memory that we didn't think the patch of dug earth the Doctor found was big enough. So we extended it digitally. We were aware - even then, I think - that this would one day be the DULLEST ANECDOTE EVER. Wake up! No, come back, COME BACK!!!
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RACHEL TALALAY : One of my visual references for Steven was German Expressionism. we did a lot of illogical things with light and shadow. It made the gaffer hesitate... but then embrace surreal.



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RACHEL TALALAY : the digging/garden scene was longer. We had Peter digging A LOT. Some back breaking...
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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : Did anyone not expect me at the door just then?
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RACHEL TALALAY : when I first read "I am in 12" I thought it might be Clara. I wanted to make sure I kept that mystery in the filmmaking.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : This TARDIS set. The best of the lot, I'm calling it, sorry. The genius work of the late Michael Pickwoad. The collective IQ of the human race dropped twenty points when he left us, and everything got a bit less kind.
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RACHEL TALALAY : Jenna was off during some of this material and we had to double her back. It didn't look great, so the genius grader, ‪@GarethSpensley ‬found other shots of her and cut her out and out her in the frame
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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : Rehearsing the grave scene, I was in my normal clothes, almost strangling Peter whilst looking in those clear eyes while he delivered that monologue. I had a goosebumps. Yep, the Veil had goosebumps!
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KATE WALSHE : @JReidQ is so creepy in this!!!!! but SO NICE IN REAL LIFE!!!
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MIKE COLLINS : The Evil Dead sequence! Coming through the wall....



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STEVEN MOFFATT : Well this is a strange bit of telly, isn't it? I mean, good, though.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : It's all the days they stay dead. That's not bad.
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RACHEL TALALAY : That line "The day you lose someone is not the worst...it's all the days they stay dead." Breaks me every time. [Miss you, Michael Pickwoad.]
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JAMI REID-QUARRELL :



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RACHEL TALALAY : There were some script changes in this area. I remember A LOT of skull shots and more running around Cardiff castle.
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KATE WALSHE : the fabric was quite tough to figure out - we ended up ordering in special fabrics from germany - it didn't arrive til super late in the day as time was so short



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STEVEN MOFFATT : Hell is just heaven for bad people. Added that line in ADR to justify the title (though really it's Clara who is heaven sent.)
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KATE WALSHE : sooo - stock skulls all sort of look the same so DID YOU KNOW that we made special skulls for Peter Capaldi?? we had a face cast of Peter and did some sort of reverse forensics on it carving back from his face to make a skull!



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STEVEN MOFFATT : The skull was actually based on Peter's head. That's an authentic Capaldi skull (what a lovely keepsake for him!) In moments of advanced delusion we worried the skull would too recognisable. Look, we were working HARD, okay?
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RACHEL TALALAY : yes, we did cast Peter's face for that skull.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : And that was Capaldi's face dissolving into his own skull - hell of a thing to do to your pal!
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RACHEL TALALAY : Caerphilly shoot day was near impossible. 7 sets — peter wet and dry. carrying stone cogs up single staircases. Drone shots. I was a wreck. I just wanted that table/soup scene which we had to shoot last. I was sure we'd run out of time - so stressful.
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RACHEL TALALAY : Colorist ‪@GarethSpensley ‬ built the shadow for the sliding door, because we couldn't afford it on the set. Big shoutout to his genius.
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RACHEL TALALAY : why does The Doctor go back up to the top of the tower?
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STEVEN MOFFATT : Our brilliant editor Will Oswald pointed out to me that there'd be no point in the Dr constantly writing BIRD in the dust because it would still be there from last time. Quite right. Damn. So we faked up the dust being blown (so erasing the words) in post production.
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RACHEL TALALAY : And Murray Gold's score. !!!!!!!! He saw the episode, called me and I don't remember what he said because Murray NEVER calls a director. Never. So that said it all. That AND his stunning work. Also the BBC Wales Orchestra and live musicians. Magic.
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RACHEL TALALAY : I think Peter was punching his high school PE teachers, frankly....
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RACHEL TALALAY : we shot all the tardis scenes in the first 3 days -- even bigger shout-out to Peter Capaldi's genius!
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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : When we filmed the battlements scene where the doctor realises how many times he has been through this, I had to emerge as the Veil through a hatch on the floor of the battlement roof.
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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : Between me, Lizzy and Kaz from millenium Fx we managed to choreograph a way of getting up a stepladder with thick prosthetic feet and an 8 foot high costume. Sadly, it didn't make the cut, probably for the best though!
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MIKE COLLINS : Rollover bonus! These are the actual sketches from my art book drawn while sitting discussing the scenes and taking direction from @rtalalay I then went away and translated them into something less... Squiggly..

‪ 
‬

[daf]

Part 3

RACHEL TALALAY : there's a edit in the closeups in this moment that breaks every editing rule -- and i love it. Will Oswald!
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STEVEN MOFFATT : Compare and contrast: what the Dr THINKS Clara would say to him (get up off your arse and win) and what the real Clara says in Hell Bent (why would you do that to yourself?) Weird thing - the best scene in Heaven Sent is in Hell Bent (Dr and Clara in the cloisters.) ‪#HellofaBird‬
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STEVEN MOFFATT : Love the Clara reveal. As scripted and shot, we see Jenna from the moment she starts talking. But I fell in love with Rachel's shot of Clara's hand to the Doctor's face, and we moved it there. Ooh, she's not just a Voice Over.
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RACHEL TALALAY : i knew Peter would break his hand after the tardis smashing in S08. Challenges.
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RACHEL TALALAY : Let's talk about editor Will Oswald.... that montage! Just that! sublime. He lost the Welsh Bafta to a sports documentary. WTH.
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RACHEL TALALAY : Also note Will Oswald temped the episode with Beethoven. It was almost as good as Murray Gold's score (insert emoji)
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RACHEL TALALAY : some of the burned face tests were truly horrifying. Right Kate Walshe?
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KATE WALSHE : I'll admit it is hard to achieve a family friendly crispy Capaldi [crying with laughter emoji]
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RACHEL TALALAY : Loved making Peter drag himself through the castellations of Cardiff Castles. The glamour!
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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : One of the hardest scenes to film in was approaching Peter in the corridor leading to the Azbantium wall. We filmed it multiple times. I had to time the slither, thump down the corridor to arrive at a different point in his monologue each time
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RACHEL TALALAY : Steven doubted the script was actually makable. He was even more sure it was a disaster after the first weekly assembly was a mess of partial scenes and incomplete moments. (I never watch those) He only told me that AFTER the episode was working. phew.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : We're into Murray's finest moment! And that's saying something. All The Strange, Strange Creatures, This Is Gallifrey, Doomsday, I Am The Doctor ... but The Shepherd's Boy tops the lot. You may have a different opinion - I'm fine with you being wrong.
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RACHEL TALALAY :  When I screened the directors cut for @StevenWMoffat, I was terrified I'd let down the brilliant script. Here are all the notes he wrote during the screening. Thanks to editor Will Oswald - unsung hero - for archiving.



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RACHEL TALALAY : can't type anymore. too absorbed in the writing and performance.
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RACHEL TALALAY : rewriting Bird in the sand was a nightmare because it never matched. Arguments about whether it mattered over 4.5 bn years.
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RACHEL TALALAY : for the montage, to make sure we had enough variety of shots, Scott Bates had to create his own numbering system. Sometimes only he and I understood what was going on. Or maybe we didn't.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : Peter Capaldi 1 Well, look. I think this is Dr Who's best composer's best work - thankyou Murray Gold - Dr Who's best director's best work - thanks Rachel - but what can we say about Peter Capaldi? First, lets be be clear. There's no such thing as the BEST Doctor...
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STEVEN MOFFATT :  PC2. All the Doctors are too good for ranking them to mean anything at all. I mean, think of your least favourite. Whatever you think of them, you could not - in all sanity - call them less than an excellent actor. Because they are all exactly that ...
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STEVEN MOFFATT : PC3 No one is going to be more inventive than Troughton, more charismatic than Tom, more charming and funny than David, more goofy-yet-wise than Matt, more instantly beguiling ("Oh, brilliant!") than Jodie etc (I could do them all) - those possibilities don't exist...
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STEVEN MOFFATT : PC4 Every sane Dr Who fan in the world (there are four of them, I made a list) knows that you could and should change your favourite Doctor every day. Sometimes twice a day. Why not, are you BUSY??
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STEVEN MOFFATT : PC5 But if a case had to be made for the best single performance by a Doctor, I'd make it for Peter in Heaven Sent. Astonishing. If Doctor Who became a real person, I think the Doctor would be Peter Capaldi. It's his birthday today. Happy 12th birthday, Doctor Who!!
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STEVEN MOFFATT : There may be other badass heroes, I suppose. But only Doctor Who deliberately times a story over 4.5 billion years of self harm and self-immolation just to maximise the impact of the final cuff-shoot-and-quip. ‪#HellofaBird‬ indeed. As he walks away: "I hope someone was WATCHING!!"
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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : I remember being amazed at Peters physical prowess. When I grabbed his head with my Veil hands, he knew exactly how to surrender his weight to fall safely but very convincingly each time
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RACHEL TALALAY : to test the Veil disintegrating, we popped helium balloons that were in the costume
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STEVEN MOFFATT : Originally, in script and shooting, Peter delivered his final "Bird" as he smashed the wall for the last time with his fist. Didn't quite work. A little time later we reshot so that he turns and delivers the last line once the wall is down. Better. Cooller.
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RACHEL TALALAY : the clueless look on that kid. No idea what Peter was saying. But what a face!!
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RACHEL TALALAY : Raybans. Gallifrey. Confessions. Hybrids.
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RACHEL TALALAY : Thank you  @StevenWMoffat for giving me this opportunity and challenge and ultimately my best piece of work (to date).
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KATE WALSHE : So good. I love Heaven Sent - since then I've become obsessed with escape rooms - coincidence? I think not....
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RACHEL TALALAY : Thank you all for taking this adventure with us. All of time and space. Stay home. Stay safe.
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STEVEN MOFFATT : Well that was good, I though. And what a choice for a lockdown viewing. Keep banging on that diamond wall - no, don't, stay home and stay safe.
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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : During an intense filming schedule ( filming another episode at the same time) Peter took a precious half hour while a shot was being set up to show my sister and nephews around the Tardis. Honestly the man is a saint.

‪ ‬

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JAMI REID-QUARRELL : Somewhere I also have a pic of Peter and myself in the Tardis where he towers over me - evens the score :)
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MIKE COLLINS : what a fabulous rewatch! Thanks to @Emily_Rosina for co ordinating all this (and all the other episodes too! Remarkable!) An honour to be part of it, thank you!



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JAMI REID-QUARRELL :  Well tweeting and watching was quite the tummy pat rub head so I'm gonna get on to reading Steven, Rachel's and your tweets and answer any questions that I can
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STEVEN MOFFATT : Anyway. Hope you enjoyed. Goodbye again, good luck, be kind. ‪#HellofaBird‬

[Thomas]

Thoroughly fascinating, love that ep.

But if a case had to be made for the best single performance by a Doctor, I'd make it for Peter in Heaven Sent. Astonishing. If Doctor Who became a real person, I think the Doctor would be Peter Capaldi.

Lovely. Peter's is the default face that comes to mind, quite by its own volition, when I think of the Doctor.

[notjosh]

Very grateful for these daf.

[Mango Chimes]

I love all that. Shows the flaws of this Tweetalong format, though. They're not interacting, because it's too difficult, and you've got two contrasting accounts of the placement of the opening credits that aren't discussed. A benefit is the storyboards and other images.