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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Twenty-Three)

Excerpt from Radio Times' interview with Russell T. Davies on John Simm's Master - by Nick Griffiths:

"Well, he's a limitless actor," explains Davies. "That's all you're asking for. Because the part is dark and funny - very funny in places - and he's got to be agile and quick-witted. It's extremely hard to cast an actor in this country who can match up to David Tennant, especially on David's own show, but he and John together are just the perfect pairing. "John's not a great big strapping six-footer with a moustache, so it's not the image of a typical sci-fi villain, which suits it perfectly because there's so much more life and depth. To be real and contemporary and exciting - that's what you're looking for." You can't beat a legendary rivalry - this one even spilt over into real life, when Tennant and Simm compared gadget screwdrivers. Davies recalls, "David said it was outrageous to discover that John Simm's was bigger than his sonic screwdriver. Truly. I was getting texts from him: 'Have you seen the size of [Simm's] laser screwdriver?'"

Link to [ part one ] of this post, or click the #whoBtsLottl tag, or the [ full episode list ]

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Twenty-Two)

From the Radio Times interview with Freema Agyeman:

[ Describing a photo of David in a harness on the Valiant for his flying scene ] "David's on a harness, and we had a very strong stunt co-ordinator, Tom Lucy. David had to do some gliding across the room. He's been frozen, strung up, blown up - but he never, ever complains." Early on we were given camcorders by Doctor Who Confidential to document the whole experience. I started off with all the will in the world, but I've got an aversion to technology. David was fantastic, though; he always had it on set A lot of the DVD extras stuff is his. He's a proper A-grade student.

Link to [ part one ] of this post, or click the #whoBtsLottl tag, or the [ full episode list ]

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Nineteen)

Excerpt from TV & Satellite Week's interview with John Simm:

How did you get the role of Harold Saxon? I'd been talking to BBC producer Julie Gardner, who is responsible for both Life on Mars and Doctor Who, quite a bit over the last year or so about the possibility of me appearing on the show. We were trying to find something for me to do in Doctor Who. When they came up with the role of Harry Saxon I thought it was perfect. How did you hear the good news? Russell T Davies came up to Manchester where I was filming Life on Mars, and we had a top-secret midnight meeting in a hotel after a night shoot. Russell described what was going to happen and I was like, 'Yes, absolutely, I'll do that.'

Link to [ part one ] of this post, or click the #whoBtsLottl tag, or the [ full episode list ]

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Twenty-One)

From the Radio Times interview with Freema Agyeman:

[Freema describing a photo of David as the aged Doctor] This was shortly after David [Tennant - yes, that's him!] came on set. I was going, 'Oh my God, you look so sweet and so vulnerable - like a cute little old man.' And he whispered something really lechy. It really cracked me up. I thought, 'That dispels any sweet old man stuff!" This is Neill Gorton of Millennium FX finishing off David's make-up. When David walked on set the reaction was huge. First there was this stunned silence, then everyone roared with appreciation. Some people couldn't even talk to him properly, saying things such as, 'It's not like it's you I'm talking to'.

Link to [ part one ] of this post, or click the #whoBtsLottl tag, or the [ full episode list ]

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Twenty)

Excerpt from TV & Satellite Week's interview with John Simm:

Are you a fan of the show? When I was a kid I was a fan. I'm not a sci-fi maniac or anything, but I enjoy the show, so it's very exciting and an honour to be in the Tardis. It was great filming the two episodes. Is your five-year-old son Ryan proud of you being a Doctor Who baddie? He is obsessed with the show, so wouldn't have forgiven me if I hadn't taken the part. I would never be able to show my face in the house again. That's the wonderful thing about the new Doctor Who - it's something that you sit down with your family and watch.

Thank you to everyone who shared filming photos!

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Sixteen)

From the Region 2 DVD commentary featuring David Tennant, Freema Agyeman, and John Barrowman - discussing the scene where the Doctor levitates:

John Barrowman: Foils is the company that's going to fly you in a a second,  isn't it?

David Tennant: Yeah, I was on wires.  Nobody told me!  I thought we were doing all this on green screen.  I turned up that day and some burly bloke comes into my caravan saying, "Right, we've gotta get your harness on."

JB: It's the same company who flies for a lot of shows and theatre stuff

DT: Right, right

Freema Agyeman: Oh really?

DT: It was a very small harness.  I mean, we do wire work a lot on these shows, but...

JB: I recall, you'd said it wasn't particularly comfortable

DT: This was the least comfortable one ever because it was the smallest one. There was no support.  And also it was the end of the season, you know, I was falling apart by this time. [Laughs] I already had a bad back and a...

JB: Was the support on the center of your back lower or upper?

DT: It wasn't on the center, there was only 1 on each side.

JB: Ah, so you were held from the waist?

DT: Yeah. It was just a big pair of pants, really.

FA: [giggles]

DT: [as the Doctor glides across the screen] There I'm bracing my back so that I don't kick forward.  Just to stay upright was... [on screen the Doctor lands] I'm off it now.

FA: Awww, well done you!  I remember the first time you glided across, you started laughing, which started everybody else off laughing.  We were laughing, "Right - How'll we get through this?"  But then you turned professional - one time laugh that was it.

DT: It's so epic that it's difficult to, sort of... you know... you have to kind of meet the epicness of the moment, don't you?  And sometimes that takes a couple of goes.

Thank you to everyone who shared set photos!

Link to the first part of this set is [ here ], or click the #whoBtsLottl link on my post

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Eighteen)

Excerpts from Doctor Who Magazine #385 - article by Benjamin Cook:

Freema Agyeman: After just a day working with us, Rene Zagger, who played Padra [in Utopia], looked at the three of us and - don’t get me wrong, David has his funny, naughty side as well - but Rene said, ‘Right, you’re the sensible one,’ pointing at David, ‘and you’re the naughty one,’ pointing at John, ‘and you,’ he said, pointing at me, ‘are easily led astray!’”

Dave Houghton (on creating the CGI aged Doctor): We were referencing characters like Yoda and Gollum as you want him to not only look old but also wizened and, to a degree, cute. You’ve got to find the character attractive, otherwise it’s just not something you want to empathize with. JC, our lead animator and the designer of the Old Doctor, then filmed a motion capture shoot with David Tennant in order to capture David’s natural body motion and facial expressions. This process involved sticking small balls to David’s face, which Marianne our production assistant found most pleasing!  We then filmed him acting out the part, before tracking the balls in the computer and using that as a basis for the animation. 

Thank you to everyone who shared set photos!

Link to [ part one ] of this post, or click the #whoLottl tag (I’d link it but that seems to break Tumblr), or the [ full episode list ]

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Seventeen)

Excerpts from Doctor Who Magazine(s) on casting John Simm:

Russell T. Davies: He was cast before the script was even written... Right from the start, we decided that the Master would have to be a huge name. A huge name is a huge talent, and we wanted someone who could truly stand up to David on screen. There aren’t many who can do that. Also, frankly, we knew that a big name would be fairly possible, because whenever we’ve asked any leading actor to take a part, invariably they’ve replied, ‘Can I be the Master?’ Since Julie [Gardner] had commissioned Life on Mars, she’d been to many a readthrough with John, and he was the  only person approached (DWM 384)

John Simm: Julie was trying to find something for me to do in Doctor Who.  I kept saying, “Look, I’m not being painted blue!’ And then Julie and Russell came down to Manchester when I was filming Life on Mars, met me in a bar after a night shoot, and said, ‘What about the Master?’  As soon as they said that, I was like, ‘You’re kidding? Oh yeah!’ I got really excited about it. But I just had to sit on the news. I wanted to tell people, ‘I’M GOING TO BE THE MASTER!’ But it’s a secret, isn’t it? To come clean, the main reason that I had to do Doctor Who is my little boy... He’s obsessed with it. It’s the thing that we sit down and watch, you know? So there was no way that I could have passed up the opportunity. (DWM 384)

John Simm: “And David Tennant I really respect. Make no mistake about it, if it weren’t someone like him playing the Doctor, I wouldn’t be doing it. (DWM 416)

David Tennant: “His Master is such an embodied creation. He’s terrifying, because he’s so insane in it. I felt very honored to have him, because he’s such a class act, and because I can’t imagine anyone else playing the Master. (DWM 416)

Link to [ part one ] of this post, or click the #whoBtsLottl tag (I’d link it but that seems to break Tumblr), or the [ full episode list ]

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Fifteen)

Excerpt from Doctor Who Magazine #385 - Freema Agyeman interviewed by Benjamin Cook:

One of Freema’s highlights of working on Doctor Who is the rapport that she established with her co-star, David Tennant. “He’s as warm, and as welcoming, and as friendly as he was on day one,” she enthuses. “Obviously, as an actor, you get to know each other better. You spot each other’s little ways, even if it’s just where you stand; whether it’s more comfortable to stand to his left or his right. That’s definitely got easier. The first couple of days, I kind of felt like a spare part, kind of hanging on the end... where as now I kind of feel like we’re a unit.”

What has Freema learnt from - and about - David?

“From him, I’ve learnt that it’s possible to do a job, as he did for nine months, and never complain once. Any time that you complain, or other people complain, it’s unnecessary, cos I’ve witnessed a man work for nine months without a moan. To have the energy and enthusiasm, every day, to be up for it, tirelessly, is just such an incredible thing to watch - and to learn from, cos this has been my first big TV job. On the first day of filming, David wasn’t there, it was just me on my own, and I remember thinking, ‘Thank God! I’d feel extra nervous if I were working with David.’ But then what happened over the course of filming was that the days when he wasn’t in were the days I was kind of thinking, ‘Oh. Where’s David? Hmpf!’ I began to feel more comfortable when he was there, cos he’s a reassuring person to have as a friend. He’s like a safety net. I’m not saying I couldn’t work without him being there, but I began to... not rely on him, but it began to become such an easy partnership that it was really a no-brainer. He loves what he does.

Thank you to the people who shared set photos!

Previous parts are available here: [one] [two] [three] [four] [five] [six] [seven] [eight] [nine] [ten] [eleven] [twelve] [thirteen] [fourteen]

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Fourteen)

Excerpt from Doctor Who Magazine #385 - Benjamin Cook talking to David Tennant about filming the Master’s death:

Never mind the actual filming, though. Even at the read-through, David shed real tears. “It depends how carried away you get, to be honest,” he says. “Sometimes you just kind of get into it, and you start playing the scene, and there’s always something very exciting about playing the scene for the first time, on whatever level that is. With Doctor Who, because of the kind of brio that it comes with, it’s quite difficult to underplay it. It’s quite difficult to just mumble though a read-through. It has a certain attack to it that ends up taking over. Even if you think, ‘Oh, I’m just gonna take this read-though easy,’ you do, by the end of it, tend to be playing the scene for all it’s worth.”

Does David ever have an off day? He must, surely?

“Oh yeah,” he nods. “I think so, yeah. There are lots of bits that I’d like to do again. But that’s the case with everything that I’ve ever done. That’s part of what it is to do this job. Sometimes the scenes that you think you’ve nailed, don’t seem quite as special as you thought they were, and the ones that you thought you’d busked you way though are the ones that can be the most alive. There is a kind of alchemy to it that’s very difficult to quantify. I suppose that’s what makes it an art form, rather than an exact science.”

Previous parts are available here: [one] [two] [three] [four] [five] [six] [seven] [eight] [nine] [ten] [eleven] [twelve] [thirteen]

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Thirteen)

From the Region 2 DVD commentary featuring David Tennant, Freema Agyeman, and John Barrowman

David Tennant: I should maybe mention my jealousy over John's screwdriver [John Simm, playing the Master with a laser screwdriver]

Freema Agyeman  & John Barrowman: [laughing] Yeah!

David: [excitedly] Look at the size of that thing!

Freema: He was really jealous

David: And it had a button that you pressed and it shunked out the top!  By this stage in the season as well, mine is held together with Super Glue, it doesn't slide up and down anymore...

John: [gently] David, you have a little screwdriver envy

David: [laughs]

John: I'm sorry

Freema: It's an oldie but a goodie!

John: It's an oldie but a goodie

David: I did find myself... trying to laugh it off

John: Not! [laughs]

Freema: Brilliant!  They've got to bring a toy out of that

John: No they can't!

Freema: Not saying it will out-sell your sonic screwdriver or anything!

John: They shouldn't bring the Master's toy out! That's the evil toy

Freema: Oh yeah, it's bad huh?  Yeah but he wasn't all bad. Just a bit mad

David: He was pretty much all bad

John: Yeah!

David: He was pretty much the definition of 'all bad'.

Thank you to everyone who shared set photos!

Previous parts are available here: [one] [two] [three] [four] [five] [six] [seven] [eight] [nine] [ten] [eleven] [twelve]

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Twelve)

Excerpt from Doctor Who Magazine #397

John Barrowman: “People say to me, ‘How does Jack become the Face of Boe?’ My answer is, go back to Utopia, when Jack and the Doctor talk about the ways that Jack has died.”  Jack has been immortal since the end of Series One, owing to his botched resurrection by Bad Wolf Rose. “He’s been shot, poisoned, struck by a javelin, fallen off a cliff... well, why not decapitated, then?” Russell has admitted that he was apprehensive of how John would take this particular plot development. He needn’t have worried. “I loved it!  David and I were on set, filming Utopia, and we had the script to the final episode, but I hadn’t read it, because I don’t like to read scripts until we go into the readthrough. David kept coming to my trailer in the lunch break and saying, 'Have you read it?’ I’d keep saying, ‘No.’ He’d ask the same the next day. He said, ‘There’s something so amazing in it. You’re going to wet yourself when you see what’s coming.’ I thought, right, I’m going to put the boy out of his misery. I read it the following day. Halfway through my lunch break, I ran to David’s trailer, banged on his door. ‘OH! MY! GOD!!!’ And David screamed back, ‘ISN’T IT AMAZING?!!!’ We just jumped around like idiots. And then I rang Russell and said, ‘Were you high?’ What a great idea!

Thank you to everyone who shared set photos!

Previous parts are available here: [one] [two] [three] [four] [five] [six] [seven] [eight] [nine] [ten] [eleven]

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Eleven) 

Excerpt from Doctor Who Magazine #385 - article by Benjamin Cook:

What qualities did showrunner Russell T Davies want the current incarnation of the Master to retain?

“The basics, really,” says Russell. “His charm, his wit, even his sexuality, which we saw as far back as The Time Monster [1972]. I wanted to stress that he’s the opposite of the Tenth Doctor, with his own TARDIS, albeit stolen, his own companion, who’s also his wife - blonde, like an evil Rose - and his own screwdriver, and even his own suit, to mirror David’s. A black costume always seems to work; he’d just look odd in beige. We took some photos of him in an ordinary suit, for Saxon’s pre-election days, for the Saxon website, and he looked so un-Masterly.”

“The beard was discussed at infinite length,” remembers Russell. “It was on, it was off, John wanted it, then didn’t, I didn’t, then did - but in the end we decided that, in stripping everything down to basics, it just wasn’t needed.  Also, I always loved the Master’s power of hypnosis, and took that up a notch  with Archangel. What else? Sadly, we never got in the words, ‘I am the Master, and you will obey me’ - but you can kind of assume that that was happening on a global scale. Oh, and the tissue compression eliminator! Damn, I’d love to have included that. I really did give it some hard thought, but the Master, in the end, has so many gadgets and surprises - the Toclafane, the Paradox Machine, the laser screwdriver, the Doctor’s hand - that I just thought it was a bit heavy-handed if he suddenly whipped out yet another weapon. ‘By the way, I’ve also got this!’ But I’m sure that there was a tissue compression eliminator in his pocket all along. Maybe that’s how he got rid of the bodies from the Cabinet Room? Yes, the wheelie bin at the back of Number 10 is full of little gassy dolls in suits!”

Thank you to everyone who shared set photos!

Previous parts are available here: [one] [two] [three] [four] [five] [six] [seven] [eight] [nine] [ten]

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Ten) 

Excerpt from Doctor Who Magazine #385 - article by Benjamin Cook:

Now, this really is top secret: DWM is on st for the recording of the final scene of Episode 13, where the Titanic smashes though the TARDIS wall, leading seamlessly into this year’s Christmas Special, Voyage of the Damned. “Anyone who’s not supposed to be here, please leave,” requests Peter Bennett, the first assistant director.

“So where do I fall?” asks David. “If I flick a switch on the TARDIS, then - bang!”

“Let’s not kill ourselves,” suggests Colin, helpfully, as two colossal canons are filled with debris, flotsam, and jetsam, just itching to be fired all over David and the TARDIS set at Upper Boat. “If this works, we should play on. Now, where’s the lifebelt going?”

“We don’t wanna make it too obvious,” points out Phil Collinson, the producer. “We don’t want it to land bang on his head!”

David’s knees and elbows are padded for the take. “I feel like an armadillo,” he says.

“You fall here,” explains soundman Julian Howarth, “just in front of the microphone, and you say, ‘What? What?!” And then you pick up the lifebelt...”

“You do, I suppose,” considers David, when DWM asks him whether he has to be in good shape to play the Doctor, “but that’s partly choice as well.  I think you can choose how energetic you want your Doctor to be.” He runs this over in his mind. “I don’t know whether that’s true - there’s always gonna be a bit of running about, isn’t there?  I do tend to add in a bit of... no, do I? That’s probably not true either.” He bursts out laughing. “What is true is that the schedule is relentless, so you need to be disciplined. The scripts just keep coming, and the Doctor talks a lot, and sometimes it’s not the easiest stuff to memorise, so it’s difficult to keep on top of it all.”

Thank you to everyone who shared set photos!

Previous parts are available here: [one] [two] [three] [four] [five] [six] [seven] [eight] [nine]

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords  (Part Nine) 

Excerpt from Doctor Who Magazine #385 - David Tennant interviewed by Benjamin Cook:

Does [ being a CGI creature for 25 page ] mean he gets a week off?

"The short answer is, I do. Yes. I finish a week before everybody else. I’m filming all of [episodes] 12 and 13 in three very, very intense weeks!  I’ve already recorded the lines for the little Yoda Doctor, so that’s 20-odd pages that I don’t have to be on set for. I had little spots stuck all over my face, and did that thing where you pull the expressions and they record everything. They’re going to matte my face onto this little homonculus creature. I had to do it full-length just to give them a reference of movement, and then just the face - not moving very much, but doing the lines.”

Talking of just the face, one of the story’s more surprising twists tickled Mr Tennant in particular. “The fact that Captain Jack turns out to be the Face of Boe just seems so utterly perfect,” chuckles David. “I really want to quiz Russell as to when he figured out that he could do that, because the Face only existed in the first place sort of by chance. It nearly got written out [of 2005′s The End of the World], so the fact that it’s become so integral, and that Captain Jack is Boe, is just perfect. I hooted when I first read that. I often wonder with Russell how much of it all just falls into place at three in the morning.”

Thank you to everyone who shared set photos! [ Link to gifs of David recording for the CGI Doctor ]

Previous parts are available here: [one] [two] [three] [four] [five] [six] [seven] [eight] Other behind-the-scenes photosets are available here

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Behind the scenes of The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords (Part Seven)

Excerpt from Doctor Who Magazine #385 - Any Effects’ Danny Hargreaves (Special Effects Supervisor) interviewed by Benjamin Cook:

DWM: What was the toughest thing to get right?

Danny: There were many problematic moments - mostly involving the main artists, for obvious reasons. When we blew up Martha’s flat, for instance, you have David, Freema, and John running out of the building, just before the blast. That kind of stuff’s very taxing: it’s not like we just turn up and rig the explosion! It takes weeks of preparation, evaluation, and conversation with production. We did several tests the day before and used a gas explosion, which makes it much more controllable than a pyro blast. That, together with factors like building a fire-protective box just inside the window, makes it possible to use the main artists. They were all smiling afterwards! The scene in which Jack fires at the TARDIS’ central column was also difficult, seeing as the TARDIS is quite a flammable set!

DWM: Was that the most nerve-wracking moment?

Danny: No, that was probably the scene in which police fire though the back window of a car with Martha driving, the Doctor in the passenger seat and Captain Jack in the back! Once again, you’re dealing with the three main artists, so it’s very problematic. I was on the floor, in a very uncomfortable position, triggering the bullet-hits, using the actors’ dialogue as my cues. I was hidden at John’s feet and climbing all over them, which he found hilarious!

Previous parts are available here: [one] [two] [three] [four] [five] [six] [seven] [eight] Other behind-the-scenes photosets are available here

Thank you to everyone who shared set photos!