Doctor Who - Wild Blue Yonder - Visual Effects

Behind the Scenes of Wild Blue Yonder - Part Three

Excerpt from Benjamin Cook's article on Bernard Cribbins in DWM #598

It’s a crisp Monday morning in Camden Market, and all is OK with the world. Because it’s 16 May 2022 and, just for one day, Bernard Cribbins is back on Doctor Who. “Wilfred Mott! Now I feel better,” declares the Doctor, stepping out of the blue police box parked up on the cobbles. “Now nothing is wrong. Nothing in the whole wide world. Hello, my old soldier.” A pause. “Shall I give you a hug,” asks David Tennant, “before I say, ‘Hello, my old soldier’?” “Yeah, why not,” replies Bernard, sat in his wheelchair, centre stage, framed against the iconic TARDIS. “Give us a cuddle!” Clad in Wilf’s cozy brown coat and flat cap, Bernard is rehearsing the final, climactic scene of Wild Blue Yonder, the second of Doctor Who’s three 60th Anniversary Specials, alongside David Tennant and Catherine Tate. None of them knows it, but this will be Bernard’s last working day in a TV, film and theatre career that spans almost 80 years (he started work aged 14, at Oldham Rep in January 1943). It’ll also be Wilf’s final bow. “I never thought I’d see you again,” he tells the Doctor, welling up. “After all these years. Oh, Doctor, that lovely face.” A chuckle. “It’s like springtime… Is it David’s face I’m looking at?” queries Bernard. “Yes, you haven’t seen him in years,” the director, Tom Kingsley, jumps in, “and you could not be happier. You’re playing it just right, Bernard.” “Well,” says Bernard, “no acting required.” He’s genuinely delighted to be reunited with his Doctor Who co-stars, for the first time, on screen, in 13 years. “And that is just materialising, is it? – that thing?” he asks of the TARDIS. “Wilf’s been here, waiting?” “That’s right,” says Tom.

For other posts in this set, please see the #whoBtsWBY tag. The full episode list is [ here ]

Thank you to everyone who shared filming photos!

Behind the Scenes of Wild Blue Yonder - Part One

Excerpt from DWM #598

What could be better than a Doctor-Donna two-hander? A Doctor-Donna two-hander with two Doctors, two Donnas, and very big hands, of course. Emily Cook goes behind the scenes to discover the visual trickery of Wild Blue Yonder. “Russell always talked about wanting to do a two-hander,” says David Tennant. “So we knew it was probably coming, but until you get the script you don’t really know what’s in his head. There was this, and another script which didn’t materialise, which is still in his head.” “And we won’t say what the other one is,” teases Catherine Tate. “Just in case he does sit down and write it one day,” adds David. The script that did materialise is Wild Blue Yonder – a VFX-heavy technical puzzle of an episode. “Puzzle is a good word,” says director Tom Kingsley. “The first time I read it, I thought, this is really cool but whoever directs it is going to have an absolute nightmare. It’s very ambitious. There’s lots of visual trickery.”

I’ll post additional parts in the coming months with the  #whoBtsWBY tag. The full episode list is [ here ]

Behind the Scenes of Wild Blue Yonder - Part Four

Excerpt from Benjamin Cook’s article on Bernard Cribbins in DWM #598

Gareth announces that David and Catherine are on the travelator next. They take their positions. David runs on the spot and stretches his legs to warm up. Then he runs – fast – and propels himself off the runway. “I could always do the sprint,” he says, catching his breath. “Can’t do long distance. I peak too soon. It probably shows my impatience. I can just about manage the 200m, but anything beyond that… I’m probably slower than I was 12 years ago.” That’s disputable. The crane, which is carrying the camera, was too slow for David in the practice run just now. Either the crane has got to speed up or David has got to slow down. “How come Tom gets a techno crane?” Rachel Talalay – director of Special 1: The Star Beast – has popped in to see what’s going on and she’s impressed. “I’ve not seen this before. It looks amazing!” “Sometimes I’m a busy man,” says Tom [ Kingsley, director of Special 2: Wild Blue Yonder ], “sometimes I’m just a man waiting for a big crane.”

For other posts in this set, please see the #whoBtsWBY tag. The full episode list is [ here ]

Behind the Scenes of Wild Blue Yonder - Part Two

Excerpt from Benjamin Cook's Behind the Scenes of Wild Blue Yonder article in DWM #598

Today, David and Catherine are spending most of their time running up and down these corridors. It feels so very traditionally Doctor Who. There’s even a sign up in the studio, above a selection of storyboards, proclaiming it’s “Running Day”. Tom [Kingsley, director] is looking at the storyboards, framing the next shot. “My worry is he’s going to catch up with her quite quickly, so we need to start her further back.” “We’re going to do one more practice with the doubles,” announces 1st assistant director Gareth Tandy. There are two sets of Doctor and Donna doubles wandering around in costume today: stunt doubles Renato Gjini and Kim McGarrity and body doubles George Cheetham and Helen Langford. Plus the real David and Catherine, of course. Catch a Doctor or Donna out of the corner of your eye, and it’s hard to tell who’s who. “I think it’s weirder for other people than it is for us,” says Catherine. “Yes, because we know we’re not them,” says David, “whereas other people get confused. There is a requirement for doubles in this episode because we often have to be in the same shot twice.”

For other posts in this set, please see the #whoBtsWBY tag. The full episode list is [ here ]