Tuesday, 21 September 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
September 21, 2004 • Posted By Shaun Lyon
Tonight's images from the filming in Monmouth feature shots of
Christopher Eccleston and guest star
Simon Callow, in their costumes, awaiting their takes. The photos are dark, obviously, taken without flash from the side of filming in the town, but are the first photos we know of featuring both Eccleston and Callow together. We hope to bring more to you tomorrow. (Thanks to Roger Anderson of the
Cuttings Archive)
September 21, 2004 •
Posted By Shaun Lyon Production has moved out of Swansea (where only one night's filming was done) to the eastern Wales town of Monmouth. As the production commences -- and we must remind people to make sure they don't use flash photos if they happen to be in town -- we have our first handful of photos out of Monmouth from the setup of the town sets; click for a larger version. (Thanks to Jonathan Knibbs)
September 21, 2004 •
Posted By Shaun LyonUpdated 2030 GMT with new photos (Mount, "Andrew") and larger/better versions of others (Graham)
Here's a new collection of photos from the Swansea filming last evening, both at dusk and in the evening. (One of the photographers notes that some of the blur is due to having to shoot at a distance without a flash on.) We're getting larger versions of the ones by Chris Graham as of the time of writing (they should all be updated later today); meanwhile, you'll notice some of the set trappings including playbills, horse-drawn carriages, and local color. Click on each for a larger version. (Thanks to Paul Mount, Chris Graham and "Andrew"/Kiteroft69)
September 21, 2004 •
Posted By Shaun Lyon Today's "This Is South Wales" features a full article about the filming in Swansea over the past two days. "Snow covered the streets of Swansea last night," says the article. "But this wasn't more bad weather for the city - time lord Dr Who had landed his Tardis in the Maritime Quarter as part of his latest TV adventure." It mentions that "fake snow covered the road between Adelaide Street and Pier Street, as well as along the whole of Cambrian Place, Burrows Place and Gloucester Place, as the area was transported back to 1869. Horses and carriages helped to bring the scene to life as it went through a 19th Century makeover. Filming lasted for much of the night." The article also confirmed that
Simon Callow was a part of the production, playing the role of Charles Dickens as previously reported -- and it does confirmed that this is indeed episode 3 of the new series written by
Mark Gatiss; extrapolating from available information, this is likely the fourth or fifth episode being filmed (as part of the "second block," directed by Euros Lyn). You can read the full article by
clicking here. (Thanks to "lchrisl")
September 21, 2004 •
Posted By Shaun Lyon Outpost Gallifrey has been asked to relay the following to fans who have been showing up at the location filming sessions in Cardiff, London, Swansea and elsewhere: "If you are going along to watch filming, can you please keep an eye out for people using flash photography, and ask them politely not to? If used during takes it can ruin complicated set-ups, and, in particular it can also scare the horses being used in these scenes." Thank you for your cooperation.
At last... some new photos for location filming work from the Swansea filming location. Due to the inability of photographers to use flash (for obvious reasons; it's an active set!) the photos are very dark, but we've been able to adjust the color and brightness as much as we could so readers can at least make out some detail on the night shots. The daytime shots are from the set-up for filming in the area; the evening shots include horse-drawn carriages and local color. Click on the photos for larger versions of each; meanwhile, click on the spoiler tag for two additional set reports.
Update: the spoiler section has been further updated with more set reports from last night's shoot. (Thanks to Steven Morgan, Steven Howlett, Ian Golden, John Campbell Rees)
In one scene outside the pub Rose runs to the horse drawn hearse shouting "Oi what are you doing". When she gets to the herse she looks inside to see ???? (dead body ?). The Victorian owner ? of the herse runs around the herse and comes and grabs her from behind and suffocates her. Then with another girl they lift Rose into the hearse. The girl screams "What did you do".
The following scene (presumably) has the Doctor run out of the theatre shouting "ROSE", he calls/confronts the driver of the hearse (I think) and then climbes inside a carriage shouting "follow tat herse". During the scene Charles Dickens runs after the Doctor demanding to know "what that hobgoblin was".
Another scene has a mass exit of terrified patrons from the cinema with The Doctor and Rose in pursuit ?
There were carols being sung in another scene. There was also a lot of fog on set - is this the gaseous enemy ?
Mark Gatiss said hello to us as well ! We asked him for the title of the episode and I think he said (jokingly) The Monsters !
BTW I have been told that one episode feature 9 blue child aliens.
--Steven Morgan
I arrived at the Marine Quarter of Swansea at 9pm, where the technical crew were busy giving the mid September streets a dusting of artificial snow. Given a keen wind from the marina, it seemed cold enough for the real thing. A reasonable sized crowd had build up outside the Swansea Museum to watch the filming. A half a dozen different horse drawn vehicles were parked by the museum, including a stunning Victorian hearse, drawn by a pair of black stallions with black feather plumes in their mains.
At 9:p.m., both Julie Gardner and Russell T. Davies arrived, followed by a gaggle of press photographers, Mark Gatiss was somewhere in the vicinity, unfortunately I did not spot him tonight. I noticed that RTD was talking animatedly to a camera at this point, and as I think it is unlikely to be another Wales Today feature, then this must be for Making Of feature for the inevitable DVD release of the new series.
Shortly afterwards, at 9:m car dropped Simon Callow off by the Swansea Museum, and a host of costumed extras came trailing after him, ready to take up their places. The first scene shot was a short establishing scene featuring Callow as Dickens being wished a "Merry Christmas" by a passer-by as Dickens walked past along a crowded street, in a flurry of acrid fake snow. There were two brief rehearsals of this shot, and then straight to a take. After a short break, the scene was filmed again from the opposite camera angle. With this shot in the can, the action moved a few yards down Gloucester Place to a scene featuring Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper.
Piper was wearing a period evening dress, consisting of a full red skirt and black basque top with a grey coat an hair up decorated with a red feather. Eccleston was in his standard brown leather jacket, black shirt and black trousers, thus ending speculation that his Doctor would appear in a more traditional doctorish outfit in this story. In this seen, the Doctor and Rose are walking towards the Queens Hotel, deep in conversation, the stop to let a horse drawn vehicle pass, when the Doctor spots a newspaper seller, and switches direction, leaving Rose to hitch up her skirts and go charging after him. During the first take, Billie tripped on the hem of her skirts and almost went flying, proving that she, like Peri in Mark of the Rani is not used to "flouncing around in skirts". On the next two takes, all went smoothly, and the actors disappeared whilst the cameras and lighting was re-arranged. When filming was due to start again, almost as soon as the director had shouted "action", a very modern burglar alarm in a nearby building filled the street with an anachronistic squeal, delaying filming for a costly ten minutes. It must have been a false alarm, as it would have been a very foolish criminal who would try anything given the large number of uniformed police officers in the vicinity.
At this point I had to make my way home, however, I was impressed by what I saw. My feeling is that this is quite early in the story. My friend Tim Farr told me that the Lee Electrical vans and a van belonging to Any Effects Limited had been seen parked outside Cardiff's New Theatre on Sunday, 19th September, and it is likely that filming inside that Edwardian building, which could easily pass as Victorian took place on that day. Given the way that Rose is dressed, and the brisk pace Callow's Dickens adopted in his scene, I speculate that the Doctor is taking Rose to see one of Dickens' famed readings, and this was filmed at the weekend.
--John Campbell Rees
As I said, not much too see. I went down at about 7pm, which is the time they asked the pub to close in order to start adding the snow effect to the buildings. As expected, the area was closed off, but if was quite surprising how close to the "action" you could get.
If you look closely, you can make out the addition of some street furniture such as carts, crates and barrels etc. The street lamps are original for this area.
--Steven Howlett
I'm from Swansea so I couldnt' wait to get down to the marina last night for the filming. I left work at 9pm, picked up my mate and off we went. As we entered Swansea we passed a guy dressed like Tom Baker (very funny) and proceeded to the marina filming area, trying to ask police to let us in to no avail. We witnessed a scene with Simon Callow, but I'm sorry to say that it was my mate who caused the scene to be filmed twice as his dig camera's flash was not on night mode. Oh dear. I was very impressed between takes; they looked like they were getting on graet with Chris at one point warming Billie up by hugging her closely, and at one point they were both doing funny walk impressions. All in all a very good night... if only we'd seen the TARDIS!
--Richard HancockSFX Magazine has a small collection of six photos from last night's filming session, with more promised in the next issue of their magazine. Below is one of the photos, of a horse-drawn carriage (reprinted with permission from SFX; click on the image for a larger version). To see the other photos and the story that accompanies,
click here; the photos include "snow" being blown onto the rooftops and other night images from the production. (Thanks to Ian Berriman / SFX)
Monday, 20 September 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
As we previously reported, the production team for the new Doctor Who series will be on location this coming week in Swansea for several days filming parts of the adventure that takes place in 1869, before moving on to Monmouth for more location work (as we noted a few days ago). "From Monday the "old section" of Swansea's Maritime Quarter will be used to film a 19th-century scene featuring actor Simon Callow as Charles Dickens," says an
article on icWales. "Artificial snow will be sprayed onto Adelaide Street and Gloucester Place, around Swansea's five-star Morgan's Hotel. And horses and carriageways will be brought in to add atmosphere to what is intended as a Christmas scene." (Thanks to Steve Tribe, Paul Engelberg, Gil Williams, Howard A. Treesong)
Monday, 20 September 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
Saturday's Daily Mirror had a feature on some spoilers about the new series' Dalek stories... or, rather, rumored appearances of the metal nasties that could be serious - or could be purloined from online sources. (They sound suspiciously like speculation in our Forum, in fact...) Check out the details in the
spoiler tag to read the details from the paper.
The BBC may have shelled out a whopping ú250,000 for the right to use The Daleks in the new series of Dr Who - but the metal monsters only pop up in one episode.
And when the big moment comes, in the eighth instalment, there's only one of them. It turns out he's a bit of an antique who has survived on a space station where he is killing off the crew one by one.
And gasp, that's the only time we'll clap eyes on the old-style daleks.
When they next appear, in the 13th and final episode, their shuttlecock shapes have been redesigned for the 21st century. Our sci-fi snoop revealed 'They have evolved into terrifying things that look a bit like spiders'. Eek.
Monday, 20 September 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
Several of our Forum users have posted set reports from the filming on Sunday evening and today in Swansea, which (along with the forthcoming visit to Monmouth) doubles as 19th century Britain for one of the episodes of the new series. Click on the spoiler tags to read the four (to date) set reports posted in the Outpost Gallifrey forum. (Thanks to Paul Mount, John J Moran, Ian Golden and "Facethemusic")
Just paid a visit to Swansea, filming is taking place tonight, around the back of the Evening Post newspaper building. To be honest it was only around 4pm,so there was not much to see apart from props trucks unloading, the vans carrying the fake snow arriving and members of the crew painting the nearby pub with black paint and putting up new light posts more suited to the era the story is set in.
Did have a nice word with one of the security men present, who was having a hell of a time getting members of the public away from the area and cars to stop trying to go through where filming is due to take place! He told me that the story is set in 187?(cant remember the exact date,sorry), and is set in Cardiff, also he has been with the crew since filming began back in july,and is sick of members of the public calling out"where are the daleks then?!",and also the cheers and photograph flashes that seem to happen whenever a certain police box arrives on set!
He was saying that there would be quite a big police presence around that evening,and they were waiting for the horses/carriages to arrive,i said that this must be costing quite a bit of money to which he replied,"****ing millions!","if this flops BBC Wales might as well close down!".But he seemed very enthusiastic about what he has seen so far,and stated that he has been on many film/TV shoots in the past but has never seen anything like the work that has gone into this series, he was not sure if "Chris (as he called him) Eccleston" would be around tonight but was sure Billie Piper was involved.
On the subject of Chris(!) Eccleston, he also told me he was with him last night in Cardiff, so I don't know if it was just rehersals or were they filming yesterday? Took some photographs of the scene, but as there was not too much to see apart from the lorries unloading, crew members milling around and security putting up no entry signs I don't think its worth putting them on the site.
Nevertheless, enjoyed my brief moment of time there, and I hope this story is going to be as good as the security guard I spoke to seems to think it is!
--Garry J / "Facethemusic"
Just got back from where tonights fiming is taking place in Swansea. Several streets had been closed off with a thin layer of snow covering the entire area. There are a large number of extras, along with several coach & horses on site. Compared to the scenes filmed in Cardiff Shopping Centre, the crew present appeared to be on a much larger scale. A crane was also present, which was blowing fake snow everywhere on the set.
First thing to confirm is that both Billy & Chris were filming scenes. We were quite a distance from the actors but it appeared that Chris was still wearing the leather jacket. Billy however appeared to be dressed in Victorian Costume. I watched a scene repeated several times of them walking down a street, with Chris appearing to suddenly dart off to the right, following a horse & hearse carriage.
The other scene I caught glimpses of, were of what looked like Simon Callow, in victorian regalia again, walking from a street, straight towards a close up to a camera in a snow blizzard. On the take for this scene, someone took a photo behind where I was standing, using a flash. The scence had to be halted, with Phil Collinson approaching the gathered crowd, pleading for people not to use flash photography as in this instance, the scene would have to be filmed again.
Sorry but I have no photos, though I daresay a number will be on the site within the next few hours as there was a sizeable crowd present, with the majority taking a number of photos. The whole set looked extremely impressive & atmospheric. No sign of the Tardis anywhere though!
--John J Moran
I saw both of those scenes as well... Simon Callow wishing someone Merry Christmas and the Doctor and Rose scene which looks like it's early on in the episode as the Doctor grabs a newspaper. Perhaps he's looking to see what date it is... or something more mysterious.
The Doctor rushing off and almost leaving Rose behind was a great "Doctor" moment and shows how dedicated RTD is to the character.
Sorry there's not more to report. My eyes are still stinging after getting a face full of fake snow - it's a bit like sand!
--Ian Golden
Just back from the Swansea shoot and can confirm the above posts. I actually managed to position myself in the pub, the Queen's Head (I think!) and had aan extremely close view of the action but sadly wasn't able to take pics due to the close proximity of loads of BBC types, including dozens of extras in full Victorian regalia (and even they were forbidden from taking cameras - or pets??!! - onto the set).
Quite simply it was a breath-taking shoot. The streets looked amazing covered in extremely realistic snow and the attention to detail was quite staggering - extras dressed as Victorian gentlemen and women, street urchins, policemen, draymen, prostitutes, sailors. Simon Callow appeared fairly early in the evning in full Dickensian makeup and sporting a thick beard. His one scene seemed to involve striding along the snowy streets, acknowledging passersby and crossing in the general direction of a building made up as the Taliesyn Halls, a theatre in 1870s Cardiff (where the story appears to be set). Chris and Billie arrived around 10pm, Chris in his usual gear, Billie in a stunning black Victorian dress.Both looked in superb spirits, laughing and joking together and clearly enjoying each other's company and the filming in general (reinforced by favourable comments from production crew I managed to speak to). Billie notably crossed the street during a quiet moment and made a point of talking to two extras dressed as ladies-of-the-night (I think you know what I'm saying!). Chris and Billie's scene, as reported earlier, involved the pair of them, arm-in-arm, walking down the street, pausing as a horse-and-carriage clatters by, the Doc darting off to buy a one-sheet newspaper from a hag-like kerb newsvendor. The scene was recorded several tiems before the crew broke for supper at around 11.30pm.
--Paul Mount
Friday, 17 September 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
The first UK DVD of 2005, due for release in January, will be the Fourth Doctor serial
Horror of Fang Rock, starring Tom Baker and Louise Jameson, according to the
Galaxy 4 web shop today. Outpost Gallifrey can confirm that this is indeed next year's first UK release (as I didn't want to spoil anything until word had been sent from Worldwide to retailers.) Meanwhile, as expected, the Third Doctor serial
The Claws of Axos will be released in the UK in March; we'd previously reported on this when Roadshow in Australia confirmed it for release there in April.
Update 17 Sep, 2045 GMT: Outpost Gallifrey has learned that The Claws of Axos will not be out in March, but is rather the third release of 2005, likely due in May. Of course it's unlikely that the purported April release in Australia would be out earlier than the UK version so that will likely be pushed back to later in the year. We'll keep you posted on what the March release will be when we have more information.
Thursday, 16 September 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
According to the new issue of DWM, progress on filming the new Doctor Who series will continue throughout the fall and into early 2005, as the deadline for finishing actual production is February. DWM also breaks down the five "blocks" of production, each with a different director: episodes 1, 4 and 5, directed by Keith Boak, are already shot; episodes 2 and 3 directed by Euros Lyn were underway at the magazine's press time. Block 3, which Outpost Gallifrey noted several days ago would be directed by Joe Ahearne, will consist of episodes 6, 7 and 8, while blocks 4 (episodes 9 & 10) and 5 (episodes 11-13) will see work with later directors. Some brief notes on casting include those of John Barrowman and Mark Benton, which we previously reported, as well as a comment from Phil Collinson about a guest appearance from David Jason: "We read the reports of David Jason's casting with some surprise! ... if the right part came along, we would be delighted to approach him. But for the moment, I have to confirm that he's not on board."
Thursday, 16 September 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
Production of the new Doctor Who series will be moving north for several days in the near future as the production goes on location in the Welsh community of Monmouth, Outpost Gallifrey has learned. According to a letter sent by series location manager Clive Evans to residents in the town of Monmouth, "the scenes are snow scenes and are at night, so for one evening, you will be treated to a Christmas scene outside your window and an insight into the work of the BBC special effects team. We will also introduce horses and carriages, background artists in period costume and the use of braziers to take us back to Christmas 1869 [this might give you a clue that it might not be a silent night]." This will likely be the episode that features a guest appearance by actor Simon Callow. The letter goes on to note that emergency access will be available as usual for local residents. Out of respect to the series production team, so as to not disrupt the production work, Outpost Gallifrey won't report on the exact dates or specific Monmouth locations given in the letter at this time, but it will take place in the next several weeks. (Thanks to Jonathan Knibbs)
Monday, 13 September 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
According to today's edition of Professional Casting Review (PCR), a UK casting and trade periodical, Joe Ahearne is the director for the "third block" of the first season of the new Doctor Who series. Ahearne's directing credits include the TV series "This Life," "Strange," "Trance" and "Walking with Spacement" as well as the miniseries "Ultraviolet". What episodes are included in the third block remain unknown right now. PCR was our previous source of the first new series director, Keith Boak (May 24 news item) and, prior to that, the identity of series casting director Andy Pryor (February 23). (Thanks to "Alex/Speedway1975")
Saturday, 11 September 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
Glyn Owen, who played Rohm-Dutt in the Fourth Doctor story "The Power of Kroll" and returned many years later to play Commander Harlon in the Big Finish audio "Nekromanteia," died Friday from complications due to cancer. Owen's career spanned 50 years, including roles on "Emergency Ward 10," one of the first "big soap operas" on British television; as Jack Rolfe in "Howard's Way," perhaps his best known role; and on "Casualty," "The Saint," "Thorndyke," "Heartbeat," "Survivors," "Peak Practice," "Juliet Bravo," "The Professionals," "All Creatures Great and Small" and in two episodes of "Blake's 7" (in "Cygnus Alpha" and "Space Fall" early in the show's first season). Owen is survived by his wife Carrie, daughter Cathy, and son, actor Lloyd Owen ("Monarch of the Glen," "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles"). He was 76. At right is a photo of Owen from a recent autograph signing at the
Tenth Planet store.
Thursday, 9 September 2004 - Reported by Shaun Lyon
New series producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner will follow up production of the first season of "Doctor Who" with a lavish three-part period production of "Casanova" for BBC1, according to Broadcast Magazine. Originally commisioned by ITV from Granada's LWT in May 2002, Davies was originally set to produce it for ITV, but then Gardner, who was originally with Granada Television, joined BBC Wales as Head of Drama. Says Broadcast, "Her departure is thought to have prompted Davies to take the project to the BBC and sign it as part of a deal that also included him agreeing to write the new series of Doctor Who, which Gardner is overseeing." BBC controller of drama commissioning Jane Tranter told Broadcast: "We were keen to do what Russell wanted to do and to enable Julie to continue an ongoing relationship with Russell on Casanova and Doctor Who." Outpost Gallifrey is aware that Davies will be producing "Casanova" beginning in October 2004, and will hopefuly return to production of the second season of "Doctor Who" in the new year. (Thanks to Martin Day)
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