On the Waterfront - John Campbell Rees (February 2)

I decided last night that as I had finished my latest assignment for college, I would give myself a bit of treat, and take myself down to Cardiff Bay to have a nose at the latest filming for the new series of Doctor Who. I arrived outside the new Wales Millenium Centre, and there she was, the old girl herself, the TARDIS, with its white tarpalin to protect it from the curious. I was extremely fortunate that a crew from Doctor Who Confidential had just arrived on site, and where about to film a piece for their series, so off came the protective tent, and I got somene to take a photo of me with the prop that will be used in the new series, it was too good an oportunity to miss. The TARDIS was parked in front of the sixty foot aluminium wall of water that is at the head of Plas Roald Dahl, an oval ampitheatre that used to be part of the docks complex, but which is now used for open-air concerts in the Summer. I should imagine that the TARDIS materialising infront of this obelisk will be one of the moments of the series.

Next, I walked towards the waterfront of Cardiff, and could not help but notice where filming was taking place. Russell T. Davies and Phil Collinson had set up their monitors midway along Bute Crescent, the road that runs along the length of Plas Roald Dahl, and were monitoring the setting up of a scene on the waterfront. This was a few hundred yards from the restaruant that where filming occured last week. This is apparently filming for episode 11, the one with the working title Boomtown. It was speculated on the OG Forum that thi episode and the end of The Empty Child/Doct Dances were being filmed concurrently, I should imagine that this proves it.

The first thing I noticed was that the ground was covered in bits of sugarglass, remnants of an earlier scene.

At roughly 8.15pm Annette Badland was escorted onto the location, and a few minutes later I spotted her chatting with Christopher Eccleston. The scene was set for Eccleston and Badland to run from the waterfront, along Bute Crescent and down a set of concrete steps into Plas Roald Dahl. As well as the two leads, the scene featured a number of extras who ran around, giving the impression of panic. This scene was rehearsed and then filmed twice, before Joe Aherne was satisfied, and preparations were made for then next segment.

During the break, I had a chance to observe Christopher Eccleston. I have to say, that despite his reputation for being a miserable Northerner, he seemed to be full of life, and is obviously enjoying what he is doing immesly, laughing and joking with his guest star and Russell T. Davies, and even sliding down the metal bannisters on the steps leading down to the oval basin. This enthusiasm spilled over into his performance, his Doctor definitely enjoys life, and I cannot wait to see it.

The next snippet recorded was obviously from the same sequence, as the camera was on rails and followed Eccleston and Badland down the steps to a spot where the Doctor stops, and says "the rift, the rift its openning".

At 9pm, a sequence featuring Billie Piper as Rose was prepared. The last time I had seen Ms. Piper in costume, portraying the charachter of Rose Tyler, at the Swansea shoot last September, she looked every inch a Victorian young lady in a long skirt which swept the floor. This time, after discarding a warm sheepskin coat and jogging bottoms, she looked a very modern young woman, in a skirt that barely swept the top of her legs. It looks like Rose is going to be using the TARDIS' extesive wardrobes quite a bit. The snippet I saw recorded had no dialogue, it merely had Billie running into Plas Roald Dahl with a concerened look on her face. I am guessing, as I had to leave shortly afterwards, that this is leading to a scene where the Doctor and Rose come back together to share some information with each other. Noel Clarke was also somehere on site, although I did not see him. As all three main characters I saw tonight where heading in the genral direction of where the TARDIS is parked, and tomorrow is apparently a studio day, I would hazard a guess that they will all be in the TARDIS in the next scene.


Alex Willcox (February 4):

Just got back from this afternoon's shoot. Not a bad one all told....

I arrived at the University around mid-day, just in time for the recording of a shot of Rose running along an alleyway at the side of the building.

After a fair bit of nothing happening, I decided to go around to the back of the building. This, it transpired, was where most of the cast and crew were hiding out. Another shot was recorded featuring The Doctor, Rose, Mickey and Captain Jack all running down the alleyway at the opposite end of the building from the first shot. This scene was recorded several times, with the camera positioned further down the alley each time. I caught a snippet of dialogue shouted by John Barrowman; "...telephone! We'll never get her out. It's teeming!"

Shortly after this, Annette Badman's character, Margaret, was recorded running down the same alley.

The most exciting scene of the day came last. There's a balcony running the length of the rear of the bulding, and we spotted Chris peering through a french window above this. At the end of the balcony was scaffolding with a ladder down to the ground. Margaret ran out the window, along the balcony, over the edge onto the scaffold, down the ladder and an front of the building to the alley we'd previously seen her running down. As she reached the scaffold, Chris came through the same window and shouted "Margaret!". A chap in a suit came out behind him, and the two fought on the balcony. After throwing the other guy off him, Chris followed Margaret's route down to the ground.

This was the final exterior scene to be recorded. There was then a break for lunch, during which I bumped into Chris in town. He seemed only too happy to stop and chat for a few minutes and sign my DWM.

Getting back to the location for the afternoon, we were told by the crew that the rest of the recording would be inside and there'd be nothing more to see.