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Month: December 2016

The Return of Doctor Mysterio – What The Papers are saying…

The Return of Doctor Mysterio – What The Papers are saying…

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Spoiler alert: this blog contains details of the Doctor Who Christmas special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio.

‘Mrs Lombard, there are some situations which are too stupid to be allowed to continue.’

“Doctor Who does superheroes.” As elevator pitches go, it’s easy to see why this one stuck around in Steven Moffat’s mind-elevator. (Oh, and merry Christmas!) There was a worry that the lack of a Doctor Who series this year might leave us bereft. In the event, there was so much else to get upset about that this was a trauma that barely touched the sides. But if 2016 left us both needing a Doctor and holding out for a hero, the helpful show-runner has provided us with both.

Young Grant is accidentally gifted with superpowers thanks to a spot of ‘classic Doctor’ clumsiness. Photograph: Simon Ridgway/BBC

After 12 years as a BBC1 cornerstone, Christmas Doctor Who has become a genre all of its own, and a tricky thing to get right. My personal favourites – The Christmas Invasion and Last Christmas – put the festivities front and centre. But you can’t do that every year. As such, there are only scant, functional references to Christmas in The Return of Doctor Mysterio. Rather, it channels the classic 3.10pm movie of yore – specifically, the Richard Donner/Christopher Reeve Superman films. And for that, it ranks in my personal top five of Christmas Doctor Whos.

Moffat has said in pre-publicity interviews that the hero is not in fact Superman, but Clark Kent – or in this case, the hero is not The Ghost but Grant. It’s a neat bit of writing that superheroes actually don’t exist in the Whoniverse, but superhero comic books do. So young Grant (with echoes of young Amelia Pond) is accidentally gifted with superpowers thanks to a spot of “classic Doctor” clumsiness, and an obsession with comic books.

This is more romcom than superhero caper, and no worse for it … Lucy and Grant. Photograph: Simon Ridgway/BBC

And so the Doctor once again takes a backseat in his own story, making way for proxy-companions Grant and Lucy. This, in turn, gives Moffat a chance to flex the muscle that was his strongest before Time Lords came along – the romcom with a twist. Comparisons with his sitcom Coupling are inevitable when we reach the farcical centrepiece, in which the two-way love triangle between Grant/Lucy/The Ghost plays out. “You’re jealous of you,” the Doctor tells Grant. “Technically she’s jealous of her,” he retorts, quite accurately. Moffat is unafraid to play on quite how crappy a disguise it is simply to wear glasses – even the Doctor finds this a ridiculous situation. And Lucy’s interrogation of the Doctor and torture of Mr Huffle is a thing of exquisite cruelty. This is more romcom than superhero caper, and no worse for it.

‘Everything ends, and it’s always sad. But everything begins again too, and that’s always happy.’

A bonus new companion! Matt Lucas returns as Nardole. Photograph: Simon Ridgway/BBC

A bonus new companion! The other issue of note in this special is the return of Matt Lucas as android-butler Nardole. I wasn’t the only one to lament the casting of a talent like Lucas in such a minor role last year. Moff and co clearly felt the same, so Nardole – the show’s new comic relief – returns not only here, but for a good chunk of the forthcoming series. Taking the companion role for Christmas, Nardole gets to play more than the only-idiot-robot-in-the-village. He has insight and empathy and knows how to fly the Tardis, and he also made a decent fist of ruling “firmly but wisely” in 12th-century Constantinople (a comic strip or audio play of this off-screen storyline, please).

Meanwhile, the difficult, obstinate 12th Doctor that Clara first got freaked out by is a distant memory. Having settled into the role, Capaldi’s Doctor is as reliably daft as the brush the actor’s hair resembles. Amen to that.

Fear factor

Keen viewers will remember the returning monsters from … the very last episode. (There’s probably a statistic somewhere regarding the speed of baddies returning.) The creatures with the diagonally-opening-skulls were last seen in The Husbands of River Song as the Shoals of the Winter Harmony, conquered in that story by King Hydroflax. It’s not a bad idea – those chilling zip-heads deserve more than one outing. But, it has to be said, their plan to entrap all world leaders in New York by means of their inherent selfishness was ridiculously convoluted.

Christmas continuity

Capaldi’s Doctor is as reliably daft as the brush the actor’s hair resembles. Photograph: Simon Ridgway/BBC

It may have been a year, but Moffat was careful to join the dots. Nardole’s resurrection got explained in a roundabout way. The Doctor’s antics in 1992 New York represent a bid to remedy the damage done to the city in The Angels Take Manhattan (potentially an attempt to find the Pond-Williams’, now he’s on his own again?). But with his memory of Clara still erased (and her still presumably hurtling round the universe with Maisie Williams), the big emotional thump comes from the memory of River. It’s made pretty clear that these events come directly after that final, 24-year dinner at the Singing Towers – and that’s what makes him sad. Too much backstory for Christmas Day? You decide.

Deeper into the vortex

Doctor Mysterio is what the show is called in Mexico. Peter Capaldi was so enamoured with the name he kept reciting it with a theatrical flourish. Moffat named the episode so he could recite it with a flourish on camera.

• “Brains with minds of their own? No one’ll believe that – this is America!”

• The Angels Take Manhattan episode was filmed in the actual New York, but this time, the cast were shipped to Bulgaria’s Nu Boyana backlot recreation of the city.

• The Doctor eats sushi now. It’s hardly jelly babies, but these are health-conscious times. Sushi at Christmas though? Wrong.

• “You’re kind of wet.” “I prefer mild-mannered.” I do hope Mr Huffle remains a companion in his own right.

• Another alias! To add to John Smith, Merlin and Doctor Disco, the Doctor now has Dan Dangerous from Scotland Yard, Scotland in his arsenal of pseudonyms.

Next time!

And what about that trailer for the next series? The first big take-away is that Pearl Mackie’s Bill works in a chippy – something Clara Oswald would surely have turned her nose up at. Not long now, folks. Happy new year!


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I’ve been away for a while,” announced the Doctor, addressing viewers as much as villains. “But now I’m back.” The Time Lord has been off our screens for exactly a year but swaggered back in style for the Doctor Who Christmas special  a romp with a classic feel and cross-generational appeal. All the better to aid turkey digestion.

A neatly knockabout opening sequence saw the Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) dangling upside down outside a schoolboy’s bedroom window on the 60th floor of a New York apartment block. Naturally, eight-year-old Grant assumed the eccentric “old guy” coming a-calling on Christmas Eve was Santa Claus, rather than a time-traveller with angry eyebrows, a Scottish accent and an infectious sense of mischief.

Soon realising this wasn’t Saint Nick after all, young Grant dubbed him “Doctor Mysterio” (a knowing nod to the Doctor’s name in Mexico) before accidentally swallowing a precious gemstone that gave him powers of super-strength, super-speed, bulletproof skin, levitation and X-ray vision. You know, one of those gemstones.

Flash forward 24 years and Grant had become a nanny by day and a masked vigilante called The Shadow by night. He and his old friend teamed up with hapless human Nardole (Matt Lucas), rescued from last year’s Christmas special, and reporter Lucy (Charity Wakefield), to foil an invasion by brain-snatching aliens who unzipped their heads in enjoyably gruesome fashion and, as aliens invariably do, had a fiendish plan to conquer the planet.

Capaldi was charismatically mercurial, switching between silliness and sadness. Nardole, who could have been a mere stop-gap until new companion Bill (Pearl Mackie) arrives next year, worked well as an affable comic stooge – with the added ability to put his finger on the painful truth of the Doctor’s loneliness and grief at the loss of his wife River Song last time out.

However, as Capaldi eventually concluded: “Everything ends and it’s always sad. But everything begins again and it’s always happy. Be happy.” How’s that for a Christmas message?

Doctor Who | Who is Nardole?

  • Home planet: Unknown
  • Species: Human
  • First appearance: The Husbands of River Song
  • Played by: Matt Lucas
  • In the 2015 Christmas special, Nardole was an employee of the Doctor’s wife, River Song.
  • Nardole is a serial maker of mistakes. By the end of his last appearance he was little more than a severed head.
  • After being decapitated, Nardole became one of two heads living in the torso of an enormous robot, while working as the “head waiter” at a swanky restaurant.
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Matt Lucas as Nardole

A Clark Kent-and-Lois Lane-style romantic sub-plot between intrepid investigative reporter Lucy (Charity Wakefield, aka Wolf Hall’s Mary Boleyn) and Grant/The Ghost (Canadian actor Justin Chatwin) was sweetly done with lovely moments of screwball comedy.

Showrunner Steven Moffat’s script was packed with playful postmodern touches. His Manhattan was the one from the movies – all yellow cabs, shiny skyscrapers and steaming drain covers. Superhero comics were affectionately parodied. He even threw in a sinister, scar-faced German scientist, just for those of us who like war films – plus a Pokémon Go gag for the kids (and overgrown kids).

There was serious intent too, with plenty of parallels to the 9/11 terror attacks. Did I also detect a sly dig at the US electorate with the line: “Brains with minds of their own? Nobody will believe that. This is America”?

Wonderfully witty, just festive enough and perfectly pitched between spills, thrills and scares, this was the time-travelling franchise’s best and most family-friendly Christmas special for five years.

Welcome back, Doctor. Merry Tardismas and a Happy Who Year.


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★★★★★  2016 is going down in the annals as a horrible year. What we need at its close is a little light. We need heroes. And we need the Doctor.

The Time Lord has cruelly abandoned us during our annus horribilis so it’s a relief that he is home in time for Christmas – with a beautifully packaged hour of uplifting escapism.

If you’ve read this blog before, you may recall I’m usually lukewarm about the Doctor Who Christmas specials. As a long-term fan, I expect to be disappointed at this time of year. It likely stems back to Christmas 1974 and Tom Baker’s debut story, Robot. I didn’t like the story, didn’t like the robot, and did not take to Tom Baker at all. The omens for Christmas 2016 weren’t promising. The clip shown in Children in Need was dispiriting; the slipshod trailer on redial on BBC1 even more so.

In November, I was standing by the bar at the BFI (after the premiere of The Power of the Daleks animation) when a friend who works on Doctor Who came over, raving about the Christmas special. He asserted that, even in its unfinished state, it was his favourite of all time. “But then you hate the Christmas episodes,” he told me. “Do you like superheroes?” he ventured. “Not especially,” I said. “Well, there’s not much hope then, is there…?” he sighed, washing his hands of me.

A few weeks later Steven Moffat gave me an outline of The Return of Doctor Mysterio and, remembering my Yulephobia, slipped in the proviso, “It’ll be a relief to you, it’s got virtually no Christmas in it at all!” Well, he said that last year…

OK, I’m an inveterate grinch, presiding in judgment over seasonal Who like vinegary old Craig Revel Horwood. Crack a smile, dear. But after sitting through the BFI premiere of Doctor Mysterio, I turned to the chap from two paragraphs above, now perched two seats away, and I did the customary Craig RH volte-face, mouthing, “FAB U LOUS! I loved it!

This came as some surprise to him and to me. In particular, I hadn’t been relishing further exposure to Matt Lucas’s Nardole. Of all the one-off characters who might warrant a recall, this gormless nitwit decapitated and absorbed by a robot last Christmas in The Husbands of River Song, was not among them.

But it’s rather like the Catherine Tate/Donna Noble effect a decade ago. A popular and talented actor known for comedy pops up one Christmas, is annoying as a broadly painted character and you’re relieved when it’s over; then he/she returns a year or so later, subtly recalibrated and is actually rather effective. Who knows how he’ll work out in series ten, but I enjoyed the lightness of touch Matt Lucas brings to this special and the instant rapport he has with Peter Capaldi.

Matt Lucas and Peter Capaldi
There’s no time-wasting explanation about why the Doctor reassembled Nardole. It’s amusing that he can pilot the Tardis, has his own mini-adventures off screen (“a few accidental stop-offs… 12th-century Constantinople. I ruled firmly and wisely”), and returns looking like he’s had a tumble in a curtain sale at John Lewis.

Superhero movies are in vogue and are costlier and gloomier than Doctor Who can stomach. So it’s wise that Steven Moffat has presented a back-to-basics story: boy gains superpowers; grows up into a geek in specs; spin-changes into a superhero; averts disaster in New York; adores a smart woman who, handily, doesn’t realise the dork and the hero are the same man.

If you’re steeped in superhero lore, maybe you’ll be unimpressed by Doctor Who’s naïve presentation, but there’s no doubting the enduring appeal and effectiveness of the genre clichés: secret identity, thwarted romance – what Steven Moffat calls “a love triangle for two”. And Doctor Who has never overtly featured superheroes before – although I cringe at the memory of John Simm’s Master zooming up into the sky a propos of nothing in The End of Time, Christmas 2009.

The scenes between the Doctor and eight-year-old Grant (Logan Hoffman) are delightful, allowing Capaldi to work some grandfatherly charm and tottering eccentricity. Canadian actor Justin Chatwin looks great as both the lackadaisical nanny and rippling Ghost, while Britain’s Charity Wakefield (from Wolf Hall) is lovely as his Lois-Lane-alike, Lucy Fletcher, reporter for the Daily Chronicle. This duo/trio are definitely worth a revisit and, arguably, Steven Moffat has created a minor issue by introducing this superhero.

Why hasn’t the Ghost ever shown up in Doctor Who before when modern-day Manhattan was in dire peril? The logical answer is that we’ve been following the Doctor’s time stream and he hadn’t created the Ghost yet. But henceforward? At the end, Grant claims the Ghost is “laid to rest” and he discards the costume, but surely if any threat to New York arises, or even to the Earth, the Ghost will spring into action and be on the scene long before the Time Lord. It would be a worthier spin-off than Class…

The Return of Doctor Mysterio is a delicious mash-up of Doctor Who, Christopher Reeve’s Superman and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, condensed into an hour that never drags. It’s witty and happy to be silly. When young Grant asks, “How do you keep a glass of water in your pockets?”, the Doctor answers simply, “Skills.” Learning that a radioactive spider gave Spider-Man his superpowers, the Doctor says, “What, vomiting, hair loss and death? Fat lot of use.” In the Tokyo HQ of the Harmony Shoal the Doctor has cleverly “created a distraction – I flooded downstairs with Pokémon.” There was a huge laugh at the BFI when Lucy quizzes the Ghost about his love-life. “Boyfriend? Well, there has been speculation – you do fly around New York dressed in rubber with a big G on your chest.”

Steven Moffat has written a heart-warming drama, free of schmaltz and sentiment, seasoned with action, romance and mildly icky gore, and with a linear plot that is perfectly digestible for a family audience on Christmas Day. Awash with CGI and under the direction of Ed Bazalgette, it looks gorgeous, cinematically and technically proficient. I hope he returns to the Who fold soon, although he’s not booked in yet for any 2017 episodes.

To cap it all, Capaldi. He’s brilliant. Long may he remain the Doctor.

In short, an unmitigated rave from me this year. The Return of Doctor Mysterio easily garners five stars – in my book the first five-star Christmas Who since The Christmas Invasion, David Tennant’s debut in 2005.

If I have one fleeting regret, it’s that they missed a trick in not finding a way to pay homage to David Bowie, the Man Who Fell to Earth and made New York his home for 20 years. Lifelong fan Capaldi wrote in the Christmas Radio Times: “I can’t believe he’s gone. A genius.” I’d have loved it had the Doctor pulled out his guitar and strummed a few chords of classic Bowie. It should, of course, have been Heroes.

Peter Capaldi will return for 12 new Doctor Who episodes in the spring…

Peter Capaldi and Matt Lucas photographed exclusively for Radio Times by Richard Grassie

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On a cold, drizzly September day I joined a group of journalists on the set of the Doctor Who Christmas special in the BBC’s big Cardiff studios.

Charity Wakefield as Lucy and Peter Capaldi as Doctor Who in the Christmas special The Return of Doctor Mysterio.
Charity Wakefield as Lucy and Peter Capaldi as Doctor Who in the Christmas special The Return of Doctor Mysterio. Photo: Simon Ridgway

We had to sign a huge confidentiality agreement. I was literally not allowed to reverse-engineer any of the software I found inside television’s most famous time machine.

Which, unfortunately, means I can’t go back in time and fix it.

Peter Capaldi as the Doctor and Matt Lucas as Nardole in Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio.
Peter Capaldi as the Doctor and Matt Lucas as Nardole in Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio. Photo: Simon Ridgway

We were invited to play with the knobs on the console. We fiddled with the clockwork bit, the squidgy alien bit. I found a chunky switch that made a dial flick right, then left. Dial goes right. Dial goes left.

If the Christmas special is about the Doctor trying to fix a small but vital switch on the Tardis, you know who to blame.

Except it’s not, because it’s about superheroes.

“I think the Christmas special… which is the only [Doctor Who episode] this year… I think is one of [head writer] Steve [Moffat]’s best ever scripts, absolutely beautiful,” Moffat’s occasional collaborator Mark Gatiss said in September.

“It made me cry.”

Moffat jokes: “I think he got his finger trapped in a door”.

But when Moffat’s wife read the script – his seventh Doctor Who Christmas special – she also cried. He was more than a little surprised.

“I just thought it was rather good fun,” he said. “She said it was so sweet and lovely, I said ‘what are you talking about?’ It’s very emotional, apparently.

“There’s always a love story at the heart of a good superhero story. It’s always a love triangle for two, isn’t it? I love that. The only superhero thing I ever want to write is the Clark Kent Lois Lane story, when you can’t own up to being the man she’s in love with.”

He laughs.

Minor spoiler alert: the Doctor arrives in New York on Christmas Eve, accidentally confers superpowers on a comic book loving child, then many years later has to deal with the result: a man who’s “putting on the rubber and flying around”.

“The best thing about superheroes is not the superhero, it’s the guy he pretends to be the rest of the time,” says Moffat. “It’s the secret identity… Clark Kent is actually the main character. Lois Lane is the other main character and Superman just does the second unit stuff.

“More or less any tall handsome man can play [Superman] if they’re prepared to fold their arms long enough. It’s playing Clark Kent that’s the key. You love Clark Kent because he has to pretend he’s not a God all the time.”

Moffat says Doctor Who is definitely not a superhero.

“A lot of the fun of writing the Doctor is that really he’s a sort of charlatan. He pretends to be much more powerful than he is and bluffs his way around the universe… but we all know he can’t even drive his own time machine properly. He’s your crazy uncle who’s got his own time machine and a lot of cheek.”

Speaking of which, Peter Capaldi is having a great time.

The Doctor Who Christmas episodes have a “responsibility to be festive”, Capaldi says – and this year’s fulfils the brief. “It’s full of very ironic gags and comic book gags,” he says. “It’s very enjoyable.”

It’s been too long between Whos, he says. He wrecked his knee chasing Zygons in the last series and needed an operation. But he had to finish the series first, literally limping to the finish line.

He leans back, like an eccentric, genial Scottish uncle, with a cheeky, toothy smile.

“The doctors always say ‘oh you’ll be running around in two weeks’ but you never are,” he says. “It was about four, five weeks before I could hobble around on a stick – which I loved. It was rather theatrical. My wife had to stop me buying one with a gold demon’s head.”

Because of his knee he couldn’t work, not even a play to fill in the time between series. “I was going stir crazy,” he says. “And the gap kept opening up, we were supposed to come back much earlier but for whatever reason it got bigger and bigger. I was dying to get back again.”

He was half-hoping the long pause would give him some respite from fans.

“The funny thing is I seem to be recognised more now even though the show’s not on – I can’t figure out how that works,” he says. “Some days you’d like to just quietly pop to the shops and not have conversations with people.

“Doctor Who’s exciting but I’m not, so I get into a panic because I think I mustn’t disappoint them – but I don’t know what to do.”

He hasn’t decided whether the 2017 series will be his last.

It’s not that he dislikes being an “ambassador” for the series. But it weighs on him.

“I had my 25th wedding anniversary this year and we had a party, and I had a band, and I suddenly realised: I danced. I think it was the first time I’ve danced in years because I knew the party was just full of my friends who don’t care how Doctor Who dances.”

On the other hand he loves the escapism of the series, the immediate fairytale element. “There is something potent about the death motif in it,” he says. “People get very fascinated by the fact that the Doctor can be extinguished. They bond with him, then he has to go through this (regeneration). There’s something deeper in this.”

WHAT Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio

WHEN ABC, Monday, December 26, 7.30pm

Some Who Christmas facts

– One of the show’s producers – Peter Bennett – oversaw Christopher Reeve’s flying scenes in Superman.

– Some of the episode was shot in Bulgaria, where a film set contains a replica of two New York blocks.

– The Tardis hasn’t been completely renovated, but it does have a new “flight” mode with extra flashing lights.

– Judging by the books on the shelves inside the Tardis, Doctor Who (or one of his companions) is a Robert Harris fan.

– The Doctor’s new companion, played by Pearl Mackie, is not introduced in the Christmas special. The new series begins next year: Moffat says the first episode is a “big family friendly action-based spectacular… it’s a reboot to Doctor Who at its simplest purest form”.

– 2017 will be Steven Moffat’s last as head writer – he’s handing over to Chris Chibnall, who has worked on Who, Torchwood (as head writer) and created the hit detective series Broadchurch.


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'Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio'
“I’ve been away for a while… but I’m back.”

Let’s not beat about the bush here: Doctor Who doing superheroes could have been terrible. More than that, it should have been terrible.

Our big, broad, silly, wonderful show is pretty much the antithesis of the po-faced, action-heavy DC movies that Zack Snyder’s been peddling. Not only that, but with the best will in the world, the BBC doesn’t have the budget of a Marvel or Warner Bros and any attempt to ape their blockbusters could have – should have – ended in embarrassment.

Justin Chatwin in 'Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio'
© BBC

And yes, some of the effects in ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’ are a bit ropey. And no, the episode’s not entirely free of other inconsistencies in character (Would Grant, for all his mild manners, really refer to a woman he’s known for 24 years as “Mrs Lombard”?) or plot (Harmony Shoal’s evil scheme to annihilate capital cities and wait for world leaders to come running is absurdly flimsy).

But you’ll be inclined to forgive the episode its flaws, because Doctor Who’s 2016 Christmas special, its first outing for a whole 12 months, is simply an enormous amount of fun.

It’s one of the most richly comic episodes in recent memory, employing witty wordplay (“You’re kinda wet.” “I prefer mild-mannered.”), great sight gags (Grant’s rapid-fire replacement of his mask) and even a joke about Pokémon Go.

Peter Capaldi and Matt Lucas in 'Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio'
© BBC

But, and this is crucial, it’s not a parody of superhero movies, or comic books. Sure, it has a little fun with some of the tropes of the genre, but most of its jabs are in good humour (even if a joke about a radioactive spider bite causing “vomiting, hair loss and death” goes too far).

Largely, this is a pretty uncynical tribute to those types of films and stories, from the opening shot that renders events of the episode as an actual comic strip – echoing one of the better ideas in Ang Lee’s ambitious but misjudged Hulk – to a rooftop interview / date scene deliberately cribbed straight from the ’78 Superman.

‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’ wears its affection on its sleeve too, wisely not dancing around its similarities to the Superman story but instead addressing them, head-on, from the off.

'Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio'
© BBC

As Doctor Who’s very own man of steel and his plucky love interest, Justin Chatwin and Charity Wakefield are absolutely co-leads, with as much screentime as Peter Capaldi. Happily, both are more than up to the task, delivering slightly heightened performances that chime perfectly with the episode’s frothier tone.

Wakefield in particular is on sparkling form as Lucy Fletcher – charming, funny and striking up a winning chemistry with Capaldi. She even sells one of the episode’s sillier gags, turning the extended “Mr Huffle” exposition sequence into one of the episode’s best.

In fact, while we’d hate to break up this happy couple, it’s almost a pity that Lucy couldn’t leap aboard the TARDIS for more adventures.

Speaking of companions, let’s address the Nardole in the room. Of all the supporting characters you could’ve chosen to elevate to companion status, Matt Lucas’s bumbling clown from ‘The Husbands of River Song’ was certainly a… left-field choice.

'Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio'
© BBC
Meet the man who directed Doctor Who at Christmas – and Aidan Turner’s topless scything in Poldark

Meet the man who directed Doctor Who at Christmas – and Aidan Turner’s topless scything in Poldark

Meet the man who directed Doctor Who at Christmas – and Aidan Turner's topless scything in Poldark

How did you get into directing for television and was it a long-held ambition?
I started out in editing. As an assistant editor I could observe some brilliant directors in the cutting room. That was a great learning experience. Then when I made the grade as an editor, I found my opinions rapidly getting stronger and stronger, analysing what my directors were doing, thinking how I would have shot it. I suspect I might have been quite an opinionated editor! At that point I knew I had to direct.

You directed two gorgeous-looking episodes of Doctor Who in 2015 (The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived). Coming into such a long-running series and working with a large team, how do you put your personal stamp on a production?
Doctor Who has such enduring appeal, it’s a global phenomenon. And yet part of its strength is that each episode is treated as a standalone film – it feels more like making a one-off. So every director has the chance to put their own mark on the series.

We had so much fun making those episodes, and despite there being a character through-line they couldn’t have been more different. We had to create a Viking world, design the Mire and introduce Maisie Williams to the series. Turn that round in two-and-a-half weeks then make a 17th-century period piece that was a highwaywoman romp, a dark reflection on immortality, topped off with an alien space attack at a Tyburn hanging, all wrapped up in an homage to Gainsborough Studios.

Each director is brought in for their track record and encouraged to play to their strengths – I had a clear sense of what I wanted to do with each script and you’re so well supported by the incredible team they have in Cardiff. “Incredible team” – that may sound a bit glib but they really are extraordinary. From the people booking transport and running the office through to your producer, you’re surrounded by people who have this depth of knowledge and passion for Doctor Who – it’s almost humbling – and they’re all there to help you realise your vision. With friends like that, putting your own stamp on a production is definitely easier…

What were your first thoughts when you received Steven Moffat’s script to The Return of Doctor Mysterio?
Erm… I can’t put this down, this is great and OK, how are we going to make this?

From the first draft it barely changed – it was tight, compelling and funny. And the sense of threat was real.

Then you start to think of the logistics – a superhero who flies… over New York… we’ll need New York streets… New York apartments… Then the finer detail: Hayley Nebauer, our costume designer, pointed out that the average lead-time to design a new superhero costume is six months minimum. By then we had a little less than a month. Then you get into deeper discussions – cape or no cape – it was like that scene from The Incredibles! We decided the cape stays in the picture. Then the granular detail: what weight material for optimum cape performance in flight? A runner volunteered to flight-test the different weights – we created our own wind tunnel in the studio. Two hours later we’d agreed on the weight for the cape fabric. One small step, but as they say, the devil is in the detail.

Were you a superhero fan as a boy and which classic movies, if any, did you study for inspiration?
I remember going to see Christopher Reeve’s Superman. That was a Christmas release too. There was a big buzz around the film and it didn’t disappoint. Going back even further – guilty pleasure time – Adam West’s Batman left a big impression. Irreverent, camp, funny and dark too, and possibly the second-best theme tune of all time. Watching Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films with my sons when they were tiny – that was a key inspiration for Doctor Mysterio, particularly the rapport between Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker and Kirsten Dunst’s MJ. I wanted the film to evoke those memories. And Steven was clear he wanted to go back to a superhero style that was full of wit and fun, when ingenuity was in the script and the camera and didn’t all occur in computer-generated effects. I was also fascinated by the small everyday details in those films, the apartments, the streets, the backgrounds. No matter how fantastic the film, finding the reality is vital. On the subject of Spider-Man, there are some Easter eggs dotted around Doctor Mysterio: look out for a certain pizza parlour.

What’s been the greatest challenge making this Doctor Who Christmas special?
There were so many – the Doctor’s first appearance in the story probably consumed the most discussion time but we were so clear from Steven’s script how we wanted to shoot it. It was the first scene I storyboarded. Once we had the visuals, it was hours and hours of me, Peter Bennett (producer) and Fletcher Rodley (assistant director) painstakingly going through each shot, breaking it all down and working out a methodology for each shot. Often complex sequences evolve from the initial plan – but in this instance the finished sequence is very close to those original storyboards.

From the start we knew we wanted a neighbourhood New York feel for the area around Lucy’s apartment: real streets, a subway, big yellow taxis, everything. We also knew we didn’t have the time or money to shoot in New York. Amazingly, there’s a studio just outside Sofia that had exactly what we were looking for. We were there for the briefest of moments but you believe you’re in New York.

How were the flying shots achieved, especially when the Doctor is zooming along with the eight-year-old Grant?
We shot some of the flying scenes suspending the actors on wires, which is the traditional way, but for most of the flying we tried to keep it much simpler. We had a contraption that we called the seesaw, which was basically, well, a seesaw. The flying shot of the Doctor and young Grant was simplicity itself. We had two boards like small ironing boards – Logan (Grant) lying on his front, the Doctor lying on his back. They stayed in one position and we moved the camera around them. Outrageously simple!

How did you feel when you saw the finished version with all the music and effects on the big screen at the BFI?
Who doesn’t enjoy seeing their work on the big screen? It was emotional! You’ve been wrapped up in something for months, immersed in the detail, it’s all-consuming. Then suddenly it’s out there in front of a huge audience. I sat at the back because I wanted to see how the audience were reacting. I was watching them as much as the film. It looked great, and the audience was incredible, it was so good to see the gags landing. And there’s so much detail that you experience with greater clarity in the cinema and not just visually. Hearing both the power and the nuance in the sound design was so good – something that can be easily missed on TV.

[Above: Ed Bazalgette (right) at the BFI premiere with Doctor Who legend Katy Manning and Doctor Who Magazine editor Tom Spilsbury]

You directed the opening episodes of Endeavour, Poldark and Doctor Who spin-off Class. What particular challenges or freedoms are there for a director in getting a brand-new series off the ground?
In directing opening episodes, you get to set the look and tone of a new series. Like everything in TV it’s a collaborative process but you’re right in the middle of it all – it’s a lot more responsibility but allows you more creative licence. Of course the process is different in each instance and the key for me is finding my own entry point into the story. Once you find that, things start to flow. With Poldark, it was seeing the landscape as a character: understanding how the wild and unpredictable nature of Cornwall – the climate, the terrain, the sea – had informed the way Winston Graham had created his characters in the novels and seeing how Debbie Horsfield had threaded that idea through her scripts. Once I had that, so much fell into place – I loved all the jokes about “there goes Ross, galloping off on his horse…again”. It kept the sense of place front and centre throughout those opening episodes where we were establishing our world.

And coming in at the start gives you the opportunity to spend more time with the writer. Debbie Horsfield on Poldark, Patrick Ness on Class, Russell Lewis on Endeavour, Chris Lang on A Mother’s Son – I’ve worked with some great writers and they’ve all been really collaborative. And despite having so many projects to juggle, Steven was always available to work through the Christmas script. That time spent together and those conversations gave me so much more depth and detail: it was invaluable.

You are also pivotal in the casting, one of the best parts of the process. You’re at the start of prep, a million decisions to be made – there’s so much on your plate. But hearing the script come to life, each actor bringing their own interpretation, interrogating each line, never fails to inspire me. It’s like shining light on a brilliant diamond, constantly seeing the script from a fresh angle, in a new light. You get this real sense of momentum building. It’s thrilling.

[Ed Bazalgette directing Aidan Turner as Poldark]

Directing Poldark series one, you were responsible for Aidan Turner’s famous topless scything scene, which put many of our readers, and the ladies in our office, into a lather. Anything you’d like to say about that?
Ha! I love it when a plan comes together! Debbie had written this wonderfully sensuous scene: she describes Demelza watching Ross from a distance, hidden in the long grass, seeing her boss very differently after the events of the previous night – so it was all Demelza’s point of view! This scene that came to define Poldark, that got everyone talking about Aidan, was actually written from Demelza’s perspective.

What is your next project and if you have another stab at Doctor Who, what would you like to direct?
A break! We were working on the VFX for the Christmas special right up to the BFI screening and it’s been a hectic year so the next project is a few weeks off! After that there’s a great Cold War story that I’d love to make, and a couple of other projects to consider.

I would love to do more Doctor Who. What I would like to direct and haven’t done yet is something truly dark and scary. Before my first episode I was talking to my teenage son about his Doctor Who memories. His most vivid recollection was The Empty Child [2005] – it scared the life out of him when he first saw it. We watched it again together, and were terrified a second time. That, and the following episode The Doctor Dances, were amazing scripts with all my favourite elements – the recent past, a beautifully realised world, grounded in reality, a powerfully emotional story with a heart of darkness. If something as good as that came up again, I’d walk back to Cardiff to direct it…

Peter Capaldi interview: “The Doctor would deal with Donald Trump”

Peter Capaldi interview: “The Doctor would deal with Donald Trump”

Image result for the return of doctor mysterio
Post-Bowie, post-Trump and post-truth, Peter Capaldi says the Time Lord is just what the Doctor ordered…

Where has The Doctor been this year? When we needed him most, he wasn’t there.

 Does it feel like there is an extra responsibility on the Doctor Who Christmas episode to be a place we can all unite after a fraught year?

Peter Capaldi: Oh yes. Where has Doctor Who been this year? When we needed him most, he wasn’t there. Perhaps he has been planning something that can help us out. Maybe he was getting himself ready to come and save us. Doctor Who: coming back to save 2016! I should be in advertising, shouldn’t I? The past needs me. That’s what it will be. He has not been in 2016, he has been elsewhere in time. Maybe he has only just heard…

This episode features a tycoon baddie in a New York skyscraper and the Doctor teaming up with a superhero. Is this a hot take on world events?
Ha, it is more a gentle tribute to those wonderful superhero movies of one’s youth, before they became all digitised and full of death and destruction. We used to watch the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie, which was very charming and very innocent and ironic, on Christmas Day. So we have a superhero in New York, who has a slightly strange relationship with the Doctor, which will become clear on the show. Steven Moffat’s scripts are always a fabulous combination of being intelligent and challenging but with great gags and a deep cosmic melancholy, which is vital in Doctor Who. I don’t think the Doctor has dealt with a superhero before, so it is a nice meeting of genres.

Are you as much a fan of superheros as sci-fi?
I was never really a fan. But when I was growing up we had the Adam West Batman TV series, which everybody my age loved. That was great, very witty, and when you see it now you can see how clever the playing and the writing are. But there seem to be hundreds of superheroes now – they can’t be that super, can they? They are quite common now! I can’t keep track of any of them.

This is going to be looked back on as a crazy year…
Losing David Bowie is still unbelievable to me. He basically created the world. I just can’t imagine that he is not around. We were filming in New York and I was saddened that whatever fantasy I had of walking into a diner and finding David Bowie there and striking up a conversation with him was no more. That could never, ever happen and I feel so sad about that. He is amazing. A fabulous artist. So great. I was going to say – and he was just an ordinary guy from Brixton. But, of course, he was an extraordinary guy from Brixton. He did incredible things, showed everybody what you could achieve. The year has been very bad but I can only think it is time for people to really think about how we respond to the difficulties that I think are pretty certain to come our way. People have to stand up for themselves and for others. We are in a dangerous place so we all have to now begin to fight.

What would the Doctor make of Donald Trump?
He would find him hilarious. Up to a point. I think we have reached that point where he is no longer funny. But the Doctor would be able to deal with him. I think the Doctor would certainly be able to recommend a better hairdresser. Imagine having all that money and that is the hairstyle you choose! Surely that says something. He has got his priorities wrong. He should have spent 2016 looking for a better hairdresser. Obviously there is a humorous underbelly to it all but, yes, I think it is more important we remain alert to the threats to our society and values. But also having a laugh when we can.

Do you still get the same buzz stepping into the TARDIS?
The TARDIS is a great set and everybody always has a fun time working on it. It is very welcoming, and it is the only set we constantly use so we know every corner of it. The nice thing for me is that I can usually escape on to the TARDIS set to learn my lines when it is not in use. It becomes my own private little place.

Quite right too! And how is filming going for the next series?
We are right in the middle of it but I’m just doing a week on Paddington 2 in between filming Doctor Who It’s all a bit kick, bollock, scramble.

Do you see parallels between the first Paddington film and Doctor Who? Both are inclusive stories about treating outsiders with decency…
Absolutely. These characters are hugely popular because they show the best side of human nature. The side that is sometimes difficult to express. But that is why people love them. They pursue a rightful cause.

At this time of year storytelling can bring people together – helping combat loneliness.
It is also one of those things that TV and film does very well. People have favourites they want to watch again, and Christmas does add a nostalgic element, which is welcome. Because there is nourishment there. That was a very dreary answer to your far better phrased question.

Are there films your family return to every year? The great favourite is Meet Me in Saint Louis, which is not technically a Christmas film but does have Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – perhaps the saddest Christmas song ever – in it. And White Christmas, Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, which remains iconic and beautiful and very much the world we all want to live in. That is one we watch. I love It’s a Wonderful Life but it is such a good film you should leave five years between viewings. It’s a far denser film than the others so it’s good to forget it then come back to it.

Do you have a Christmas message for The Big Issue’s vendors and readers? I would say be hopeful, cheerful and look after each other. I think it is time for everybody to look after each other. And don’t be quiet!

Doctor Who – The Return of Doctor Mysterio airs on Christmas Day at 5.45pm on BBC One

 

Watch this amazing animated 12 Doctors of Christmas puppet show

Watch this amazing animated 12 Doctors of Christmas puppet show

Watch this amazing animated 12 Doctors of Christmas puppet show
The 12 Doctors Of Christmas

Three sleeps! Just three more sleeps until Christmas, or to give it its proper name, The Day The 2016 Doctor Who Drought Finally Ends. And here’s something that’ll make this final wait go faster: a beautifully animated video of the 12 Doctors of Christmas from the good people at Doctor Puppet.

From Tom Baker’s four festive scarves, to Matt Smith’s 11 flying Fezzes, the puppet-packed video is full of heart and will make you want to hug EVERY Doctor at least once.

Steven Moffat: Doctor Who is a kids show, but that doesn’t mean it’s dumb

Steven Moffat: Doctor Who is a kids show, but that doesn’t mean it’s dumb

Steven Moffat attends the Doctor Who panel during the 2016 New York Comic Con

Like it or not, Doctor Who is and always has been for children – and showrunner Steven Moffat says that’s nothing to be ashamed of.

In fact, he’s got a brilliant analogy as to why it’s OK for grown-ups to like – nay, love – a show that’s really meant to be for kids.

“I always think Doctor Who is like when you go to a restaurant and you glance longingly at the children’s menu,” he told the press. “It’s always so much better than the risotto I’m going to pretend I want.”

Moffat insisted that while the long-running BBC series is absolutely “a children’s programme”, that doesn’t mean it can’t be “challenging”.

“Doctor Who stories can be complicated and they can be emotional – you’re supposed to sit up and damn well watch,” he argued. “But you have to keep in mind the slightly different, more intense, more emotional way that kids watch television.

“At its heart, it’s a children’s programme – one that adults absolutely love, but that’s who it belongs to. That’s something I feel very strongly about – but that doesn’t mean I think it’s dumb. Quite the opposite.”

Steven Moffat, Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie of 'Doctor Who' at NYCC
© Michael Stewart / Getty Images
Moffat will be departing his current job as Doctor Who’s showrunner after one final series in 2017.

He’s insisted that his final episodes will be about “pushing forward” – not bringing anything to a close.

With Doctor Who, you never want to have finished the story – I’m not going to do that,” he insisted.

“I want Chris [Chibnall, the new showrunner] to come in and have a brilliant time, so I’m not going to wrap it all up.”

Doctor Who will return to our screens on Christmas Day with festive special ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’ airing at 5.45pm on BBC One.

A full 10th series will then follow in early 2017, with actress Pearl Mackie joining the show as new companion Bill Potts.

Steven Moffat says Doctor Who ‘could still kill’ him before he steps down

Steven Moffat says Doctor Who ‘could still kill’ him before he steps down

Steven Moffat says Doctor Who 'could still kill' him before he steps down

Steven Moffat has said it is too early for him to feel sad about stepping down from his roles on Doctor Who because “it’s hard to be wistful about something that might still kill you”.

The writer and executive producer will hand over the job to Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall at the end of the next series in 2017.

However, he said he cannot yet feel nostalgic about the BBC One show, even though he knows he will be overwhelmed with emotion the day after he gives up the keys to the TARDIS.

Star Wars Rogue One’s Darth Vader is Doctor Who monster actor

Star Wars Rogue One’s Darth Vader is Doctor Who monster actor

Cold War, The God Complex

The latest film in the Star Wars film franchise, Rogue One, is in cinemas but you may be surprised to learn just what a large part Doctor Who plays in its cast.

Doctor Who fans may already recognise the movie’s lead, Felicity Jones, as the titular Unicorn in the terrific 2008 episode The Unicorn & The Wasp but did you know that Darth Vader has also starred in Doctor Who?

Actor Spencer Wilding plays the Dark Lord of the Sith in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and in the world of Doctor Who has played:

  • The Minotaur in The God Complex
  • The Wooden King in The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
  • Ice Warrior Skaldak in Cold War

More recently, Spencer played the Quill Goddess in Doctor Who spin-off Class. Wilding is also known for his roles in blockbuster movies such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Batman Begins.

Tom Baker is a happy man to be involved in new Star Wars

Older fans might remember that the original actor to physically portray Darth Vader, David Prowse, is also a Doctor Who alumni. Prowse played the Minotaur (just like Spencer!) in the 1972 Third Doctor adventure, The Time Monster.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story also features a number of other notable Doctor Who guest stars and actors, including:

  • Daniel MaysNight Terrors
  • Warwick DavisNightmare In Silver
  • Sharon Duncan-BrewsterThe Waters of Mars
  • Ariyon BakareThe Woman Who Lived
  • Richard Franklin – UNIT’s Mike Yates
  • Paul Kasey – over 30 episodes as aliens such as the Ood, Cybermen, Judoon, Zygons, Whisper Men, and many more.
  • Aidan Cook – Monster actor in eps such as The Day of the Doctor, The Zygon Invasion and The Rings of Akhaten.

So, keep your eyes peeled when you pop along to your local multiplex to catch the latest adventures in the Star Wars universe.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is in cinemas now.

Have YOUR Doctor Who artwork published in an official book!

Have YOUR Doctor Who artwork published in an official book!

Doctor Who Illustrated Adventures Competition

Have your Doctor Who artwork published in an official book!

Our friends at Puffin have launched a great new competition for Whovians with an artistic touch.

Do you love drawing all things Doctor Who?

We’re giving you the chance to have your artwork published in Doctor Who: The Illustrated Adventures, coming in late 2017.

For full competition details, click here.

To enter the competition, you’ll need to draw or design an image to illustrate one episode from our list of 100 Doctor Who favourites.

Winning entries will be published in Doctor Who: The Illustrated Adventures, out late 2017.

This competition closes on Feb 1, 2017 – enter here.

Please note: if you’re under 13 years of age, please include your parent/guardian’s email address along with your entry. Terms and conditions apply – click here.

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2016

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2016

This Christmas sees The Doctor join forces with a masked Superhero for an epic New York adventure.

With brain-swapping aliens poised to attack, the Doctor and Nardole link up with an investigative reporter and a mysterious figure known only as The Ghost. Can the Doctor save Manhattan? And what will be revealed when we see behind the mask?

The 60 minute Doctor Who Christmas Special is written by Steven Moffat, Executive Produced by Brian Minchin, Produced by Peter Bennett and Directed by Ed Bazalgette (Poldark), it was shot in Cardiff at BBC Wales Roath Lock Studios.

Cast

  • Peter Capaldi (The Doctor)
  • Matt Lucas (Nardole)
  • Justin Chatwin (Grant)
  • Charity Wakefield (Lucy)
  • Tomiwa Edun (Mr Brock)
  • Aleksandar Jovanovic (Dr Sim)
  • Logan Hoffman

Peter Capaldi Q&A

What can audiences look forward to in this Christmas Special?

I think with the Doctor Who Christmas Special this year, audiences can look forward to a real Christmas treat. It’s nostalgic in the sense that it’s going to be a superhero story from the days when superheroes were ironic and witty and clever. It’s also set in New York and we have a fabulous American cast and some spectacular flying scenes – you’ll believe a man can fly. And we have The Doctor and Nardole and returning nasty monsters. Villains, good guys, bad guys, bit of snow, some children and maybe a hint of Santa Claus. Be there, watch it and have a wonderful Christmas!

What was your reaction to reading the Christmas scripts?

When I first read the script I thought “this is wonderful” because it captures the delightful, light comedy touch that existed in the early Superman movies with Christopher Reeves. Superheroes nowadays tend to be a grim lot but in those days there was optimism and a deliberate naivety that the character of Superman had which was very attractive. But also the way the scripts were written back then reminded me of Spencer Tracy or Katherine Hepburn kind of scripts – they were very witty, very knockabout, very American. This script is like that so I was very happy to read it and to go with this whole idea of the Doctor observing a superhero – it’s great fun. Doctor Who is an extraordinary programme – it allows you the opportunity to almost have a different kind of genre every week not just a different kind of plot so this is very much a light-hearted superhero romp.

Can you talk to us about the casting of Justin Chatwin as Grant/The Ghost?

Justin as The Ghost is amazing because he’s able to do both of those parts – The Ghost and the mild mannered Grant – and he’s got two different voices that he uses for them. I think comic lightness is a greatly undervalued thing – to be as funny as he is and light but with accurate delivery. He has great charm, a movie star quality which is lovely. The Ghost is a slightly flawed superhero and he’s spot on with all of that. He’s been great to have around.

Justin Chatwin Q&A

How did the role come about?

I got a letter sent to my agent from Ed [Bazalgette] and Peter [Bennet] just saying that “we’re doing the Christmas Special of Doctor Who, here’s the script and here’s the deal and this is how long etc” – it’s how most scripts come about. I read it and I said “This is the best thing I’ve read all year”. It was really funny and really entertaining and when an actor gets writing that’s as good as that it’s really hard to say no. The calibre of acting is phenomenal – I’m a huge fan of Matt Lucas from Little Britain and I had seen Peter Capaldi’s work and he’s great. There’s a pace and specificity and a respect for writing, rehearsal and theatre that is more cared for here and it shows in the work.

How did you find working with Steven’s script?

As long as we stuck close to what Steven wrote, word-for-word, it was perfect because he wrote something that flowed so well. So if I missed a word, it probably wouldn’t work. This was the first thing I’ve ever been on where I didn’t have an opinion about a line – it was line-for-line perfect. Every single line motivated the next and every single word had a meaning behind it. It was good subtext, it was really good storytelling and when there’s good storytelling, actors are happy!

What appealed to you about the role of Grant/The Ghost?

I loved, loved, loved the old Batman, the old Superman, the old Spiderman because there was so much story and it was more about relationships. The original Superman was this nerd – a nerd who couldn’t get the girl so he created this alter ego in order to be the guy that he couldn’t be and that’s the same with Grant and The Ghost. I really felt it would be fun to play a character that was very much like what Christopher Reeves did with Superman combined with a little bit of what Michael Keaton did in Batman.

Charity Wakefield Q&A

Tell us about your character Lucy

I play Lucy Fletcher who in her own way is living a little bit of a double life in that she’s a very successful working mother, she’s a journalist and she’s also been left by her husband so she’s in a difficult position with a very young child. But she’s quite an interesting character in that she’s got lots of different facets – I think a little light turns on when she’s at work and she’s quite hard-nosed and that’s fun to play. In this episode she’s the eye for the audience in a way because even though she feels like she’s in control at the beginning she’s the one that’s the least in the know about what these other worlds and superpowers are. She’s discovering everything as the audience are discovering it so I felt it was my job to really be in the moment with that which is such a fun thing to do when the things that are happening are so extraordinary.

How did the role of Lucy come about?

This role felt like a very early Christmas gift to me because it’s one of those amazing opportunities you get as an actor where you’re just offered something seemingly out of the blue (or out of outer space in fact with this job). I read the script and just absolutely jumped at the chance – it was so fun, so full of energy and vitality and a great opportunity to play a character in Doctor Who that isn’t completely concealed by an alien outfit. It’s really fun to play an American.

What was your reaction when you first read the script?

When I first read the script I was really surprised that there was such a huge superhero theme. Firstly I didn’t even think you could do that on other TV shows – that you could connect yourself to those amazing huge films that have already been so popular that have their own world so that was really exciting. I never thought I’d have the opportunity to do that, and do it in a way that is really different in the world of Doctor Who. It was fascinating to read how Steven was bringing those two worlds together. It’s just so charming – the storyline of Grant and seeing him grow up and seeing the Doctor’s relationship with him – that’s one of the things that’s so special about Doctor Who is the way that he’s able to jump back and forth in time and he (the Doctor) has these different strands and different relationships with people and watching them grow and coming back to them later in life – it’s really lovely to see that as a character. It’s so exciting!

What can audiences look forward to in this Christmas Special?

In this Christmas Special, you’re going to see New York City, you’re going to see aliens, you’re going to see superheroes, and you’re going to see love, romance, rejection, fear, trepidation, excitement, the Doctor, Nardole and me.

Steven Moffat Q&A

What do you love about superhero movies?

I love the secret identity, I like the daft superpowers, I like scenes where the two identities being managed by our hero are clashing with each other – they did that beautifully in the Christopher Reeves Superman films and the Tobey Maguire Spiderman movies. That’s what’s interesting, that’s the cool part and you have a certain joyful levity in how you deal with the superpowers because they’re fundamentally silly – you can’t take them too seriously and I think the Superman movies do that so beautifully.

What can the audience look forward to?

I wanted to do a superhero story, I wanted to reflect some of the elements of the Clark Kent/Lois Lane/Superman love triangle that has always fascinated me. I just wanted to do a good superhero in Doctor Who