Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor)

How does it feel to be returning as The Doctor?

Really exciting. My series one (Series Eleven) was so full of excitement and nervousness for me because I was the first female, there’s a lot of noise around that. For yourself, you’re making these choices and you’re yet to know if they work or if it’s the direction you want to go in but you’re lucky with this job, it’s ten episodes per series so you get so much time to play. So to have a gap and then come back it feels liberating and exciting knowing that you can go in any direction.

How is it different for you this series compared to last year?

It’s only different in the sense that you know everyone, that’s the major difference. For us, we were lucky with our family in this, that our friendship outside of work was instant and constant. So returning, it’s like the siblings and the dad back together – that’s what it feels like. But then also with the crew it’s a really unique job, you spend a lot of time with each other and we’re all really good mates. There’s a lot of give and take in that, people are very forgiving if we’ve been on seven night shifts in a row. There’s support for everyone and I think everybody’s individual personality is allowed to have the space and freedom at work and I think that only comes from having history with people. I think that doesn’t happen often in a job.

Was there anything you approached differently this year coming back to it?

I didn’t approach anything differently in the sense I didn’t decide to work completely differently as an actor. But every new scenario is different, every new adventure is different, every new relationship with a character is different. The Doctor goes on a big journey throughout this series and that brings news things, so to hash out the same thing would be pointless and it’s not the role to do that because you’re not playing a human. You have the freedom to go in any direction, there’s no constraint or time period for social etiquette, we don’t have any of that. The only approach is be open.

Can you tell us a bit about the response you got last year?

Well I get a really filtered view of the response because I’m not on social media. Social media is sometimes the way we decide whether something is a popular choice or not. And if you’re not on it, you have no idea.

A lot of my mates watched it for the first time so that was a really exciting thing. I’ve got a lot of people in my life who are new Whovians so that’s really exciting knowing this world is open to them. So that’s amazing, you can have this show that’s been going for years and years and years but then there are new audiences to reach.

Do you get a response when you go to the shops?

Yeah I do. I think with this show you’re continually surprised with who watches it, there’s not an obvious demographic. You know something like Attack The Block, if I was kicking about after school time I would feel like a legend for about ten minutes if I walked past at the right time. But I think with Doctor Who it really surprises you, it really curveballs you sometimes the people that it touches and reaches. Because it’s a BBC show, it’s worldwide, it goes out to so many different continents and I think for me it’s surprising you can go to places you think no one will know you and they do.

This time around, there are some amazing guest artists, what was it like working with Stephen and Lenny?

I’ve worked with Lenny before so that was really lovely and in a completely different capacity – we were filming in South Africa so it was like we were all on holiday together so that was incredible and lovely. And anyone who knows him knows he’s famously absolutely lovely and brilliant, and a great energy to have on set, he’s amazing.

Stephen Fry I really fangirled over – I had met him before but I didn’t think he’d remember – we were both in St Trinians. I’m really in awe of someone who can offer themselves up to the world in a brutally honest and unapologetically intelligent and forward thinking way. I think we should celebrate brains like that. For anyone who considers themselves to be interested in learning, just some of his vocabulary was beautiful but not excluding. I think he’s an inclusive thinker and I think for Doctor Who that’s perfect but for me to be around him at 37, I was really in awe. I was just beyond excited to work with him and he was lovely and everything you’d want him to be. He’s great, for everything he’s done and does, if you’re ever going to join social media which I will never, do it as a contributor like him.

Have you done any stunts this year?

Yeah there’s a motorbike! I’m not qualified to ride a motorbike so we were on a truck – looks cool though. There’s a lot of jumping, clinging on for dear life, there’s a lot of action so you should be excited for that.

Can you tell us about the terrifying monsters?

I was actually really scared when I saw one of them, I bricked it. I proper bricked it. In rehearsal, he’s like six foot seven, in a suit and he’s running at you down a corridor and I was screaming. He’s called Spencer, he’s one of the Darth Vaders, and he’s a bit of a legend on set. [laughs]

Is it strange when you see people on set in prosthetics?

Yes, Brad can you tell this but what was funny, Brad had worked with someone, he went: “Lovely to meet you darling”, and she was like “It’s me!” He had no idea it was her. Once I was chatting away with someone and they went: “Just so you know my ears are covered and I can’t hear a thing”, so they missed all my jokes (laughs). The make-up and costume department and the prosthetic department are another level.

And the return of the Judoon, what was it like working with them?

That was amazing, they’re massive. It’s weird the mouth moves and a voice comes from a person way over the other side of the set. It was brilliant, for me it was my first interaction with the Judoon.

What has been your highlight about being The Doctor so far?

The highlight for me is being in something that reaches such a wide range of people and emotionally touches those people in ways you can’t even imagine. I think I didn’t realise what Doctor Who was for so many people and I find it really moving. I think our heroes in life come in all different forms, but to play someone who celebrates inclusivity and the fact that we don’t know the answers but that’s okay. And The Doctor can be anyone, so to be able to do that and play this role the way I wanted to play it, ten year old me didn’t think this would happen, you know it’s massive. Being the first female Doctor, it’s what dreams are made of really, especially growing up as an actor who wanted to play pretend.

How would you describe Series 12 in three words?

Epic, emotional, rollercoaster.

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Bradley Walsh (Graham)

How does it feel to be going into your second year?

I’m excited! I can’t wait to see the gang back together, I’m really looking forward to it. I think this year is going to be crash, bang… it is going to be fantastic.

Has anything changed for you going into the second year?

No, actually it was slightly easier as I knew what to expect. I was really looking forward to as I say getting back with the gang, and our leader, Jodie. Jodie is for me the benchmark of professionalism so I was really looking forward to getting back on track with the guys for this series.

How are things going to be different for Graham?

We haven’t got the Grace scenario now so the question is has he got over his grief? We will just have to wait and see.

Are we going to see a change of dynamic between The Doctor and her friends?

I would say yes and the reason I say yes is because we don’t stick together the whole time. I think The Doctor will start delegating more now and I think that will slightly change the dynamic.

What’s the relationship between Ryan and Graham this year, are they going to be closer?

I think it is on the cards because as we saw at the end of last season, when Ryan’s dad was part of the show, he then went off as he didn’t want to come with us. So I am sort of taking his place more now, I’m sort of being Ryan’s father figure more.

There are some amazing guest artists, what’s been your highlight about working with them?

I have been very lucky in my career to be able to work with a lot of different people but strangely enough, although I have worked with Robert Glenister many times, I haven’t worked with Lenny Henry and I haven’t worked with Stephen Fry or Goran Višnjić so to work with those as well and see them work has been great. And I was thrilled to see Lenny and work with Lenny, I really was.

What was your highlight from last year?

I think my highlight from last year was my first day on the set, I thought that was great. My first day was just amazing and I thought: “Wow, this is going to be really cool,” and it was. Then strangely enough, everything in between was great but then the last episode we did, with Jamie Childs directing, which was where we were blowing up stuff and was yippee ki yay sort of stuff, I really quite enjoyed that. I felt a bit of an action hero and I quite liked it!

How scary are the monsters this year?

There is a particular monster that I can’t wait for people to see it and see how it gets received because it is extraordinary.

Is it strange when you see people in prosthetics, what’s been your strangest experience?

Without a doubt the strangest experience I have had was working with someone I have worked with previously, Anjli. I have worked with her many times. The thing is when people have the prosthetics on they can be barely recognisable – and she said: “Brad” and I said “Hello there, lovely to meet you” and I added that “We will have to reintroduce ourselves when you have all those prosthetics off as I won’t recognise you” and she went “Brad it’s me” and I had to apologise as I had no idea. We have worked together a few times but I just didn’t recognise her as the prosthetics she had on were so good.

What was it like working with the Cybermen?

It was really good. We were doing a fantastic exterior scene and that was great, that was an action packed day. I thoroughly enjoyed that.

Do you have a highlight of your time so far?

I loved, loved, loved the first two episodes of the second series, the action scenes in the first episodes I thought that was tremendous.

You might not be able to tell us the ins and outs, but is there a particular moment you’re excited for fans to see this year?

Yes. It will be definitely the monsters I was talking about!

What does Doctor Who mean to you?

Doctor Who is a lifelong ambition for me. It strangely is the same feeling as when I did Coronation Street, big hit, massive, massive show, institutional; Law & Order – institutional in America so doing the English version… Doctor Who has been an institution from the sixties and strangely enough when I hosted the London palladium. So I have done the four of the longest running, iconic shows in television history.

I am very lucky that I have been in shows that have been on television, or hosted them, that have been going since the 1960’s. There’s not that many people that have done that. To host the London Pallidum there’s myself, Tarbuck, Forsyth and all those people but they have never done Coronation Street, they’ve never done Doctor Who. The only other entertainer that I think has done that would have been Roy Castle, he was in Doctor Who in the movie.  I’ve been very lucky, I’ve done some really great stuff in my time.

How would you describe Series 12 in three words?

Cinematic, exciting, thought-provoking.

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Mandip Gill (Yaz)

How does it feel to be going into your second year?

It feels really exciting! It feels like we’re part of something and we’ve found our feet. People started this way before we got here, it’s not our baby, but we’re part of this massive family. I think in the first year you’re trying to prove something. You’re trying to prove that you are part of it, whereas now, we know how it works. It’s bigger than before – you do it and you think how is it going to be bigger next year? But Chris has gone further and it feels like we’ve taken ownership of it now. Now it’s like we are a four, we know what we’re doing in the TARDIS, we know what parts we all play.

How are things going to be different for Yaz this year?

For Yaz, she’s a little more grounded, I don’t think she needs The Doctor’s attention as much. She’s still really influenced by her and infatuated with her in loads of ways, but she’s found herself, she knows what to do, she’s not so scared of taking the lead. I also think she’s more excited than ever. She goes back to speak with her family and we find out a lot about Yaz’s past, and why she is the way she is and why she became a police officer, why she’s so into this journey with these people she never knew. I think for me as an actress it was really great to touch on as it gave her some sort of foundation, an explanation as to her behaviour, and why she’s so into everything and wants to go on all these journeys.

Yaz seems to really take things in her stride, are we going to see more of that this year?

Yeah definitely! Last year we really needed The Doctor, we didn’t really know what was going on. Yaz needed reassurance; she needed to be told it was okay, it was safe. She was at the forefront of going, but she also needed someone to say this is what we need to do. This time I think The Doctor needs her friends more than she needed them before. She knows where their strengths lie and what they can give to her in certain situations – but Yaz doesn’t need reassurance as much. She still believes in The Doctor but she believes in herself now too.

Are we going to see a change in dynamic between The Doctor and Yaz?

Yes and I think with The Doctor and the gang in general. There are times when we are taken aback a bit by her. There are also times when she doesn’t explain herself and we get a bit confident and we’re like: “You never tell us about your past life, you’re asking us all these questions, you never talk about yourself or why you’re upset, or this particular monster”. So I think there’s a shift both ways – I think we’ve got more confident, we’re able to push her in certain instances and she’s allowed to snap back. If she had done that in Series 11, it would have been like: “Who’s this random person shouting at us?”

Do you have a highlight from your first series and what has been your highlight from your second series of filming?

There wasn’t a highlight, it was all so exciting. It was a completely new journey, it was new people, and we had so much fun. Brad is so funny on set. We were finding out about each other and our real lives, doing the most amazing scenes, there was such a buzz around last year, with the new Doctor, a new series. You’ve come into something you’re not used to – I’ve been on shows where the buzz has been going on for years but there’s something completely different about being in Doctor Who, people are just as excited as you are.

Now it’s completely different, we’re getting dolls made of ourselves, you see yourself on calendars, and it’s played in so many countries. Series 11 was massive. The same for Series 12 as well, you have a couple months break and then you’re like I don’t really know myself now without Doctor Who. That’s been my life since 2017, when you’re not filming you’re still talking about it, you’re still part of it.

We did a two-parter at the beginning of Series 12, and there’s amazing actors in it, Stephen Fry, Lenny Henry, there are some amazing characters that come up and we went back to South Africa where it all started. I think the highlight was not being in England when it was winter. [laughs]

Let’s talk monsters; we hear there are some terrifying ones this series, what can you tell us about them?

We can talk about the Judoon – they are really impressive. The detail and prosthetics! Not very often do we get to see the actual monsters but these ones are there. The animatronics as well, they move but then there’s a guy that says the line completely in character from the side.

We’ve got some really scary monsters, there’s one particular monster I think is really scary, and the guy playing him is amazing. He doesn’t even need to act, you’re in the dark, it’s wet, it’s cold and it’s really scary!

Is it strange when you see people in prosthetics?

You don’t see the actor very often without the prosthetics because their call time is so much earlier than yours so they have to sit in it for ages. Some bits may get removed that they can easily put back on but they’re sat there for hours and hours just with monster teeth while we’re all talking. The weird thing is when I see their regular headshots in the makeup department.

What was it like working with the Cybermen?

It was really exciting, there’s an exciting part with the Cybermen. It’s so nice to work with new monsters but what’s so exciting being part of this family is to say you’ve been able to work with the Cybermen or monsters everyone knows. You feel part of it anyway but I really feel part of it now.

Personally, what does Doctor Who mean to you?

I find it really inclusive; I’ve found it’s opened me up to a genre I probably would never have watched. My brother and nephews watch Doctor Who and I knew what it was, but it was a bit like: “Is this too clever for me?” I didn’t understand science and unless I knew about the history, I thought this is not for me. But actually being a part of it, I realised a lot of it is actually explained. You learn so much, so if I would’ve stopped and looked at the genre, I would’ve learned something!

How would you describe Series 12 in three words?

Fast, action and drama.

You highlight your running technique, have you put in more effort this year?

[Laughs] I’ve watched myself back a few times. This is a really bizarre one, I am dreading watching myself run in the first two-parters because I’d obviously eaten a lot over Christmas… I think I’m going to do what I did in Series 11, where you see it, you work on it throughout the shoot and by the end of the episode we’ve improved!

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Tosin Cole (Ryan)

How does it feel to be going into your second year?

It feels great, man! Lovely to be back with the team, you know there’s lots of banter, stories and experiences – I’m just looking forward to being back, it’s a pleasure.

Has anything changed for you going into the second year, have you approached anything differently? 

No not really, just getting more familiar with everyone. It’s nice coming back when you’re comfortable with everyone but before I was trying to figure everyone out, it’s kind of picking up where you left off isn’t it?

How are things going to be different for Ryan?

Just more independence in the sense he’s not really relying on The Doctor as much. He’s got more questions and using his initiative a bit more, and more adventurous in a sense.

Are we going to see a change of dynamic between The Doctor and her friends?

One hundred percent – it changes between everyone because everyone has their own vibes and feelings going on. I think because everyone’s matured in this space that they’re in, there’s a lot more questions and a lot more clashing heads. The dynamics will shift a bit, well a lot actually.

What’s the relationship with Ryan and Graham this year, are they going to be closer?

Yeah, since the last season they’ve had a heart to heart and they’ve kind of seen eye to eye so it’s just kind of picking up after that, just cracking on with their relationship.

There are some amazing guest artists, what’s been your highlight about working with them?

Just being like: “Oh, I know them now”. When you see them on TV doing other stuff you’re like: “Yeah, yeah, I know them! We’ve worked together!”

What was your highlight from last year?

Bradley doing stupid stuff on set and making me laugh! I just remember him saying: “What is it, garlic?” pretending to rehearse his lines in many different ways just before a take and when we were rolling and he forgot the line! But it happened like twenty five times. Every time I see a garlic clove when I’m cooking I start giggling. It’s so silly but you had to be there.

Sounds like it was a long day on set then?

It was a proper long day on set, it was cold, I just got back from South Africa. I think it was a night shoot. And he’s just saying: “What is it, garlic?” Proper dramatic – it was his line and he completely blanked, he didn’t know what to say. That was one of my favourite moments on set; I was just dying with laughter.

How scary are the monsters this year?

Oh no, no, no! There’s a monster that shall not be named, you’re going to see my reaction, it breaks through the wall and you’re going to see me jump and that jump is the most honest jump. I was actually scared – I knew it was going to happen but when it happened I didn’t know it was going to happen like that. I was genuinely scared. I think I had to change my pants that day! [laughs]

Is it strange when you people in prosthetics? What’s been your strangest experience?

There’s someone in this season and I’ve even seen the person before, and then she came in and I was talking to her like I’d never met her before and she said: “You do know it’s me?” I was like “No, no!” They did a really good job! Sometimes people have a slight resemblance but no, this was crazy. They were in the chair for four hours I was thinking: “Nah, I couldn’t do that”. I remember before when I wanted to play monsters and that, but when you realise you have to have an earlier call time and stuff like that, I was like not for me! [laughs]

What was it like working with the Cybermen and the Judoon and the other monsters?

It’s nice isn’t it? It’s cool because you always get to see how it works especially with the Judoon and the animatronics. You see the guys doing the voices, and you learn about them.

It’s also nice to have that classic feel. Before, we didn’t really work with the classic monsters, only on the festive episode. So to do it this season it’s nice to have that nostalgic feel to it.

Do you have a highlight of your time during the series so far?

It’s the little things for me, the banter between us and the guys. There’s so many!

What was your favourite episode of last year and why?

The Rosa Parks episode – that was my favourite. Just the weight of it and experiencing it through Ryan was just… imagine if that was really Rosa Parks, especially one of the scenes with Martin Luther King and all the civil rights leaders in that one room. I was like that is crazy! Just the weight of it and the approach we had to it, and the little nuances, it really touched me. Yeah, this was something I was really proud of. It has a special place in my heart.

You might not be able to tell us the ins and outs, but is there a particular moment you’re excited for the fans to see this year?

My stunts – there’s going to be some bangs, some booms, some action! No stunt double, all me! I do my own stunts. I’ve set the standard; I’ve set the bar quite high (laughs). People try and act like there’s no competition, I think Bradley was the first one to do a stunt and I was like: “Oh yeah? Alright cool then watch this old timer…” The episode with all of the stunts, definitely…

Have there been any jaw dropping moments when you read the script?

There’s always jaw dropping moments – Doctor Who’s actually kind of ruthless! When you watch it, someone’s always dying. I’m like I didn’t even see that coming. When we do the cast reading and when we get a new episode, something will be happening, the new villain will come in and then boom, someone’s dead. I’m always like, where did that come from?! Lots of shocks.

What does Doctor Who mean to you?

It’s just escapism isn’t it? And just the limitless to life, everyone always wonders what’s on the other side, what’s out there. And the fact that we have this show that explores all of those kinds of ventures and what ifs; it’s just escapism, and limitless, and knowing that anything is possible.

How would you describe Series 12?

I know we say this every year but the standard has really increased. It’s really exciting, dramatic… The stakes are really high this season! Like really, really high. It’s a rollercoaster of so many things. Old villains, new villains, old feelings, new feelings, questions – I think the fans are really going to enjoy it. I hope they do but I really feel like they will.

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Chris Chibnall (Showrunner)

After writing one series, how did you approach your second series?

When I came in I had a long term plan for the show: With the first year, there were mainly standalone stories and no old monsters. It was really about introducing the Thirteenth Doctor, and her new friends and getting people to fall in love with those characters.

Phase two of the plan, which is this series, is taking the audience that have joined with Jodie and taking those who have been on that journey with Doctor Who for a number of years, and going deeper into the wonders and mysteries of the Doctor Who universe. We knew we wanted to bring back old monsters this year, and do some two-part stories.

Then the challenge becomes the brilliance of Jodie Whittaker, to be honest! She is so extraordinary, and my job is to feed her brilliance and to take the character into places it hasn’t been before, while still retaining the essence of the Thirteenth Doctor.

Is there anything you are approaching differently this year?

It’s really about keeping the ambition high. We achieved so much of what we wanted last year and the audience responded so positively, so now we’re going: “Right, how do we keep raising the bar? How do we surprise and delight people? How do we make Doctor Who look like it’s never looked before?”. We know how much Doctor Who means to people, so we want to give them new treats.

So we’ve kept raising the ambition, challenging ourselves and challenging the production team. They’re the big, unsung heroes in of all this process: this incredible production team at Roath Lock in Cardiff who create all these worlds and characters and surprises.

Is there going to be a different theme to the show this year, what’s different?

Yes, although it’s funny because I don’t really want to talk concretely about what the theme is until after the series is over. You want to see the audience figure it out: That’s part of the viewing experience, how that evolves.

I think it was pretty clear that the big theme of last series was family: Different versions of family and different ideas of family. There is a different governing theme this year but I’m not going to talk about it at the start. People will be able to figure out what it is. It’s pretty clear by the end.

There are some returning monsters this series, including the Judoon, why did you decide to bring them back?

Oh I love them! They’ve never come back properly before. When I started saying to people I’m thinking of bringing back the Judoon, I’d see massive smiles spread over their faces. I think they’re an incredible creation by Russell T Davies. Rhino-headed space police in leather: They stomp about the place, they scan people and they zap people who don’t cooperate – what more do you want from a Doctor Who monster? They’re both really enjoyable and quite scary as well. They’re a great one for kids of all ages.

We have a great story for them, set in Gloucester. Everybody on set was just delighted, that delight went through the whole production. Seeing them stomping around outside Gloucester cathedral is glorious. They are brilliant, and it’s a really exciting episode. I’m really pleased to bring them back.

You also have the Cybermen who are one of the Doctor’s biggest enemies, so what can you tell us about them?

It’s the Thirteenth Doctor’s first meeting with the Cybermen! It’s a story in which you’re going to be encountering a particularly relentless and ferocious set of Cybermen.

How do you find the balance between introducing new monsters but also returning monsters?

We deliberately kept to new monsters in Jodie’s first series because it was so much about the focus being on her and the gang, and giving those people and particularly those children who came to the series that year their own monsters.

It’s interesting, because although you can talk about it as old versus new, that’s slightly a false definition. Because even if you bring the Cyberman back, that’ll be the first time for some kids and for some viewers. So you have to make sure that they feel fresh and there’s an idea behind them. I feel like we did a really nice job with that and with Resolution and the Dalek – that was a new spin on a Dalek story.

I think, with any series of Doctor Who, you want it to be this wondrous array – a bit of old, a bit of new and some surprises. You want a bit of everything – stuff for kids and new viewers, and stuff that, if you’ve been watching Doctor Who for 50 years, there’s a line or an image that you’ll understand the resonance of. We’ve got all of that this year.

There are some terrifying monsters this year, what can you tell us about this? We’ve heard that episode three is particularly terrifying…

Yes, there are some pretty fearsome new monsters in episode three. We have a lot of new monsters this year, alongside the returning ones.

I think all the kids need to get that little space behind the sofa ready, for their parents, so the parents are ready to hide there.

It’s the beautiful thing about Doctor Who, it’s that scary bedtime story for the whole country.

How do you get the balance right between the scary monsters and aliens, but also having a show so many people can relate to?

I think that’s the essence of Doctor Who, and it’s how it was created. The DNA of Doctor Who contains everything. It’s got drama, warmth, humour, emotion, scares, action and excitement! You want every episode of Doctor Who to have varying degrees of all those components. That’s what makes it different from almost every other show in the world.

It’s a show about somebody who fights monsters, so you want to have a high scare factor, but also you have that amazing reassuring presence of The Doctor. The Doctor is the person who fights and vanquishes the monsters and Jodie’s Doctor is particularly strong and hopeful and reassuring and heroic, so that’s important.

But also I think it’s a mainstream BBC One drama that plays to audiences all around the world. So the relationships between the characters, both the regular cast and also the guest cast that come in every week, are really important. We pride ourselves on the amazing guest casts we get and that’s down to having good strong human characters – and good strong alien characters. Because every actor always wants to be in a prosthetic! [laughs]

How does creating a new a monster come about, what’s the process?

It really varies. Sometimes it’s an idea. Sometimes it’s an image. Sometimes it’s a thing that you think: “Oh that would terrify me if that happened.” It can really, really vary. You get a kernel of something and then you start to build it out from there.

Then it will be written into a storyline or a script, after which it gets conceptualised by a concept artist. They’ll do the first drawing, based on the description in the script or the storyline, and that first image gives us something to talk about. Once we’ve nailed what we think it is, we start to think about how it’s going to be created. That’s when we decided it’s a big physical prosthetic mask and costume, or if it’s entirely CG. It can be a really varied process.

Monster creation is one of the great bits of the job, because each time it’s different. You’re using all the disciplines of all the departments who are involved – costume for example is a really important part and underappreciated in terms of monster design. If you think about the Thijarians in Demons Of The Punjab, the amazing costumes that they wore were as important to their identity as their amazing alien faces, so it’s a real team effort.

Doctor Who has always been a global show on a massive scale, are we going to see more of that this year?

You’re going to see a lot of the world on screen. You’ll see in the two part opener, Spyfall, a huge global spy thriller and action adventure movie. It’s got global locations, big stunts, big villains, monsters, laughs, car chases, the lot.

For a show that has been going for so long, how do you make it feel so fresh and exciting for a brand new series every year?

The scope of Doctor Who is infinite, so there are always more stories. Whatever’s happening in the world, whatever people’s preoccupations are at any given moment, that refreshes it. Any new Doctor, any new cast members coming in, refreshes it.

I think it’s also down to our writing and directing team – their voices, their attitudes and concerns, their stories and characters and ways of telling stories keep it feeling a modern show. A big part of my job is to keep it feeling fresh. You’ve got an amazing heritage to call on, but also you want to be creating the stories for the ten-year-olds today to reminisce about in 40 years’ time to their kids.

What does Doctor Who mean to you?

So many different things! It means an amazing character, probably the richest character in the history of television drama, if you think about how that character has been going for 56 years. In terms of the show, it’s such a vast, brilliant, simple, beautiful idea.

I think what it means to me is the collective labour of every person who’s ever worked on Doctor Who. It’s this incredible collage of every person who’s ever touched it or made a contribution to the mythology of Doctor Who in large and small ways.

But mostly I guess what it means to me is childlike wonder. Doctor Who makes you feel like no other show does. It makes every viewer feel that childlike wonder and like you’re eight years old again. Whether if you’re 28, 58, or 98 it lets you tap into that memory of what it feels like to be a child, during the most exciting bedtime story, with the most exciting scary monster coming round the corner.

It’s sort of everything really.

How would you describe Series 12  in a few words? 

It’s an epic, entertaining, action packed, emotional rollercoaster of a journey.

For viewers who have never watched the show, why should they watch this year?

If you’re new to the show, episode one this year is the perfect starting point. You don’t need to know anything, we’ll explain it all as we go. And episode one is the most exciting way to start 2020! If you’ve never seen Doctor Who before meeting The Doctor and her friends on the journey that starts with Spyfall, you are going to have a blast!

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Matt Strevens (Executive Producer)

How do you feel going into your second year?

There’s a huge sense of excitement but also continued sense of wanting to take the show further and raise the bar again. There’s a creative thrill in what we managed to achieve with our first series in terms of launching Jodie and putting our own stamp on the look of the show, the production values and stories we wanted to tell but you’ve always got somewhere new you want to take it, a feeling of having to follow that, and how do you keep moving the show forward? How do you take it to new levels? How do you continue to make it fresh for the audience? And how do you make it fresh for yourself and the production and creative team?

Have you approached anything differently this year?

Obviously we learnt a lot during the making of our first series. How long things take, what the production can do, where we can push it a little bit more, so you take on a lot of new learnings. In terms of approaching things differently, I think always in terms of the storytelling: What was the first year about, what did we need to do? Introduce this fabulous Doctor and her friends and also wanting to give people as much variety in terms of story, tone and setting, so we felt the best way to do that was telling a story of the week that could encompass the classic territory of Doctor Who – so historical episodes, contemporary Earth stories, sci-fi heavy episodes set on alien planets or on alien ships etc.

We still want to retain that, we still love the idea of stories of the week and getting as many adventures in but you’re also looking for ways to move that forward and build on it. What do we want to do with the friends and The Doctor? How does their story evolve? So in terms of storytelling, we’ve looked to build on what we learned last year, and take it to new levels and get to know our gang even better and our Doctor even better. In terms of production values, again you keep on evolving. Other shows don’t stand still and they keep moving forward. And even in the very short amount of time we’ve been off air everything changes and production values get better and more sophisticated. So it’s constantly looking at how do we move things forward, not getting complacent or just doing more of the same.

What is going to be different for The Doctor and her friends this year?

I think this year they all know each other a whole lot more. The friends really relied on The Doctor in the first year but towards the end of the last series they started taking more control. They started being a lot more proactive and I think that just continues and builds this series, they’re very much more self-sufficient. They rely on each other. They’ve learned from The Doctor so they learn how to question things in the way The Doctor questions things. They’re a lot more interrogative and a lot more questioning. They’re the heroes of their stories.

The Doctor is facing more challenges. There are questions for her. I think she is going to need the gang a lot more. So she’s going to rely on them a lot more. Also, they’re over the initial kind of complete discombobulation and amazement of being in this space and time machine with this amazing alien, it’s settled a bit for them. And although every week is a new surprise, it’s still a completely surreal adventure, they are starting to ask questions about their adventures now. They’re starting to ask questions about The Doctor and what makes her tick and who she is.

There’s going to be some amazing guest stars. Focusing on the first episode, we’ve got Lenny Henry and Stephen Fry, what can you tell us about this? How did this all come about?

The way it works is Chris writes the script first. We had two very important parts so right from the start, we said let’s do our wish list. It’s the first episode back; it’s also the first episode of the series. We want a real treat for the audience. Let’s just completely punch as high as we can punch. And obviously Lenny is somebody that we greatly admire and Chris’s worked with him before. So he’s always been in our mind and we always knew we wanted to work with Lenny. And Stephen is on every list you put together. He’s a national treasure, we adore him so we went to them first and we’re very lucky that we got our first choices for those roles, especially as they are both fantastically busy all the time.

We’ve heard there are some scary monsters this year. What’s the process of creating these?

I think they are really scary! What you work with is, you go back and you remember classic episodes of Doctor Who and think about what really works, what really scares us, what can we do within the framework? How scary can we be? It’s a family show but what you realise is that the show’s always pushed the boundaries on that. And it has been incredibly scary, and people love to be scared. We created a lot of new monsters and threats last year, and this year we’ve got even more.

It always starts with the script and then the writer of that episode has an idea of the monster, and then we really interrogate it. There’s nothing harder for the design team, when you’ve got something that’s incredibly nebulous, and you don’t know really what it is. So we always encourage the writers, and Chris is very good at this, to really pin down what this monster needs to feel like. Then you open up it to the creative team and the designers, the creature designer, the costume designer Ray Holman, whether it’s the prosthetics team or whether it’s special makeup with Claire Pritchard, you look for inspiration and sometimes they’ll take it in a different direction to what was written and it’s a discussion such as: “But how about if we added this or how about if it was more like this?” Then we all get excited by each other’s ideas and as we get concepts in, that’s when you really start to hone the process down. But we’ve got some real behind the sofa moments this year.

Is there a particular moment from the upcoming series that you’re really excited for viewers to see? Was there a moment when you read a script where you had an idea and you thought, I can’t wait for viewers to see this?

There are lots of different moments. I think I’m really genuinely excited about our first episode. I think it’s huge. I think we really wanted to push the boundaries of what we could do and give the audience a real treat. They haven’t seen The Doctor and the gang for a year so we really wanted to bring it back with a bang and I think we’ve done that. What’s been really exciting is this whole series feels like we’ve constantly kept pushing and pushing and pushing! There were loads of lovely surprises and again, each episode feels very, very different; from the locations and the settings and designs and score of every episode. Everything does feel incredibly special and bespoke so that’s really exciting.

For a show that has been going for so long, how do you make it feel so fresh and exciting and like a brand new series every year?

That was bequeathed to us in terms of the format of the show. The great thing about the show is that it has an inbuilt renewal and although the show has been going for a very long time, the basic premise of the show is still exactly the same as it was back in 1963. You can bring in a whole new raft of characters and a new actor playing The Doctor and then what you constantly have each year is new things at your disposal, new technological advances, new ways of doing things, going to different locations and everything else. It has that ability to constantly change itself up.

So you keep it fresh by doing the things that are basic to every great drama, which is it’s all about the story. The story always hinges on the characters and so if you’ve got a great central character, great core characters, and great guest characters it just keeps an inbuilt freshness. And that is what we strive to do all the time. We have a great core cast, we have a great Doctor, so let’s build on last year, let’s have really, really great guest characters that are fully rounded, that you can fall in love with or hate or whatever but just have some really great parts there as well. I think that helps to keep it fresh.

What does Doctor Who mean to you?

Doctor Who means a lot of things to me. I watched it growing up so in some ways, one is slightly in awe of it, you feel like you’re carrying a glass vase across a very shiny floor you just want to preserve this national treasure. On the other hand, it represents just the most amazing challenge to me in a really great way. It is a real privilege and it’s incredibly exciting and it’s kind of like wish fulfilment. It’s like getting a ticket into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. That’s what it means to me.

How would you describe Series 12 in three words?

Exhilarating. Funny. Climactic.

For those who didn’t watch the show last year, why should they watch this year?

Well, what’s really lovely about this year is that if you come in on the first episode, it’s very clear who our characters are and who our Doctor is, and what the world is. So still I would say, you don’t need any prior knowledge of the show to come and enjoy Series 12 and if you stick with this series there are lots of lovely things that happen and develop throughout the series. If this is your first episode, it’s a great series to come in on, you won’t be disappointed. You’ll fall in love with everybody and it will take you on a journey.