Spoilers for Doctor Who: Twice Upon A Time!

The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine not only features a fresh interview with the new Doctor herself, Jodie Whittaker. But it also has Twice Upon A Time director Rachel Talalay chatting about the Christmas special, and a spoiler-y moment that originally was just a little different.

It’s the bit at the end of the episode where Jenna Coleman’s Clara returns to bid farewell to Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. Coleman’s footage was actually shot in the Top Gear offices in London, the article reveals, as the production worked around Coleman’s extensive commitments to filming ITV’s Victoria.

“We couldn’t get Jenna to our set. We couldn’t have the three companions there together. But she does make a magical appearance on the battlefield, which we had to shoot separately a few days after the rest of the episode had wrapped”, Talalay confirmed. Capaldi and Coleman didn’t record the scene together, as it happened. “But I think we pulled it off”, Talalay said.

The recording of Coleman’s moment was outgoing showrunner Steven Moffat’s final piece of physical production that he oversaw, after the main shoot was complete. And he admitted that Clara’s moment in the episode was originally a lot longer, but “I rewrote, and rewrote, and rewrote for everything we could do with Jenna’s schedule”.

Originally, Clara was set to appear in the scene where Bill and Nardole big farewell to the Doctor, with the Doctor hinting that he’s about to pick his favourite (although none of them can work out who he picked). But that was, as you more than likely guessed, changed for what we got. Which was hardly shabby!

The full article can be found in the new Doctor Who Magazine, that’s on sale now.