An Adventure in Space and Time enters final week of filming

Monday, 25 February 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster

It's the last week of principal photography for An Adventure in Space and Time, with producer Matt Strevens commenting: "So the final week begins. It's flown by. Some big, moving scenes to come and perhaps a new creature or 2.". Doctor Who wouldn't be Doctor Who without corridors, but this time of the real kind as a couple of Dalek props are left "lurking" - as Matt observed: "These Daleks do like to gossip on a Monday morning."

Meanwhile, Waris met Waris as Sacha Dhawan caught up with original director Waris Hussein; the actor intimated that his time on filming was coming to an end, saying: "What a journey through space and time..loved every minute of it.x" Additional photos of the two together can be seen courtesy of the Radio Times, published when the initial casting was announced at the end of January.

Daleks at Wimbledon Studios (Credit: Matt Strevens, via Twitter)

Sacha Dhawan with Waris Hussein (Credit: Sacha Dhawan, via Twitter)

Speaking of cast, last week Reece Shearsmith got to grips with becoming the Second Doctor: "Tried the hobo costume on the other day. Oh my giddy aunt ..."

Some additional members of the production team have been confirmed, with script editor Richard Cookson telling us: "I am indeed lucky enough to be working on An Adventure in Space and Time. Thanks for the congratulations! All I can really say is that it's a huge honour to be involved in the programme and to work with such a fantastic and talented cast and crew." Other confirmations include Pippa Suren as production coordinator, Catriona Scott as production secretary, and James Metcalf as a floor runner.

FILTER: - WHO50 - Filming Reports

An Adventure in Space and Time: The Voice of the Daleks

Thursday, 21 February 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster

A new voice encounters the old as Nicholas Briggs confirmed last night that he had taken on the mantle of one of the original voices of the Daleks! Making the announcement on Twitter, the man who has voiced the Daleks since their return in 2005 commented: "Just did my Peter Hawkins cameo today. Beyond exciting..." He later added: "Well, you can never tell what will make the edit... But I had a costume and a wig and everything! :-)".

Speaking to Doctor Who Magazine back in 2006, the actor/voice artist/producer for Big Finish paid tribute to Hawkins: "All of us who've provided Dalek voices over the last 40 years owe him a massive debt. None of us have been as good as Peter, but he supplied our inspiration. He was truly the Emperor of the Daleks."

Filming Update:

A number of classic series moments are being "captured" for the drama. As well as filming of Daleks across Westminster Bridge from The Dalek Invasion of Earth filmed last weekend, iconic moments from the pilot episode have also been recorded as photos released but subsequently removed had revealed, including recreations of the junkyard where the TARDIS is first encountered, and the interior itself (credited to Peter Brachacki, who we reported last night as being played by David Annen).

The look and feel of the 1963 studio environment has been provided by Golden Age Television Recreations, which reported on its site: "Dr Who- An Adventure In Space And Time. GA-TV is supplying all the 1960s vintage tv studio and gallery equipment for a movie-length drama from the BBC, about the early days of the Dr Who tv programme."

FILTER: - WHO50 - Production - Filming Reports

A Dalek Adventure (In Space and Time)

Sunday, 17 February 2013 - Reported by Chuck Foster

This morning saw a re-enactment of an iconic moment in the early history of Doctor Who - Daleks invading London! Filming for An Adventure in Space and Time took place on Westminster Bridge in London to recapture scenes from The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

Filming at Westminster Bridge. BBC. (YouTube / BBC iPlayer)

This marks the fourth time Daleks have crossed the bridge in their pursuit of world domination (and publicity!): as well as the 1964 incursion, the scene was recreated in 1993 for the 30th Anniversary documentary (More Than) Thirty Years in the TARDIS, and then again in 2011 as part of the publicity for the Doctor Who Experience.

Filming on Westminster Bridge. Photo: Mark Gatiss

Daleks on Westminster Bridge. Photo: Matt Strevens

Daleks on Westminster Bridge. Photo: BBC

This weekend marks the halfway point in filming of the drama, which during the course of last week has focussed on scenes set in BBC Television Centre.

Filming at BBC TVC. Photo: Bill Thompson

A familiar name ... Filming at BBC Television Centre. Photo: Matt Strevens

Cast and Crew updates:

As well as the actors that portray William Russell, Jacqueline Hill and Carole Ann Ford, other members of the cast are expected to feature in some way. Speaking at The William Hartnell Years convention, Peter Purves mentioned that he would be represented in the drama, and observer Nick Lawton commented on Friday's filming: "'Vicky' [sic] was actually sitting in reception talking with Mark Gatiss, as Bill, Waris etc were filming scene. 'Vicki' was wearing her 'The Rescue' outfit, which is why I think it was her".

A few minor roles that have been cast include child actor Reece Pockney playing Alan, Elaine Andrews playing "1960s Vintage Mum", and Philip C. Francis playing "Restaurant Customer"; model/actor Ernest Gromov also reported his appearance in the drama, which he has now confirmed to us to be a "BBC Designer". On the production side, Matthew Patnick (who worked on Spies of Warsaw alongside David Tennant) is Line Producer, whilst Daniel Bishop (who also worked on The Empty Planet) is Camera Operator.

FILTER: - Filming Reports - WHO50

Christmas Special to begin production

Friday, 3 August 2012 - Reported by Chuck Foster

The read-through for this year's Doctor Who Christmas Special took place yesterday (2nd August), with the show's Facebook page releasing a tantalising glimpse of the cover page for the script (title redacted!). The Special will see the series debut of Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara, though a number of episodes have already been recorded with the newest TARDIS traveller. Guest stars for the Special have yet to be revealed.

Principal photography is expected to kick off in the next couple of days, with a number of 'familiar' locations being pressed into action. Monday-Tuesday next week will see Cardiff's Coal Exchange in use once again; the building has appeared in a number of episodes over the years, including the 2007 Christmas Special Voyage of the Damned where it became the Titanic passenger lounge. Wednesday-Thursday will then see a visit to Fields House in Newport; though used as the Angels' haunt in Blink, this time filming will instead take place in the renovated half of the building (the lounge of which can be seen in Steven Moffat's other series Sherlock's A Scandal in Belgravia as Irene Adler's apartment). And at the far end of the month the production team will descend upon Treowen Manor on Bank Holiday Monday, whose notable staircase played a 'starring' role as part of Torchwood House during Tooth and Claw.

FILTER: - Specials - Production - Filming Reports - Series 7/33

Production: first official Matt/Jenna photo released

Friday, 8 June 2012 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Publicity:

The BBC have released their first publicity photo of Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman together on location, which is available to download as wallpaper in both 4:3 and 16:9 format:

Further images of the pair are due on the BBC website next week.

Filming Update:

Meanwhile, filming has continued on the series, with Matt and Jenna seen together on location at Margam Country Park last week. A clapperboard confirmed that this episode is being directed by Jamie Payne and Director of Photography is Mike Southon.

Filming took place over a couple of days, with scenes involving characters dressed in Victorian attire and in 'spooky' parts of the park. This was the first time Jenna had been seen in 'costume', and it was also reported that her character is called Clara, confirming the name rumoured back in March.

With thanks to Ryan Farrell, Phillipa Collins and Steven Price - click on their links for more photos.

Filming then returned to another old haunt for the weekend, with the interiors of Hensol Castle playing host to the cast and crew.

Wednesday saw a read-through take place, as reported by casting director Andy Pryor: "Mega readthrough day, Block 1 of ‪Call The Midwife‬ (fantastic to be back) and a marv new ‪Doctor Who‬ ep. No spoilers for either!" This was followed yesterday by an early morning scene taking place in the Plan Cafe in Cardiff and featuring Matt with series regular Barnaby Edwards - normally enclad within a Dalek, the actor commented: "It's a welcome change not to be in one for this. :)"

With thanks to Dan Wills, Gareth Bundy and @CardiffTimelord - click on links for more photos.

This week also saw a surprising couple appear on location - Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill! The pair officially completed filming in May but were back for interior pickups for their last episode. Additional exterior work on episode four continued with scenes with Matt Smith outside the former couple's "home". Scenes were directed by Saul Metzstein and Douglas Mackinnon, with director of photography Sarah Bartles-Smith.

Filming took place back at Church Road in Penarth (Amy/Rory house interiors) and at Bute Esplanade (Amy/Rory house exteriors), with Ood pieces spotted at the former! Scenes were believed to be pickups for those that couldn't be completed before due to weather conditions (not that this had improved much since then!). Some dialogue overheard helped set the (probable) context of the Ood: "Hello Pond, me again...I've dropped your Ood back home, he's been missing his Hive Mind. Yeah... The Helmic Regulator's on the blink again, it got hit by an arrow!"

With thanks to @CardiffTimelord, Gareth Bundy and Ryan Farrell - click on their links for more details and photos.

Casting Update:

The media covered filming at Margam Country Park, with items appearing in The Sun and Daily Mail; the latter reported that Dougray Scott was also on location - the actor (originally tipped to be the next James Bond after Pierce Brosnan) has recently appeared with David Tennant in United and starred in the BBC remake of The Day of the Triffids.

FILTER: - Production - Matt Smith - Filming Reports - Jenna-Louise Coleman

Production Roundup

Wednesday, 30 May 2012 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Filming Update:

As reported last week, Jenna-Louise Coleman has now joined the Doctor Who "family"; speaking on the Richard Bacon Show, BAFTA winner Steven Moffat commented on the impact her arrival has had on the series:

It's just very exciting. When a new companion comes in it sort of reboots the show a little bit, it makes you look at the Doctor differently, it makes the show feel different, that's already happening. It's literally a new beginning, you're back to chapter one, in a way it's always a story of someone getting to know the Doctor, and now it's Jenna's character. There's a lot of ways (her character) will be different, but I'm not telling you what they are! Jenna is just wonderful and spiky and salty and clever: again - just as Doctor Who always does - it becomes a different show, and I'm thrilled with her, everyone's going to be.

The complete interview on Doctor Who, Sherlock, and the Kennedy assassination is available to listen to worldwide from the BBC iPlayer until next Monday afternoon.

The episode currently being filmed is not Jenna's first episode - that will be this year's Christmas Special (which Moffat reports is still being written and well overdue!) - but will be one of the 2013 episodes; it has been written by Neil Cross (Spooks/Luther), and is being directed by Jamie Payne (Ashes to Ashes, Primeval and the recent Call the Midwife). Locations filmed thus far have included the Manor House at Plas Llanmihangel, Margam Country Park and Gethin Woodland Park - the latter eliciting a comment from alternative rock group Let It Fall, who tweeted: "Soooo.. We was going to write some music in the woods, but we bumped into the Dr. Who film crew, cool ay?". Other unconfirmed reports indicated another trip 'across the bridge' to England late last week, possibly to Bristol's historic harbourside.

Writers:

During a school talk, writer Steve Thompson mentioned that he would be writing an episode for the forthcoming series, and commented that he needed to read the scripts of the first five episodes. With the Christmas Special known to be the sixth episode, this would place his story firmly within the second half of the series.

Mark Gatiss confirmed that he was writing a story for 2013 to Digital Spy at BAFTA, saying that "it's for the new companion, Jenna-Louise Coleman, that's all I can tell you or I will actually be shot!"

As well as Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss and Neil Cross, other writers believed to be contributing towards the eight episodes featuring new co-star Jenna-Louise Coleman are John Fay and Tom MacRae.

Cast:

Some of the recent names to be confirmed in the next series include: for episode two, Riann Steele (Death in Paradise) as Queen Nefertiti; for episode four, Mark Williams continues his role as Rory's father Brian, Steven Berkoff (The Borgias) as Mr Shanks, Stephen Blything as Henry, Ruthie Henshall (The Case), Jemma Redgrave (Cold Blood, Bramwell) as Kate Stewart; and for episode five, Rob David (Rome) as Sam Garner and Michael McShane (Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Clerks, Spawn) - the latter said on Twitter: "Getting ready to leave for Cardiff to be a villain in Dr.Who!! YEEESSSS!!!«. In my episode the Doctor finds he's got a;:/;;zapppppp GACK. sizzle,hissssss......« Most fantastic time doing Doctor Who; best cast and crew I've been with in a while! Long live Gallifrey...« Can't say what I did In Doctor Who, or Steven Moffat will ride in on a horse and crush my head with a mace, like Mel in "Braveheart"..sorry.«"

Caitlin Blackwood, aka the young Amelia Pond, was a guest at last weekend's Timegate convention, and when asked about possibly appearing in the next series she avoided the answer, instead miming having her lips zipped shut and saying "spoilers"...

On the other hand, John Simm commented: "in reply to many, regardless of what it says on imdb, No i'm not returning to Dr Who. Got absolutely no plans to do so.«"

Scheduling:

Addressing recent concerns over scheduling and a potentially shorter series in the future, Moffat assured listeners on the Richard Bacon show:

You're not getting shorter and shorter seasons, we're just splitting it over Christmas; we're making the same number of episodes as usual - I can tell by the grey hairs on my head - but we delayed it a few months to start it later in the year, that's all that's happened.

There's no chance of the BBC giving up on Doctor Who: it's a huge money spinner, it's doing better than ever abroad, the global number of people watching Doctor Who has just gone up and up and up, it was the most downloaded show on American iTunes last year - not a chance of the BBC giving up on Doctor Who, not at all.

Roath Lock Studios:

The BBC have released a video to introduce the new Roath Lock Studios at Cardiff Bay, presented by the 'current' cast of Arthur Darvill, Karen Gillan and Matt Smith; the video (originally shown to visitors at the studio's opening tour) includes facts and figures and a look behind the scenes within the new studios.

Step Into The Home of Doctor Who, BBC, via BBC iPlayer

(With thanks to: Ultrapunch, CallistaRieekan, Ruther)

FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Production - Filming Reports - Jenna-Louise Coleman - Series 7/33

Production: Jenna-Louise Coleman begins filming

Thursday, 24 May 2012 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Photo: Gareth Bundy
"We were really lucky to catch her. As we arrived, literally, she was leaving."

Jenna-Louise Coleman began her tenure as the new co-star of Doctor Who this week, with the actress spotted yesterday at the end of filming her first scenes on location at Plas Llanmihangel Manor House, South Glamorgan.

The read-through for her first episode to be recorded took place on Monday, with the BBC's official Doctor Who Twitter feed stating: "History has been made! A new era begins! Jenna-Louise Coleman has just completed her first Doctor Who read-through. One word. Brilliant!"

Details of her character are being kept under wraps, at least for present. Speaking to Digital Spy, Steven Moffat said when we could expect to learn more:

Christmas! But don't expect to learn everything! We've got a good story and there are some proper legitimate surprises in it. I'm excited by it. I think we're going to do some fun stuff.

We can't really contain everything, because people will crawl all over us with cameras and sneak views of scripts and call-sheets. Something will get out. But we've been fairly sly, so let's wait and see.

Moffat also explained the later launch of the new series this year:

I don't know, on this occasion, that the thinking particularly came from me, actually. I've always been open to anything that shakes [the series] up. I think that decision actually came from the BBC. But I've been well up for anything that we can do to shake up the transmission pattern, the way we deliver it to the audience and how long we make the audience wait, simply because that makes Doctor Who an event piece.

The more Doctor Who becomes a perennial, the faster it starts to die. You've got to shake it up, you've got to keep people on edge and wondering when it will come back. Sherlock is the prime example, as far as that goes. Sherlock almost exists on starving its audience. By the time it came back this year, Sherlock was like a rock star re-entering the building!

So keeping Doctor Who as an event, and never making people feel, 'Oh, it's lovely, reliable old Doctor Who - it'll be on about this time, at that time of year'. Once you start to do that, just slowly, it becomes like any much-loved ornament in your house - ultimately invisible. And I don't want that to ever be the case.

Newslink: Digital Spy: Steven Moffat on 'Doctor Who', 'Sherlock' and his BAFTA Special Award (19 May 2012)

FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Production - Filming Reports - Jenna-Louise Coleman - Series 7/33

Production: Angels in Manhattan!

Friday, 13 April 2012 - Reported by Chuck Foster

This week saw the cast and crew 'go west' as they travelled to New York to continue filming scenes for episode five in the new series of Doctor Who; during the course of the week, the Doctor, Amy and Rory were seen to visit a number of recognisable landmarks, such as Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Tudor City Plaza and Times Square.

The BBC have published some images of the cast and crew during the shoot:

Versions of the wallpapers are available to download in 16:9 and 4:3 format from the BBC Doctor Who website.

Talking about choosing the location for the episode to BBC America, Steven Moffat said:

It's just that it's a different backdrop for the story. Something about Weeping Angels in New York seems to make sense to me. It's not to appeal to an American audience, particularly - they don't come to Doctor Who to see themselves, they come to Doctor Who to see us.

We're not going to go there and film in the backstreets like we'd find in Cardiff, that would be a mistake!

A number of other photos of cast and crew on location were published on Twitter by Arthur Darvill (@rattyburvil), playing a "peg game" with his photographs! The week saw Karen Gillan finally join the social networking tool (@KarenGillan2) too, publishing her first photograph on location!

FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Production - Filming Reports - Series 7/33

Production Roundup

Sunday, 8 April 2012 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Production:

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine has reported that the fourth episode of the series will be produced on its own as Block Three, to be directed by Douglas Mackinnon, who previously filmed The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky; the episode will also be the second script written by Chris Chibnall for this series.

This will then be followed by Block Four, due to commence production in May, and of course introduces us to a new traveller in the TARDIS in the form Jenna-Louise Coleman in the 2012 Christmas Special. This will also be the first story to be totally produced at the new BBC Roath Lock studios in Cardiff Bay.

Steven Moffat described the audition process for the new arrival: "I sat down and wrote a scene, from a pretend story, that I thought covered everything a Doctor Who co-star might have to do. And that one scene ended up being three scenes, and two of them I liked so much, they snuck themselves into real eposodes, and one I liked even better because during it we all realised Jenna was our one and only choice. We all sat and watched this - me, Caro Skinner, Marcus Wilson and Andy Pryor - and I'm sure you could hear our heart rates soaring. Because there it was, right in front of us, the new team and the new show." This scene is included in DWM Issue 446.

Casting director Andy Pryor described the process of short-listing for roles to DWM: "My original list was probably a couple of hundred names, which I whittled down to around fifty. Then I began auditioning in earnest - in the intake stages, I'll audition maybe twenty people at a time for a role like this - and showing the best of them to Steven, Caro and Marcus. For smaller roles and guest parts we usually audition somewhere between three and five people, but for such an enormous part it's a bigger deal. Between us we shortlisted further and recalled a small selection to read with Matt. We met some brilliant actresses for the part, but when Jenna auditioned with Matt, we all knew instantly that she was the one."

After photos with classic Daleks revealed by the BBC and Moffat last week, one owned by former head writer Russell T Davies has also been pressed into action! The arrival of 'her' at the studios were marked by brand manager Edward Russell: "Oh look. It's me and Caroline Skinner posing with Russell's Dalek on her way to the studio!« Daleks are female, right? It make so much sense. For one they have skirts....«". The executive producer herself said: "Russell's Dalek has arrived on set - I'm talking her through her part!«" Russell's partner Andrew saw it off: "Our Dalek on its way to TV stardom in Cardiff«", to which Steven Moffat replied: "We'll all look after it. Except for the Doctor, who'll probably blow it up. Sorry, he does that.«"

Photo: Edward Russell/Twitter

Photo: Caroline Skinner/Twitter

Photo: Andrew C Smith/Twitter

Filming from the current block indicates that Director of Photography for episodes one and five is Neville Kidd - previous credits include Lip Service, How To Grow A Planet and Case Histories, and he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Photography (Factual) in 2009 for his work on A History of Scotland

Media:

Matt Smith on how things are progressing with filming: "It's really great. I think we've got some really exciting episodes. We did the read-throughs for episodes one and five and they are extremely extraordinary. Really, really pleased with them, so if we get them right, the Ponds' final hour could be incredible. We will be making some Doctor Who in New York which is incredibly exciting." [Independent, 5 Apr 2012]

Will a woman be taking over the role of the Doctor for the 50th Anniversary? According to the Express, she will, with their show insider saying: "The 50th anniversary series will end with a very big twist - the Doctor becoming a woman will give the show a new lease of life.". The newspaper cites Sherlock actress Lara Pulver as being one of the front-runners. [Express, 2 Apr 2012]

Filming Reports:

After a number of weeks hidden away in studio or abroad, the production team has finally been out and about on the public streets of Cardiff once more, with filming taking place across Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for both episodes one and five. The "Silver Cloak" were on hand to watch the exterior filming, and the following summaries of the shoots contain potential plot revelations - though the details have also been widely reported on Twitter, do not read further unless you don't mind knowing such details!

Wednesday saw the exterior of Cardiff University's School of Physics and Astronomy pressed into service, and like with Day of the Moon in last year's series the area was dressed to look like a New York street, including a parking sign and a 'stunt' tree. Weeping angels were in attendance (including those seen at the Doctor Who Convention in March), with scenes being shot of two Angels on pedestals by the building entrance with Rory, then the Doctor and Amy seen to enter cautiously. Another actor, named "Rob" also filmed scenes outside the building, which was named "Winter Quay" for the story.

Brian Damage commented: "it probably doesn't sound like the most exciting scene (and there were no spoilers), but somehow those Angel statues are really quite disturbing. Even though they are the same statues which were on display in the BBC studios and at the convention, seeing them out in the real World is really unsettling!"

Simon Watkins also reported: "Inside the building, some other scenes had clearly been shot too. There were people milling around, and we saw later some other characters/extras emerging in period dress, including a small girl with a pink ribbon in her hair."

Filming continued to around 1:15am.

Further photos from the evening's shoot can be found by Alun Vega on Flickr and Laura Blakemore on Facebook. Some video footage from the evening is also available to view from Simon Watkins and "RabbitLights" (1, 2).

The evening's activities were also reported by WalesOnline.

The production team spent the early afternoon of Thursday filming outside the house nominated as Amy and Rory's in Bute Esplanade, plus the TARDIS sited in the park across the street (as usual!). A clapperboard indicated that one of the scenes was Episode 1 Scene 64, and activity involved Amy and Rory waving the TARDIS goodbye, and also an apparent row between the pair in the street. Filming wrapped around 3:00pm.

Further photos from the afternoon's shoot can be found by Lee Tucker on Flickr, Laura Blakemore on Facebook, and Whovians.net on ImageBam. Video footage from the afternoon is also available to view from "Cjllewey369".

The afternoon shoot was reported by the Daily Mail and The Sun.

A number of locations represented London and New York during Friday afternoon/evening, with filming taking place for both episodes one and five.

First up was the familiar sight of Mount Stuart Square, which has appeared a number of times in the series past, most notably as the streets of London during Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel and Doomsday. The square was once again substituted for those streets, with a prop a bus stop indicating Wimbledon Theatre and a "Number 23" bus to Liverpool Street present at the location. A clapperboard indicated that Episode 1 Scene 5 was in progress, and Ryan Farrell summarised proceedings: "Rory gets on a London bus, with "divorce papers", for him and Amelia Williams. Rory is the one filing for divorce. Let's remember that this could be a dream/nightmare sequence or alternate reality. Here's the interesting bit; the bus driver had, in his hand as Rory got on (not in all takes), a mini Dalek eyestalk! It seemed to be New Paradigm style, with the jagged edges rather than smooth, but it did have a blue glowing light and wires coming out of it."

Second location of the afternoon was based in the interior Custom House in Bute Street, a Victorian building that is being renovated as part of a redevelopment project. This might have been for either episode one or five, with Ryan reporting: "Matt, Karen, Arthur and a mystery black guy in the suit and posh hat were all in there."

Action then moved to Bay Chambers in West Bute Street. Ryan picks up the action: "'Winter Quay' from Wednesday's filming is actually a hotel, and the interiors were filmed here. Rory was in a cellar, and gets zapped by something (presumably an Angel) and appears in New York in the past. Arthur had to jump off a small box and look confused and shaken up. Then he looks up, at the Statue of Liberty. He was told to gaze at it as if there was something not quite right about it. He couldn't think what. Next, they filmed "Rob" (actor's name) getting out of a car. It was very odd. They only filmed his shoulders and head, and there was actually no car at all. He had to mime it by squatting and then standing up. He makes a comment about the Statue of Liberty too, and also looks confused, and walks on."

Brian Damage added: "At a guess I'd say that the street scene was not meant to be in quite the same geographical location: the interior of Winters Quay (glimpsed through the door tonight) was the same set up as the false wall which they used at the Physics lab, on Wednesday night. In other words, the Physics lab is the outside of the main entrance, whilst this building is the interior. From the action, it seems likely that this scene follows on from the filming at the previous location, making both scenes part of Episode 5 - which of course fits with the costume of the unidentified black actor spotted at the previous location."

Filming again wrapped around 1:15am.

Further photos from the day can be found by Lee Tucker on Flickr. Some video footage from the evening is also available to view from Lee and Ryan Farrell (afternoon, evening).

The fourth consecutive day of location filming moved out of Wales to nearby Bristol, utilising the architectural interiors of the University's School of Physics and the Institute for Advanced Studies. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill were present, with scenes from both episode one and five believed to be taking place.

One fan said: "The angels were in the physics block - I think,they were letting anyone go and look lol. They're filming till 3am and it looks like no Matt. It was all inside and being that we got what we went for we left after they went inside."

Tiny Time Lord continued: "It was only Karen at Fort House - we got there at 22:30 and it was just Karen and two girls as Weeping Angels (we got their autographs as well) Arthur wasn't around. We're pretty sure Matts stunt double was there though. a guy in same jeans/boots and bow tie with his hair styled as Matt. Couldn't get near enough to ask him though! The Angels left at just gone midnight and Karen went back in to film some more. We left just before 00:30!"

Filming reports/photos thanks to: Brian Damage, Lee Tucker, Laura Blakemore, Penny Blakemore, Simon Watkins, Alun Vega, Ryan Farrell, Tiny Time Lord

FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Production - Matt Smith - Filming Reports - Jenna-Louise Coleman - Series 7/33

Torchwood: Week Twelve Production

Monday, 4 April 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Promotion for the series has begun in the United States, with Starz broadcasting a teaser trailer on their channel over this weekend; this coincides with the launch of their official Torchwood site. The teaser is also available on their website - however, this may only be viewed by those within the United States (though may be watched globally via io9).

Additionally, some clips from the series formed part of a promotional showreel for Starz shows.

The clips include Rex firing a machine gun from the back of a jeep on the beach in Wales, an explosion behind Gwen, Jack brandishing a gun, and Gwen holding a rocket launcher over her shoulder.

Since Starz announced the launch date in the United States for Friday 8th July, UKTV have now confirmed that they will bring the series to Australia immediately afterwards - this suggests the weekend 9th/10th July. The United Kingdom premier is also widely expected for that weekend, too, though BBC schedules are unlikely to be confirmed until around a fortnight before broadcast.

However, those subscribing to the streaming service Netflix are unlikely to be able to see the show immediately, as a change of policy by Starz that comes into operation today means that their output will be delayed for some ninety days before being made available (see the LA Times for more details).

Production-wise, filming this week included scenes for episode seven, with a return to the Willow Studios and surrounding areas, as well as on the Warner Bros lot. The series is being recorded in a way to enable it to be "printed" in an optimised form for transmission in any country it is sold to. Director of Photography Nathaniel Goodman explained: "We're shooting on the Arri Alexa, recording 4444 that will be broadcast Rec709 1080 HD.".

The BBC Production Office also reported on Thursday that the music for this series would be undertaken by Doctor Who's stalwart composer, Murray Gold - he wrote the original theme for the series, and contributed to a number of earlier episodes of the series.

Times cited within reports below are in Los Angeles local time, except where indicated

Monday - Tuesday

Filming for the first couple of days wasn't clear, but indications were that preparations for episode seven were well under way to commence with a night shoot on Tuesday evening. This was also Cris D'Annunzio's first evening, who seemed quite taken with John Barrowman!

28 10:07 ST  Monday morning beautiful sunny day.
             All is peaceful as we shoot and continue to prep biggest ep yet!!!
28 10:24 ST  That could mean so many things...explosives? Very emotional? Special effects?
             All of the above? 
             Yes yes yes
28 13:28 CDA Costume fitting for Torchwood.
29 09:32 JE  Watching Torchwood dailies.  Oh my.  Oh my my my. 
29 16:45 CDA Night shoot on set of Torchwood where I will have it out with the
             talented and handsome, John Barrowman.
30 08:20 CDA Great first night on set of Torchwood. What a terrific group of people!
             And yes, John Barrowman is dreamy. 
30 11:02 CDA Seems I'm not alone in my warm feelings for Mr. Barrowman.
             Not Surprising. I'm upgrading him from dreamy to luscious. Uh-oh!!

Wednesday

Documentation for today indicated that a three-day shoot was planned at 1335 Willow Street, the address being home to the Willow Studios, which provide a number of pre-designed sets for the filming profession (bars, restaurants, apartments, etc.) - the studios had also played hot to a photo-shoot a few weeks before.

BBC Production Office (via img.mu)

The BBC Production Office praised costume designer Shawna Trpcic for her episode seven costumes by the BBC:

13:34 Costume Designer Shawna Trpcic, has yet again kicked ass
      as seen in her designs from EP7. You Go Girl!
13:36 You can't help but love her, trust us, the feeling
      doesn't go away.

Meanwhile, the weather in Los Angeles was keeping other members of the team happy!

16:02 KO  Oh my lord it's lovely in LA.
          The weather is outstanding.
          I'm having an iced tea! Could get used to this life.
16:12 BBC Kai Bring some tea to the office would ya?!
          Enjoy the day. 
21:23 KO  Tonights snack is good old fashioned Beef Jerky.
          I bought it from the farmers Market today, it immense,
          addictive as hell.
21:28 DE  First warm evening here in ages leads to gaudy sunset. 
          http://twitpic.com/4f6st9
22:01 KO  How's the family? did you bring the little one to the set?
          We're all great thank you, he's not been on set yet!! Maybe one day.

Another night shoot beckons ...

17:03 BBC We're going deep into the night this week... deep into the night.

Thursday

Thursday's shoot included filming somewhere close to the Dodger's Stadium, according to Cris D'Annunzio, whilst Allyson Floyd indicated somewhere dim, dank and cold underground - with multiple shoots in progress these could be completely different locations, of course!

The Wales Screen Commission also commented on filming: "Just heard from one of the Torchwood crew that's seen the first episode, and they say it looks AMAZING, like a tourist video for Wales!!!"

On the Torchwood set, by Cris D'Annunzio (via yfrog)

04:19 AF  OMG, calltime at 6:30 AM!  For some reason,
          I thought it was PM!  O_O  No sleep!  Gaaaaaaah! 
07:51 CDA I may be able to hear the game as our Torchwood set
          is on location today next to Dodger's Stadium.
          Or at least hear the crowd.
09:28 CDA It's always exciting working with John Barrowman,
          so I probably won't be thinking about the game at all! 
11:06 AF  Dim, dank and cold underground while
          the sun shines outside. Must... stay... awake.  >_<
12:54 CDA I will be seen in Torchwood: Miracle Day, episode 7.
          Will post more details later.  Thanks!
16:14 CDA Dodgers open in 45 min. and already signs of bonehead
          mngmt decisions.  Russell Martin?  Hello?
01:01 CDA Sure, Katie, I will pass along your love to John
01:17 CDA @Katie Just wrapped filming for tonight.
          Home to sleep! 
01:19 CDA @Katie - And JB appreciates your love & support.
          Me too! G'night!

Friday

Filming for Friday was documented as 590 South Santa Fe Avenue, which turned out to be a lot and warehouses just around the corner to the Willow Studios!

However, it was a production office 'tour' from Shawna Trpcic for today's TW-Spy!

What can you see in my photo?
Thats how we work so many hours :-)
(via Twitpic)

View from my desk beautiful California summer weather
(via Twitpic)

Weekend

Photo: Kai Owen
(via yfrog)

It would seem that Tom Price has arrived in L.A.!

01 20:20 KO  A cracking week! Now for a few beers and some Thai food.
             Big game for United this weekend, HAVE to win -
             no messing at all. 
03 09:50 TP  Reading TW scripts. AWESOME. Sadly no mention of what
             an immortal populace would do to the charity shop industry.
03 15:30 KO  Look who's in my house playing with my childs toy!!! 
03 18:37 TP  Jane, I am distracted from learning your writing
             by your tweets. How META am I?!

Key to initials: AF - Allyson Floyd (stand-in); BBC - BBC Torchwood (production office); CDA - Cris D'Annunzio; DE - Doris Egan; JE - Jane Espenson (writer); KO - Kai Owen (Rhys); ST - Shawna Trpcic (costume designer); TP - Tom Price (Andy)

Week Thirteen sees the publicity campaign begin in earnest, with BBC Worldwide promoting the series at the Cannes MIPTV 2011 event; the presentation will also include both John Barrowman and Bill Pullman there to promote the new series (see the press release for full details). It is expected that the publicity photos taken over the last few weeks will be released shortly after the event!

FILTER: - Torchwood - Production - Filming Reports - Miracle Day (Series 4)

Previous 10 Stories

An Adventure in Space and Time enters final week of filming

An Adventure in Space and Time: The Voice of the Daleks

Filming Update:

A Dalek Adventure (In Space and Time)

Cast and Crew updates:

Christmas Special to begin production

Production: first official Matt/Jenna photo released

Publicity:

Filming Update:

Casting Update:

Production Roundup

Filming Update:

Writers:

Cast:

Scheduling:

Roath Lock Studios:

Production: Jenna-Louise Coleman begins filming

Production: Angels in Manhattan!

Production Roundup

Production:

Media:

Filming Reports:

Torchwood: Week Twelve Production

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Weekend

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