Shooting - Day 3

Monday 16 March 2015

On the third day, we shot the scene where Missy comes into the control room and tells the Supreme that she can give the Daleks the means to control the Doctor; namely Clara Oswald (“Canned”), at which point all the Daleks go dead. Missy then asks what the Doctor has done and runs off, followed by the ‘Clara Dalek’. The Daleks then all come back to life using “regeneration energy”.

After lunch we came back on set to find that all the Daleks had been covered in ‘sewage’, which was actually garden soil mixed with water and brown food dye. We then shot the scene where the Doctor and Clara race through the control room while the Daleks are trapped in their own filth. The Daleks try and exterminate them, but the TARDIS reconstitutes itself and saves them. This scene also involved a beam falling from the ceiling and destroying a Dalek, and an explosion in the ceiling that caused debris to fall down onto the Daleks.

Oddly, despite being safely housed within the Dalek casings, all the Dalek operators were required to wear goggles for all the explosion shots, due no doubt to Health and Safety regulations.

The two scenes we shot on day three did not include clear shots of the stage, so Derek did not actually make any appearances on camera that day (luckily for him, as this meant that he avoided being covered in sewage). Luckily for me, however, I was not sat idle; instead I was put into one of the new bronze Daleks for the day, which made a nice change (and they are much more comfortable than Derek, on account of the fact that the new Daleks have larger bases that makes them a little taller, allowing for a higher headroom). On screen, I was in the Dalek that you might be able to see just peeking out off the edge of the stage in the scene with Missy, and then the one that was positioned behind the Doctor and Clara when they are stood waiting for the TARDIS to rematerialize.

Here are some sneaky photos I took through the Dalek grille:

Looking down on the Dalek control room.

Rehearsal shots of Jenna and Peter (“The Doctor and Clara Oswald in the TARDIS”).

Here are Jenna and Peter, discussing the scene with the director, Hettie MacDonald (in these shots you can see the ceiling beam that fell down and destroyed a Dalek).

Peter Capaldi with the Supreme and the Dalek gun.

Derek up on stage with all the camera equipment

This was Nicholas Briggs, the voice of the Daleks, chatting with Dalek Supreme (actually he was talking with Nicholas Pegg who was inside the Supreme). The Special Weapons Dalek is in the background.

This silver Dalek was empty and had a pump inside to spew the sewage out through the grille.

The TARDIS being assembled (you can see Derek on the stage too).

The TARDIS placed on the spot where Jenna and Peter were stood, for the shots after it had materialised (as you can see, I had to move my eyestalk out of the way to get this photo).

Peter Capaldi loves the Daleks and between takes he was on set taking photographs on his own camera. Here he is, up on the stage, next to Derek.