mizgnomer:

Behind the Scenes of Planet of the Dead - Part Fourteen 

Excerpts from Benjamin Cook’s set report in DWM 408

[after the last day of shooting celebration - in Dubai]
Later that evening, in the bar of the Holiday Arabian Resort, we watch Wales beat England at rugby on a giant TV, in a “thrilling Six Nations encounter” (copyright all commentators). DWM doesn’t understand rugby, really. Neither do David [Tennant] or Michelle [Ryan], so we all play cards instead, along with Paul Kasey [monster performer] (”It’s like an extended family holiday,” he enthuses) and other rugby dissenters.

“It became a sort of huge card-playing thing on that shoot,” relates Michelle. “Is it a Doctor Who tradition? David won quite a few games, didn’t he?” Like Daniel [Kaluuya, who plays Barclay and who beat Michelle in a race in the desert], David isn’t particularly gracious in victory. “I know, he had a victory dance! I was like, ‘I’ve got to get my sharpness back. I’ve become too comfortable.’

“Although, a few of us did jump in the pool,” she reveals.  “That was kind of a last-night-jumping-in-with-all-your-clothes-on thing.” Or was she depressed because Wales won the rugby?  “No, I just had the urge to jump in, I think, with David. We weren’t drunk!  It was freezing.  I climbed out and got changed, and then I was like, ‘I’m ready to play cards again now.’ But others were like, ‘WE’RE GOING IN AGAIN!’ So I did as well.  It was one of those spontaneous things.  Yeah, they’re good to do.  It was a great way to finish the shoot.“

Other posts from this set [one] [two] [three] [four] [five] [six] [seven] [eight] [nine] [ten] [eleven] [twelve] [thirteen]
All of my previous behind-the-scenes photoset posts can be found here. 

mizgnomer:

Behind the Scenes of Planet of the Dead - Part Eight

Excerpts from Benjamin Cook’s set report from DWM 408

Outside the airport, the 40-strong cast and crew pile into three minibuses. (Routemasters would have been more appropriate, surely?) As we head north out of the city, the mirrored glass skyline recedes to make way for an enormous expanse of desert. This will be our home for the next four days.

DWM’s minibus is the first to arrive at the Holiday Arabian Resort (no seven-star city hotel for us)… and that’s when we get news that the minibus carrying David Tennant and Michelle Ryan, amongst others, has been pulled over by armed police! No, really! Something to do with a broken tail-light. Apparently, everyone’s had to get off and stand on the verge, in the dark, while the driver slips officers a fistful of dirhams. (Some of this story turns out to be true.) Meanwhile, minibus number three is missing in action. It took a wrong turning and is heading for Oman.

[The next day]
Today is ‘Prep Day’, a recce in the desert, the first chance for the cast and crew to check out the location at which they’ll be filming for the rest of the week. We travel the final five minutes on an open-backed army truck, because the terrain is too demanding for our coach. “We’d make the worse army ever,” chuckles special-effects supervisor Danny Hargreaves, as one by one we struggle up the stepladder onto the truck. David and Michelle aren’t even allowed on board, for health and safety reasons. That annoys them. They travel by four-by-fours instead.

Other parts of this set:  [ one ] [ two ] [ three ] [ four ] [ five ] [ six ] [ seven ]
[ Masterlist of all Doctor Who Behind-the-Scenes Photosets ]

Michelle Ryan in 4.3.2.1.

Zoe Slater (Part 25)