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MAN: 876, take three.
And action!
NARRATOR: It's the end of an era,
and Confidential takes you behind the scenes
on a piece of TV history.
Lived too long.
We don't make any secret of the fact that this is my last episode coming up,
and this is the Tenth Doctor's final shout.
877, take three.
MAN: And action!
No, no, please. Please, don't. No, don't! Don't!
Please, don't! Please!
-It's my honour. -Don't, please.
(GROANING)
It's a big time for it coming to an end.
There'll be kids watching this who will remember it for the rest of their lives.
That's just brilliant. It's really been an honour to write that.
MAN: Action!
TENNANT: There is a certain event to when the Doctor changes.
I remember it as a kid, knowing that Tom Baker's last episode
was an incredible, thrilling thing to be tuning in for.
It was about giving David Tennant the biggest goodbye.
MAN: Action.
Saying a huge, emotional, terrifying goodbye to the Doctor.
Once you regenerate, you're gone. The character has become somebody else.
And you have to pack your bags and go home.
MAN: And set it up.
NARRATOR: It's David Tennant's last-ever episode,
so the crew were determined to give him something to remember it by.
MAN: Three, two, one, action!
(DOCTOR GROANING)
Not the stairs! Not the stairs!
Partly, it's me thinking, "It's David's last episode.
"I'm going to make him suffer in every way possible."
That trolley thing is not anything that exists in the real world.
It's very uncomfortable 'cause you're strapped back
and your neck is up, and you really can't move at all.
MAN: 96, take two, A camera.
And it's literally the last chance to have a laugh with the Doctor.
And to do a funny escape is very rare in sort of action-adventure things,
so I thought, "That's my last burst of insanity
"before the plot gets grim again."
Not the stairs! Not the stairs!
Sometimes the most seemingly straightforward things end up
being the most complicated to shoot.
MAN: 104, Take 1, A and B combo.
And to put that down a flight of stairs,
even quite a small flight of stairs, as it was, was quite a number.
MAN: Three, two, one, action!
(GROANING)
Worst rescue ever!
Cut it. Good, well done, well done. Very good.
I think everybody knows that David Tennant had to stop doing Hamlet
because he had a back operation.
MAN: 98, Take 1, A camera mark.
So, when I read the script and discover that there's an escape scene
with the Doctor strapped in a trolley,
where he has to be wheeled down a set of 14 steps,
I'm thinking, "What on earth is Russell thinking?"
MAN: Action!
(GROANING)
And you wouldn't believe the health and safety measures that have to
go into filming someone tied to a trolley,
going down stairs. That's really not easy.
What we did in the end was that we... We had a dummy,
which is actually a pretty good double for David.
We had this full-size David Tennant doll, which was a little bit weird.
KEENAN: I mean, it's very, very like David.
I've been, you know, taken unawares by it several times,
thinking it was him,
going, "God, he's being a bit rude. He's ignoring me." But it was the dummy.
It was used so that they could batter the thing down the stairs.
Three, two, one, action!
(GROANING)
(LAUGHING) Oh, my God.
-Very good, well done. Excellent. -Well done. Well polished.
We only used the dummy in the big wide shot.
And if you look really carefully,
you will see that the dummy's a bit fixed like this,
and when you cut to the close-ups, it's David.
Worst rescue ever!
In the end, I think I ended up doing most of it myself, to be honest.
I think I just had to grit my teeth and get on with it.
MAN: 98, Take 2, A camera mark.
Three, two, one, action!
(GROANING)
Worst rescue ever!
Worst rescue ever!
Worst rescue ever!
(GROANING)
(GROANING CONTINUES)
They wouldn't let me near him,
'cause I'd have had him down those stairs a bit quick.
It went, "Boomp, boomp, boomp, boomp, boomp."
MAN: Action!
But if I'd done it, it would have gone, "Brrrip!"
Like that, you see.
MAN: Action!
(GROANING)
And action!
Just stop! Just listen to me, can't you?
BENNETT: At that moment in the basement when they came to a halt...
Gotcha.
They had to be teleported into the Hesperus spaceship.
-You think so? -No, no, no, don't, don't!
MAN: Okay, hold those positions, guys. Just for a quick Beechams.
BENNETT: So, when we got them to those positions,
hold your positions, take a photo.
-Thank you. -Thank you, sir. Okay.
And when we went to the Hesperus,
we were able to reconfigure those exact positions.
-You think so? -No, no, no, don't!
Now get me out of this thing!
The Hesperus, it's part of our long tradition, actually,
of old, rusting spaceships.
We've had a good tradition of that now, and I love them.
We often use the factories of South Wales to film in.
MAN: Action!
THOMAS: We went to a place called Corus Steel
and shot some very long corridors that gave us a lot of the textures.
So, we then designed those textures into the set,
so that it all works together.
Got to close it down!
ROSSITER: No chance, mate. We're going home.
ADDAMS: We're just a salvage team.
Local politics has got nothing to do with us.
All my years on Doctor Who, it's been sort of characterised, I think,
by a sort of rusting, retro, clapped-out universe.
-Where's your flight deck? -But we're safe.
We're 100,000 miles above the Earth.
So it's just rubbish until it comes to a crisis,
until the Doctor discovers what's going on.
Allons-y!
And then he's slamming the levers, jamming everything together
and this daft, old bucket of a thing becomes the salvation of Planet Earth.
You two! What did I say? Lasers!
What for?
Because of the missiles!
The guns turrets were really very clever.
They were basically on hydraulics.
(WHISTLING) How does this thing work?
So, we would control the kind of left and right movements
and the up and down.
And the actors themselves were able to swivel the chairs.
MAN 1: Practising, practising, practising...
(EXCLAIMING)
And phalanx. And missile!
Oh! Wow!
(WHOOPING)
I didn't really direct Bernard in the gun turret.
He kind of... He was off on one.
Come on, let's have you! Come over here, son!
There you are!
Wilf's an old soldier,
so he's got lots of skills from when he was in the Second World War.
Come on, Wilfy. That's it. Get it, get it, get it!
He improvised all that dialogue of kind of being...
He says things like...
Oh, I want one of these on my birthday.
(LAUGHING)
(IMITATING GUNFIRE)
Whoa! If only Winston could see this.
DOCTOR: Come on, Wilf!
(EXCLAIMING)
Whoo!
WILFRED: Oh, I wish Donna could see me now!
The combination was just irresistible of making...
Making Wilf like Luke Skywalker and giving him the great, ack-ack guns
and firing away.
It's just joy, actually, Bernard Cribbins, a great big laser,
saving the world in the middle of a dogfight.
Come on!
Come on!
MAN: 663, Take 1, A camera mark.
There were a few moments that were the last-ever whatever it was.
And in that same sequence on the Hesperus,
I realised this is the last thing I do with the sonic screwdriver.
This is it.
An endless war, and it changed them, right to the core.
(LAUGHING) I considered announcing it to everybody and having a moment.
Then I thought, "Oh, shut up, just get on with it."
But, in my head, I realised it was the last time that...
That my Doctor would sonic anything.
I had a little... I had a little moment to myself.
MAN 1: 943, Take 2, A camera mark. MAN 2: B camera.
MAN 3: Action!
NARRATOR: The cast and crew are back on the set of the gate room,
preparing for a visitation.
RASSILON: On your knees, mankind.
NARRATOR: From the big screen.
Great. Well done, everybody. Very good.
Ex-Bond actor Timothy Dalton is here to play the Lord President.
He is Bond always. Always in my mind, anyway.
He's really grounded and strong.
And his voice is just amazing.
You could just close your eyes and just have him read to you,
I don't know, your breakfast menu or something,
and you'd just be like, "Oh, Timothy, I love you."
On your knees, mankind.
And then...
(BOTH IMITATING RUMBLING)
And the Time Lords, at that point...
-The approach begins. -Yes.
-Oh, we all raise our hands? -That's right, yeah.
And if you follow Tim's lead.
The approach begins.
MAN: The approach of what?
Timothy Dalton. How marvellous.
I never thought we'd get him in a million years and we got him.
The most marvellous thing was, like anyone who grew up in Britain,
he had fantastic memories of Doctor Who.
I mean, I didn't see them all,
but I can remember William Hartnell right at the beginning.
I mean, it's been part of one's life.
It's been just about part of everybody's life.
And we were so lucky in that...
I'm sure he'd tell you the story himself,
but he had watched one of David's Doctor Whos on BBC America.
He literally caught it one night.
Like, his kids were watching it or something,
and he'd found it and had seen it,
and said, "Oh, Doctor Who, I remember that.
"Let's have a look." And had loved it.
Well, it's a hell of a series. Hell of a series.
So when we got in touch, when we sent him a script,
it wasn't completely out of the blue.
That's when you have the hardest time casting anyone,
when they don't know what the hell you're on about
and they've never heard of the show. That's a nightmare.
But we were very lucky. He had seen it, he loved it.
And read the script, and really was lovely about it.
I don't think I'd ever read a script like it, when I first read this script.
It was like looking at seven or eight different scripts in one.
And it ranges from, you know, Coronation Street through 2001,
you know, through almost every genre. It's brilliant.
MAN 1: 947, Take 2, A camera.
MAN 2: And action!
Who else could play the President of the Time Lords?
It had to be Timothy Dalton. Of course it did.
Thank goodness he said yes. I don't know what we'd have done.
Wee Jimmy Krankie would've been fine, but not quite as powerful.
I will not die!
Do you hear me?
A billion years of Time Lord history riding on our backs.
I will not let this perish.
I will not!
The Master, unusually, is behind the times in this story
because for him the return of the Time Lords is... Well, it's magnificent.
To Earth!
RUSSELL: It's a self-made empire ready for him to rule.
(LAUGHING)
It is magnificent and, actually,
it just proves that he wasn't there at the end of the Time War.
He did not know what the Time Lords became
and has no idea of their power now.
They undo his plan
with the click of a gauntlet.
So, he's actually brilliantly out of his depth.
And I love those scenes at the end of...
The Master's just improvising, trying to stay on the right side.
He's desperately going, "Well, I'll side with you."
"All right, Master." "Oh, Doctor, I'll side with you."
And he's swinging any which way.
I did this! I get the credit!
I'm on your side!
In some ways, this means more to the Master than it does for the Doctor
because it's where the noise in his head comes from.
Because it was always Rassilon
from inside of someone calling to the Master
to set up this link that allows the Time Lords to be brought back.
LORD PRESIDENT: A rhythm of four.
The heartbeat of a Time Lord.
So, actually, he was driven insane by the Time Lords.
It's that personal, in the end.
Listen to it.
Listen.
With moments like this, I'm never quite sure
where Russell's ideas have been born and where they've ended up.
Because it seems like he's been
planning this since the Master first reappeared.
It's just a headache. It's just this noise
inside my head, Doctor. Constant noise.
It all seems to make a sort of a beautiful sense now.
When did it start?
Oh, I've had it all my life. Every waking hour.
I don't know how he puts these plots together,
and I don't really want to know, in a way,
because I like the sense that it's all been planned from day one.
Still, no rest for the wicked.
I was thinking, in bringing the Master back,
I have to avoid that scene where the Doctor and the Master become allies.
You know, and again, the old show did this a lot,
where, you know, they'd agreed to join sides to fight against a common foe.
I never believed that. I used to think, "That's a bit mad, isn't it?"
But, right at the end, I allowed myself a moment of that.
MAN: Here we go, watching.
Right at the end, the Master has found a greater enemy than the Doctor
in Rassilon, the Lord President.
MAN 1: Okay, and shaking cameras, yeah?
MAN 2: 990, Take 1, A and B comboed.
MAN 3: And three, two, one...
MAN 4: ***!
The link is broken!
Back into the Time War, Rassilon! Back into hell!
And you'll die with me, Doctor!
DOCTOR: I know.
LYN: Shooting a scene like that, you've got three fantastic actors.
You've got David Tennant, John Simm, Timothy Dalton,
and they're all so into their roles.
It makes it easy to direct, in a way,
because they want to give you everything that you could possibly wish for.
So, it's a brilliant adventure to direct that kind of thing.
MAN: And turn over.
John, if your rage... Your rage is almost greater than your fatigue.
That's driving you, despite your exhaustion. That...
(GROWLING)
You know, it's kind of pushing you along.
Your fury is driving you.
Okay, set.
MAN: Start wind.
And action!
SIMM: He has the realisation that it was their fault,
these awful Time Lords.
The noise in his head torturing him his whole life
is down to them.
And because he's got this incredible power coming out of his hands,
he can give them a right, old battle at the end.
(SCREAMING)
MAN: Good. Well done.
You did this to me!
All of my life!
You made me!
So, he saves the Doctor and he disappears, fighting them,
into a void.
Which allows the Doctor to believe that
maybe he's cheated fate, I think, as well.
Allows him to believe that, well, if...
If something so extraordinary is going to happen, if the Master is going to
actually have a moment of self-sacrifice, then, maybe,
maybe time was wrong, maybe the Ood were wrong.
And maybe... Maybe he'll get away with it.
He won't.
-Stand by to shoot. -WOMAN: Stand by to take.
LYN: We wanted the revelation
that the four knocks isn't the Master's,
what goes on in the Master's head,
it's actually Wilf...
MAN: 865, Take 4, A camera only.
To be a surprise for the Doctor and a surprise for the audience.
So, the way that we've constructed the shots around it is,
there's a very slow tracking shot that finds the Doctor alive.
I'm alive.
And as the camera comes round on him...
(LAUGHING SHAKILY)
He hears the four knocks.
(FOUR-BEAT KNOCKING ON GLASS)
In that instant, he realises that this is his fate.
This is his death being signalled.
We, the audience, know that it's Wilf in the box
'cause we've seen him run in.
But the camera still tracks really, really slowly across David.
David goes up onto his knees
and behind him, out of focus, we see Wilf still knocking on the glass.
They gone, then?
There was an extraordinary kind of feeling on the set
the day that we filmed that scene.
And the tapping, that very kind of gentle tapping
that Bernard Cribbins was doing on the booth.
You just kind of wanted to run on the set, saying, "No, stop tapping!
"Don't do it!" And it's a brilliant scene for that.
Amazingly performed by David and Bernard.
MAN 1: Very good. Just finishing checks, and we'll shoot.
MAN 2: Yes, we're ready, we're ready. MAN 1: We're ready, we're ready.
Stand by to shoot then, please.
WOMAN: Stand by for take.
MAN: 880, Take 1, A camera only.
And action.
(FOUR-BEAT KNOCKING ON GLASS)
GARDNER: There's a close-up of David where he's broken
and it's utterly heartbreaking.
They gone, then?
Yeah, good-o.
If you could, uh, let me out.
Yeah.
TENNANT: I think it's a beautiful, little plot twist,
and I didn't see it coming when I read the script for the first time.
Everyone who's tuning in is expecting it and waiting for it.
And you're telling them that he will knock four times,
and the Master's coming back, and Time Lords are coming back,
and all these things that will inevitably lead to the Doctor's demise.
MAN: Action!
(FOUR-BEAT KNOCKING ON GLASS)
TENNANT: And then you just hear that tapping
coming from behind him, and in that moment,
suddenly it all make sense to him.
And it's Wilf. Wilf will knock four times.
It wasn't the Master. Wilf has been waiting all along.
MAN: Action!
(FOUR-BEAT KNOCKING ON GLASS)
I've always known how I would end it.
I always knew there would be a great, big palaver
in which you think the Doctor's going to die.
But then, actually, once they've gone,
which turned out to be the Time Lords and Timothy Dalton, the Master
and everything. Once they've gone, it would come down
to a really simple, personal thing, which is just saving one man's life.
I'm sorry.
Look, just leave me.
Okay, right, then, I will.
'Cause you had to go in there, didn't you?
You had to go and get stuck. Oh, yes!
And, of course, he will sacrifice himself for Wilf.
And he has a rant and he has a rage about it,
and he rails against the dying of the light.
No, really, just leave me.
I'm an old man, Doctor. I've had my time.
Well, exactly! Look at you.
Not remotely important.
But me?
I could do so much more!
So much more!
He doesn't want to let go, and that passion for life
and that grief that he's going to have to let everything go
bubbles up in him, like a rage.
Well, it's not fair!
TENNANT: But of course he's gonna do it.
There's never a moment when he wouldn't
sacrifice himself for Wilf.
Who wouldn't sacrifice yourself for Wilf?
It's Bernard Cribbins!
Biggest achievement in the whole thing is, well, it's always the acting.
It's like, this show isn't about the monsters and the special effects
and the explosions, you know.
I love the attack of the Hesperus.
That's just, for me, one of the most exciting things we've ever done.
But, actually, what it's really about, it's David, in the end.
It's David and Bernard, either side of that glass door,
with Wilf looking so helpless and so proud and so brave,
willing to sacrifice his life, and the Doctor raging.
What a performance! David just giving everything,
and pushing the Doctor into a brand-new area.
that we've never seen a Doctor act like that before
or say those sort of things.
Lived too long.
WILFRED: No.
No, no, please. Please, don't. No, don't! Don't!
Please, don't! Please!
So that's what it's all about, really, is pushing, giving great actors
such material that they will just fly, and that's really the stuff
that will never, ever be forgotten, I think, that performance.
So, that's mission accomplished for me.
Wilfred,
it's my honour.
Better be quick.
Three, two, one...
(GRUNTING)
At the end, what you get is... It's what I call "The Doctor's reward".
You could almost put up a subtitle, I think.
It's like an appendix to the whole thing,
which is the Doctor, knowing that he is dying,
but choosing to appear at a crucial moment
in his companions' lives.
Where you going?
RUSSELL: It's just a moment of grace and a moment of dignity,
and a moment of immense sadness, I think, as well,
that he could dip into their lives.
To get my reward.
It's also to show that life goes on, in a way.
It's like, you get new futures for all of those people.
So, one by one, you get each of them.
You get Martha and Mickey.
Martha has left UNIT and is now tracking down aliens
as an independent.
There's a whole generation of children
that have grown up with these characters,
that have loved them, so it's nice to know where they are.
Nice to know that they're happy, to be absolutely sentimental about it.
And I don't know, but I suspect a lot of these stories won't be told again.
'Cause there's a new production team taking over with Doctor Who,
with Steven, who's brimful of ideas. You know, he doesn't...
He might use some old characters one day, but he doesn't need them.
You know, he's got his own stuff to invent.
So, in my head, I was sort of thinking, this is probably
the last time you'll see Martha, Mickey, Donna, Rose, all of those people.
So, it's nice to give them a farewell.
Hey!
And then, you get a simpler story with Sarah Jane.
'Cause obviously her story continues in The Sarah Jane Adventures.
You just get a moment of the Doctor saving her son's life.
That was the maddest Christmas ever, Clyde.
Mum still doesn't know what happened.
RUSSELL: That's kind of a bit of an in-joke
'cause I'm always telling them off
on The Sarah Jane Adventures that whenever they cross the road,
the characters don't look to see if there's any traffic coming.
Actors never do that 'cause the traffic's always been stopped
for filming.
But, on a children's show, I think it's absolutely wrong
that characters don't look left and right,
so that was my little, final salute.
(HORN HONKING)
It's you!
You're...
Mum!
So that was a nice, little...
Best moment between the Doctor and Sarah Jane.
And I love the ending of that because she just knows.
He doesn't say a word to her, but she knows what that appearance means.
She knows that's the last time she's gonna see the Tenth Doctor.
It's lovely.
Then you find Captain Jack, who, of course, is desolate,
you know, cutting a lonely figure after the events of
the last Torchwood series.
From the man over there.
RUSSELL: He had to do terrible things.
He's lost his family and lost his friends
and lost his lover, so he's a very lonely man.
It's like the Doctor's forgiving him for what he did.
It's like the Doctor is sharing in Jack's lifestyle, in a funny way,
you know, never been judgemental of him.
And there's Midshipman Frame from "Voyage of the Damned",
and suddenly you think what a perfect couple they would be.
So, it's just a nice, little tying together.
So, Alonso...
Going my way?
Then you get just another little gracenote really,
which is with Jessica Hynes playing the descendant
of Joan Redfern, from the "Family of Blood" story.
-And who's it for? -The Doctor.
"To the Doctor."
Funny, that's the name he used.
The Doctor, when he became human, loved Joan,
so I thought it wasn't fair to wrap up his life
without a little nod towards someone he truly loved.
Was she happy in the end?
Yes. Yes, she was.
Finally, you get Donna Noble's wedding, that actually we've been waiting for,
for how long? Is it three years we've been waiting for that wedding?
Finally, that happens. I love the fact of the whole circle being closed there.
(EXCLAIMING)
(ALL CHEERING)
And Wilf has told us that she's earning nothing, so finally,
there's the Doctor's present of a lottery ticket, that you just know
is going to be the winning ticket and she'll be Donna Noble-Temple.
Donna Temple-Noble, multimillionaire.
I just wanted to give you this.
Wedding present.
Thing is, I never carry money, so I just popped back in time,
borrowed a quid off a really lovely man.
Geoffrey Noble, his name was.
It's a nice, little nod to an actor who is no longer with us.
That's Howard Attfield, an actor who played Donna's dad originally,
who sadly passed away before we could return him to the series.
"Have it," he said.
"Have that on me."
Bring everyone back into the mould and sort of saying,
they're all part of that ending that sets her up on high.
So, that's nice.
And then right at the very end, and it took me a long time to think of this,
'cause with Rose, you've got... Rose is actually happy in a parallel universe
with a half-human doctor.
And then I just sort of thought,
"Oh, we can go back to the year it all began."
And the year it all began for us, actually.
-Happy New Year! -Happy New Year!
Don't stay out all night.
Try and stop me.
I don't mean that for, like, six-year-old kids watching,
who are now ten or eleven,
like the great memory of that, that they see when this whole
current version of Doctor Who started.
What year is this?
-Blimey, how much have you had? -Well...
2005, January the 1st.
On Rose Tyler's estate, in the snow.
Which is also where David began, on Christmas Day
in the snow, on that estate. It just all fitted together
and Billie agreed to come back.
And it's just the final, little note that takes
my Doctor Who sort of round in a great big circle
and closes it, ready for it to begin-brand new stories.
I bet you're gonna have a really great year.
Yeah?
See ya.
I think it was important the Doctor say goodbye to all the companions
because there's a completeness
about the Russell T Davies years and the Tenth Doctor years, by doing that.
It's a reward for the viewer
as much as, in story terms, it's a reward for the Doctor.
It's a very sentimental, but very emotionally appealing idea,
that before you die, you say goodbye to all the people that you love.
(PEOPLE CHATTING)
NARRATOR: There's just over a week till the end of the shoot,
and today is a momentous day on set.
It's the Tenth Doctor's last-ever scene in the TARDIS.
Yeah, it's all weird and sad.
The last few weeks have all been very weird and sad.
MAN: All right, turn it up. WOMAN: Turn it!
I mean, we didn't shoot the regeneration on anything like
my final day, but it still feels...
You know, you're still very aware that you're shooting your last scenes.
MAN 1: 894, Take 2, A camera mark.
MAN 2: B and C cameras.
It was a bit mad watching David regenerate into Matt.
I didn't quite like it, really.
I was a bit, kind of, "Oh, no! It really is coming to an end."
MAN: Action!
(SIGHING)
(BEEPING)
ROSE: Cool!
(EXCLAIMING)
(CHUCKLING)
(BEEPING)
(EXCLAIMING)
Take a look.
-Ready? -No.
(CRASHING)
I'll see you again, mister.
(WHOOSHING)
This script now is the first time the regeneration
has really been called a death for the previous body,
because I wanted that.
'Cause I wanted to have it that size and that significance.
It's not just like tripping over a brick and changing your face.
It's a new life. It's massive. And a new life means the death of the old one.
So, personally, I thought it was really important
to up the status of regeneration,
you see, and not just make it look like a little fireworks show
from which you come out of really easily.
But actually as a death, literally a death.
Onwards?
Onwards.
-So, where we going? -Further than we've ever gone before.
(LEVER CREAKING)
Allons-y!
-I can't believe I'm doing this! -No, neither can I.
The stuff of legend.
(WHOOSHING)
MAN: 896, Take 1 after a false start, A camera only.
I mean, the final line,
you know, saying, "I don't want to go,"
of course, it's a very emotive final line.
I don't want to go.
We did four takes on David's final line, "I don't want to go."
And with each take, we pushed the emotion and the grief further.
MAN: 896, Take 2, A camera only.
We tried being very unemotional about it.
(INHALING) I don't want to go.
MAN: 896, Take 3, A camera only.
We tried a little. A smear of an emotion moment.
I don't want to go.
Then we also did one that, you know, a full-on breaking down version.
(CRYING)
I don't want to go.
LYN: My feeling on the day was that we really wanted
to pull at the audience's heart strings at that point,
and I wanted David to be overcome with grief.
But, actually, that wasn't right.
I worry four's not quite in character.
I just worry if you see him breaking down,
it stops you breaking down, as well.
There's always a danger of that, isn't there?
GARDNER: Yes.
TENNANT: If that's the final image,
and you're left with him in total distress.
GARDNER: Yeah. TENNANT: That's pretty grim.
GARDNER: I think you should use three.
TENNANT: But that's not really who he is, is it?
LYN: No. GARDNER: I think it is three.
I think three's more... I find three more moving, actually.
-Because he's... -Because he's fighting it.
-GARDNER: He's holding it. -Facing his death in three, yeah.
And there's a stoicism to take three.
Which is more like him.
GARDNER: There's a heroic stoicism.
LYN: And, in the end, we've got take three in there,
which is the take where he's a bit more controlled.
He's a bit more like the Doctor, in fact. He's brave.
You don't him want to be...
To lose all that bravery in that final moment.
There's something stoical and long-suffering and strong
about the Doctor that I don't think you can...
I don't think you can get too self-pitying,
even in a moment like that.
I don't want to go.
-Techs, all happy? -WOMAN: Happy!
BENNETT: It was mixed emotions, really, for everybody.
MAN: That's good.
BENNETT: It felt like a really big moment in TV history, you know?
A lot of us have been with David since he arrived,
and we'd gone through some really, you know, tough times on set
and long hours, and so we all felt like a really big family.
And so it was... Yeah, it really was quite an emotional moment.
Here we go, then. Nice and quiet, folks, please.
WOMAN: Nice and quiet on set. MAN: Nice and quiet, please!
BENNETT: And turn over.
(ALARM RINGING)
(CREW SHOUTING)
MAN 1: Is that 910? MAN 2: Notice that board.
(MAN 1 EXCLAIMING)
I think it was one of the camera boys, actually,
because it was such a special occasion,
they decided to draw a picture of David with all the streams of energy
coming out of his hands and out of his head,
and it was quite a nice touch.
MAN 1: 900, Take 1, A camera.
-MAN 2: Show David the picture. -I've seen it.
(MAN 2 CHUCKLING)
LYN: Could you drop your right arm by an inch, David?
MAN 2: Okay, look up there.
-Beautiful. -LYN: Yeah, okay, let's go.
MAN 2: Action.
TENNANT: A lot of that day was about green screen shots and effects.
You know, it becomes a huge technical, practical element,
which is about standing in the right place and being on a green screen
and hitting a mark and all that.
LYN: David, can you turn your right hand so that the thumb
is slightly more upwards? Yeah, that's it. Great.
MAN: And action.
Which stops you getting too sentimental about it
'cause you just have to be practical.
LYN: Lean back by one centimetre, David.
And just lift your left arm up by one centimetre,
and bring it away from the front of the TARDIS by one centimetre.
Obviously, when they regenerate, the closer they are to the same position,
the smoother the transition.
MAN 1: Position's good? MAN 2: Very good.
LYN: And, David, if you just give a tiny bit of...
Tiny bit more tension in your limbs, please.
Okay, a bit more difficult.
-LYN: Yes. -Okay.
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
LYN: Cut there. Well done, David.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
LYN: Good.
There's a lot of CGI in that final sequence,
but, actually, there's an awful lot of practical effects, as well.
I mean, we did destroy one of the pillars.
And we blew the console up like we've never blown it up before.
I wanted to trash the TARDIS. It's like being on the beach
and you've built a sand castle and, at the end of the day,
you can jump up and down on top of it.
There was a lot of practical and CG effects to kind of enhance
that regeneration moment.
MAN: Five, four, three, two, one...
Sparks and squibs, and we had flame woofers and flame bars.
MAN: Three, two, one.
It was tricky for me because it was a one-off.
Once the column went, that was it.
The reset time on that would've been hours and hours and hours.
So, we really had to get that right.
BENNETT: You're going to count down? MAN: Yes, sir, I'll count down.
-Great. -Okay, here we go then.
So, logistically, it was quite difficult,
but we rehearsed it time and time again.
MAN: Three, two, one, lights! Pyro! Flame! And cut it.
The whole sequence was quite a number, in safety terms.
Keep going, the outside of the crane...
WOMAN: Guys, everyone come to this side of the crane, please!
BENNETT: We had an exclusion zone,
firemen standing by, medical standing by.
It is quite a lot to think about.
MAN 1: And roll cameras.
MAN 2: 901, Take 1, A camera mark.
Mark, C camera.
(LAUGHING) Obviously, especially at such a late stage in
David's career with us, it was important to keep him safe.
MAN: Everybody's clear? Okay, here we go, then.
There were two tape marks on the floor of the TARDIS. They said,
"Stand on these marks and don't move. Be very, very still."
MAN: And action, camera!
It was very hot and there was a lot of stuff.
Things falling from the ceiling.
(CRASHING)
And I got quite a lot of stuff in my eyes,
but I thought, you can't say cut now.
Really, just suffer it, because we only had one take on that and you can't keep
destroying more and more pillars of the TARDIS.
MAN: Keep running and let David out, please. Don't break anything on the set.
(CREW CHATTERING)
LYN: Did you flinch, David?
TENNANT: Uh, there was one tiny moment I think I blinked.
(MEN LAUGHING)
LYN: Yeah, great stuff, well done. WOMAN: Let's go again, then.
LYN: Excellent. MAN 1: Yeah!
It was a big, big old sequence.
Fantastic and great that we get to blow it up, you know.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(SCREAMING)
(GASPING)
And then, some other bloke walks in wearing your suit. That's curious, too.
It was a jamboree going from the Tenth Doctor to the Eleventh Doctor.
The only people not on set were the caterers.
I mean, everyone was there. It was like, you know, standing room only.
MAN: Everybody off the set. Go and get a cup of tea and relax.
This is a lock-off. Leave all this here for the moment.
We kind of tried to thin it out a bit, and try and lose a lot of the crew
and the crowd, 'cause everybody was keen to see the new doctor,
but it would've been unfair to him.
So, out of courtesy, we just cleared the set of most people.
RUSSELL: It was a funny day.
It was like, whenever you plan these things too much, they fall apart.
Plan too much, things shatter.
In order to clear the studio,
everyone goes outside and stands outside the studio.
How does Matt Smith get to the TARDIS?
(LAUGHING) By walking through all the people who had been cleared out
to avoid him, he had to walk through in order to get to the TARDIS,
which must've been like... Must have been walking over coals for him.
I'd never met him before. That's the first time I meet him,
as he's walking to the TARDIS for his first scene.
I saw him coming, and I thought,
"He doesn't want to stop and talk to me now.
"It's a big day for him. You know, I'm old news. I want to get out of the way."
So I sort of turned away to get out of the way and he saw me.
(LAUGHING) I was like... So I'm like half, and I thought,
I look really rude now 'cause I'm turning away to get out of his way,
and, at the same time, I'm staring at him, 'cause he's wearing David's suit.
I think, "That's wrong! That's wrong. He's got a suit on.
"No! Wear your own clothes!" Like that.
And he was so lovely, and so polite and charming,
and came up and chatted to me and then he went on and did it.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
And then I walked out the door, looked back,
and there was Euros going up.
They started working on the script. You think, "Wow! Wow, that was quick."
And I got in a car and drove off, and everyone was still there
'cause there was still a bit to shoot.
I think I must've had more meetings to discuss
Matt Smith's last 20 seconds of the episode than I did to, kind of,
prep the rest of the two episodes put together, because there's so much
riding on it. It's the new Doctor's very first scene.
Everybody's concerned that it's absolutely right,
so we talked about what shots we were going to use.
We talked about how we were gonna run the day, you know?
Were Confidential gonna be there?
Was it okay that there's a camera filming Matt
doing his first scene, or do we want to give him as much
peace and quiet as possible?
So, there's lots and lots of stuff to think about.
(PEOPLE CHATTING)
The other thing, which I think is really tough on Matt,
is that it's a really complicated scene.
MAN: Action, Matt!
(SCREAMING)
(GASPING)
Legs! I've still got legs!
It's a monologue, so he's got nobody else to bounce off.
Arms, hands! Ooh, fingers! Lots of fingers!
Ears, yes. Eyes...
There's explosions going off left, right and centre. There's fire.
Blimey! Hair.
I'm a girl!
No! No!
He's just been through a regeneration,
so he's not quite right in the head at that point.
There's something else. There's something important. I'm...
I'm...I'm...
(CRASHING)
Ha! Crashing!
So, for an actor to be thrown into the lion's den,
that was hell of a scene.
Ha-ha!
(WHOOPING)
Ah!
Geronimo!
(PANTING)
Excellent. Really fantastic, yeah.
That's when you realise it's carrying on without you.
(LAUGHING)
And part of me goes, "Hang on. Surely, if I leave, it all falls apart."
But, of course, it doesn't, and, of course, it shouldn't.
And that's great, and that's what's thrilling about this show.
That's why, you know... That's why it's a legendary thing
to have been part of, because it carries on and it...
(STAMMERING)
It actually regenerates itself and keeps moving.
(CREW CHATTERING)
MAN 1: Three, two, one, action!
NARRATOR: It's the 20th of May, 2009. A turning point in Doctor Who history.
MAN 1: Cut!
LYN: Thank you, David. And we're gonna do one more of those...
It's David Tennant's last day on set as the Doctor.
(FANS WHIRRING)
He was on ropes 'cause we were flying him to do a sequence
where he crashes through the ceiling of the gate room.
So, it wasn't a huge dialogue scene for him. He was acting by himself.
TENNANT: My final shots were kind of weird,
little things on green screen with wires.
Very unsentimental, very unemotional scenes, really.
(EXCLAIMING)
(GRUNTS)
(FANS TURNING OFF)
LYN: Okay, well done, David, thank you very much.
When we did the final scene of "Satan Pit", which was the last thing
we shot of series two, and Billie was leaving,
that was very emotional. You know, you can see it onscreen,
we barely get through that.
I think we beat it. That's good enough for me.
It said I was going to die in battle.
Then it lied.
So, in a way, it was probably just as well that my final scene
wasn't anything particularly emotional or charged
because I found it hard enough, really.
MAN: Three, two, one, action!
Well, I was tantalised and thrilled that David's last slate number was 999.
And that felt really right. And I was behind the monitor,
saying to our script supervisor, "Don't let them go to frame 1,000.
"It feels right that he's ending on an emergency number for a doctor."
I got really obsessed by it.
Maybe I'm deranged, but I was really obsessed.
MAN: Action!
Cut!
(BELL RINGING)
And that was the slate number he finished on.
MAN: Okay, so take David off of that for a second.
LYN: David, we wrapped because we had finished with him.
We'd shot all his stuff.
And he goes off to his trailer to change.
But, obviously, it's his golden wrap,
so we can't just let him go without making a fuss.
So Pete, the first assistant, kind of makes up an extra shot
in order to call David back.
I actually told him that if he could get out of his harness,
don't get changed, because I needed him back for a lighting reference.
Okay, let's have David back on, please?
MAN ON RADIO: Copy that.
We'll just let him think we're getting him back in,
onto the green screen for a reference.
I don't know if David knew and was pretending he didn't know,
or whether it was a bit of a surprise to him.
-MAN ON RADIO: David on his way in. -Thank you.
I knew that I was finished.
There was some bit of flannel about,
"We'll need you back for a reference shot."
I knew it wasn't. I knew that wasn't the case.
I was fully aware of what the shots were,
and I knew that we'd shot them all.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
More and more people kept appearing in the studio.
Until, you know, only the caterers, again, weren't there.
David, sorry, just once before we go, just a quick reference.
Sorry, guys, we'll just get this.
And I just wanted to go. I thought, "Please, don't make me come in
"and everybody look at me, 'cause I'll only get upset."
But, of course, they did, and, of course, I did.
MAN: Okay, ladies and gentlemen, you'll all be very sorry to hear...
(ALL LAUGHING)
That's a golden wrap on the Tenth Doctor, Mr David Tennant!
(ALL APPLAUDING)
TENNANT: He set off a cannon of confetti! I wasn't expecting that!
(LAUGHING)
(STAMMERING) I was very touched, and, at the same time, a bit shy, I suppose.
There you go.
I'm not going to say a speech!
(ALL LAUGHING)
Thank you, everyone...
I'm really not going to say a speech.
I'll get sad, and I don't want to get sad.
Of course, I'm very happy to... Oh, shut up! Stop it.
(ALL LAUGHING)
This... I'm very proud of this and...
(SNIFFLING) Working with all you people.
Oh, this is ridiculous, stop it!
(SCREAMING)
I'm very proud of everything we've done, and thank you all very, very much.
(ALL APPLAUDING)
(GIGGLING)
Come on!
(ROSE EXCLAIMING)
K-9!
(BOTH LAUGHING)
BOTH: Hi!
(ROARING)
Oh! That's beautiful!
(SIGHING)
(SCREAMING)
I'm beating out a samba!
(LAUGHING)
Come on then, you beauty!
(GROWLING)
(SCREAMING)
(BOTH GROWLING)
(WHOOPING)
Come here!
(SCREAMING)
No!
Oh, yes.
Hey, nonny, nonny.
(EXCLAIMING)
(PANTING)
'Bye, then.
-Where are we? -Ah!
(SCREAMING)
What was that?
Hello.
Don't blink. Don't even blink.
(SCREAMING)
No!
Sir.
Allons-y, Alonso.
WOMAN: Thank you, Doctor.
I'm the Doctor.
(LAUGHING)
(WOMAN SCREAMING)
(CHUCKLING) Ancient Rome.
I'd bloody love it!
Look at my view!
Doctor!
Sontaran!
You!
Hello, Dad.
Oh, you are wonderful.
Hello, sweetie.
(INAUDIBLE)
One, two, three...
Merry Christmas.
Bravo, Doctor.
Hello, I'm the Doctor.
No!
-State your name, rank and intention. -The Doctor.