Original subtitles

CREW MEMBER SHOUTS INSTRUCTIONS

Action.

But she won't survive the process!

What an episode to kick off the series.

Welcome back.

In this action-packed return...

LAUGHTER DROWNS OUT SPEECH

...we go all heavy metal with some bionic baddies.

Your Majesty. Your what now?

Things get explosive with my work experience.

That is a bang, isn't it?

Sparks fly with the Doctor and his new companion.

He's not a doctor.

What qualifies you, actually, the Doctor?

Oh, come on. I've got a sonic screwdriver.

What?

LAUGHTER

And, spoiler alert,

we've got an exclusive peek from the next episode.

Welcome back to Doctor Who: Unleashed.

And action!

LOW WARBLING

Belinda!

So, here we go.

We've got lift-off on a new series of Doctor Who

and a new series of Unleashed,

where we bring you exclusive behind-the-scenes access

to all things Who.

That means new sets,

new threats, new faces,

and some familiar ones.

That's complicated things.

So shall we dive in?

It's 30th November 2023.

So to put that into some sort of context for you,

the first of the 60th anniversary specials

with David Tennant and Catherine Tate, The Star Beast,

that has just gone out on the telly.

But we are here in a suburban Cardiff street

in the middle of the night. It's a night shoot.

It's freezing, but we're filming the first episode

of Ncuti Gatwa's second season as the Doctor.

Are you keeping up with me?

Look, there's robots and there's a rocket ship.

So it's just classic Doctor Who.

But the last few weeks have been especially busy

for his new companion.

Your what now?

So it's a big Whoniverse welcome -

or should I say welcome back -

to Varada Sethu.

Some eagle-eyed Whovians out there will recognise

Miss Belinda Chandra from

episode three in season one.

I'm Anglican.

Miss Belinda Chandra is a very, very, very, very

distant descendant of Mundy Flynn.

Did she look like me? Absolute match.

SHE LAUGHS

Well, Vee, it's lovely to see you again

because this is the first time I've seen you on set,

so congratulations. Thank you.

You having a nice time so far?

I'm having such a nice time, yeah.

I was really sad to leave last time

because I think I came for a grand total

of maybe three weeks or something,

and I had such a good time... Yeah.

...I felt really sad to... Yeah, it felt sad to leave.

And then I got the call to say that

I get to come back for good. Yeah!

So that was really exciting.

But how did Varada get from Mundy Flynn,

Anglican Space Marine, to Belinda Chandra,

NHS nurse and certified star queen?

So I wrote Belinda Chandra

and we auditioned an awful lot of people.

We searched high and low, and there were some great people.

We saw some really great people.

And, you know, the hardest piece of work

you've got on this show is to get someone who'll match Ncuti,

because he's so blazing and stellar.

And it was just one day I was on like the 100th edit of Boom,

sitting watching it thinking, "God, Varada's so good.

"What a shame I don't get to work with her.

"What a shame I don't get to write for her,

"and what a shame she can't come back."

And then I just suddenly thought,

"Oh, we've done this before."

Before Varada, Freema Agyeman,

Karen Gillan and Catherine Tate made Whoniverse appearances

before they became the Doctor's full-time companion.

"So why don't we cast Varada?"

And I ran it past everyone

and it was the fastest yes we've ever had of anything.

Normally people sit in committees and discuss things.

And everyone just went, "Oh, great. What a great idea."

OK, thank you.

When my agent called to say,

"Would you be interested in meeting to potentially

"be considered for the companion?"

Yeah. It just...

It was so out of the blue.

And also, I think the first thing I said was,

"But they know I'm in it already, right?"

She was like, "Yes, they do."

I really wasn't expecting it.

It's obviously something that's sort of like a dream job.

But, yeah, that was really exciting to then be in the room

with Jane and Russell and kind of realising

about five, ten minutes into the meeting

that it's not like an audition.

It was an offer. Yeah? Wow.

And I was like, "Yes, yes!"

They were sort of like, "No, go home and think about it."

"No, it's a yes right now."

What does the Doctor make of it all?

Very exciting to get to work with Varada again.

She's an incredible actor and we have such great chemistry.

And, yeah, I think Belinda Chandra,

she really brings out a different side to the Doctor

because she's a little bit older, she knows herself,

and she's got a career and she's got a life,

and she's got responsibilities as well that allow her to see

beyond the Doctor's charm.

Like, she's not charmed by him, she's not wowed by him.

She's not overly impressed by him.

I am not one of your adventures.

She doesn't want to be the sidekick to some...

Some guy who's just turned up.

It's like, "No, I want to go back to what I was doing.

"I was, you know, changing the world.

"I was making a difference."

To her, the way that she was doing that

was through her work. Mm.

But, you know, she's pulled out of that world,

and all she wants to do is kind of go back to serving her purpose.

Interesting that it's a doctor/nurse. Mm!

It is really cool it's a doctor and nurse.

I don't know how it applies to, erm...

Other than it being funny to say, like,

"Oh, it's cool that it's a doctor and a nurse."

Yeah. Because obviously he's not a doctor,

which gets pointed out regularly. LAUGHTER

Erm...

I feel it should be pointed out - he's not a doctor.

What qualifies you, actually, to be the Doctor?

Oh, come on! I've got a sonic screwdriver.

What?

LAUGHTER

It's a glorious day, if rather cold,

in January 2024.

So I've come to the Mumbles,

this beautiful part of south-west Wales,

where a lot of that episode was actually written.

I'm here to meet with Russell

to find out what else he's got in store for us for series two.

DOORBELL RINGS Who is that?

Who is that bothering me?

Hello. Who's bothering me and interrupting me?

Hello! Nice to see you. Hello, darling. Thank you...

You're in a Doctor Who scarf!

Come on. Come on.

Not just for you, either. This is just...

I wouldn't let you in without one.

Thank you. That's it.

Oh, look at that. Look at that, then.

Come on. Oh, this is why you work from here.

Admire my... It is why I work from here, actually.

Look at that.

It's a vista, is it not?

Right. Get the kettle on, is it?

I could exterminate a cup of tea.

Is this the place where you had

the idea for what was going to happen in episode one?

Or was it a germ of an idea that came to you

walking around the Mumbles, or were you elsewhere?

I was here. No, no, it was in this kitchen.

I think I was thinking of a birthday present for someone.

Yeah. I was thinking, "Oh, God,

"people used to name stars after people."

And then I just kind of thought,

"What if you named a star after someone,

"and the people who lived on that star

"thought that you were their queen?"

Welcome to Miss Belinda Chandra-Ville.

Don't you start.

Then when that idea came,

did you know that it was going to be Belinda or,

you know, where were you...?

No, it was kind of like... It was a spare idea.

I remember sort of saying about it,

"You could cast anyone in this."

You could cast Kathy Burke and have her taken to a planet,

and then rescued and brought back by the Doctor as a one-off. Yeah.

You just kind of leave ideas, sit there,

and they kind of sit and they tick away

and things gather around them.

And some ideas you abandon,

but that one kept on growing,

so it just kind of fell into place quite naturally.

Yeah. It was a good idea sitting there waiting.

It'd be a great one-off story,

but it would be a fantastic introduction for a companion.

So what's your name? Doctor what?

Just the Doctor.

SHE SCOFFS

What? You're actually called the Doctor?

Yeah.

SHE SCOFFS

All right, then. I'm called the Nurse.

Doctor and Nurse.

Good team.

When you started thinking about series two,

did you know roughly what -

the journey you wanted to take the audience on?

Or has that changed a lot as you've been writing?

It's both. It changes. And bear in mind,

I've been thinking about this ever since season one.

We didn't just think of season one and then season two.

Yeah. It's like, these are conversations

that have been ongoing.

Some of these scripts were commissioned way back.

Some of them have changed. We've dropped some scripts.

Erm, there's gorgeous stuff to come.

There's... I think it's like next week,

we're in Miami in 1952.

Yeah. We've got great things coming up.

We've got a very unexpected sequel coming up.

We've got The Interstellar Song Contest.

I mean, we'll be publicising that one right away.

That one is going to kill us, making that.

Also keep your eye on Anita Dobson.

Yeah, well, of course. I mean...

Because he's been ticking away for a year now. Yeah, she has.

She ended season one with that flourish

in the snow on the rooftop... Yeah.

...promising terror to come. That's on its way.

Yeah. Promise.

And where does that magic happen?

Upstairs. Can I...

Up the stairs. Could I be rude

and ask to have a look at where the...? 'Course you can.

Come on, love.

What's a typical day for you like in here? Are you...

Are you... Do you lock yourself in?

Are you here for, like, ten hours or...

There's no such thing as a regular day, really.

I mean, I suppose I'm here by 9.30. Yeah.

But it just depends how late I work... Sometimes I work at night,

so if I worked till about two in the morning last night,

then I would be later in the morning, obviously.

Sometimes I don't even walk in here.

Sometimes if it's a thinking day,

I'll just potter about and I'll go down and have a coffee

and potter about. So I'm not always here.

I don't sit here and have ideas and go,

"Oh, that's a good idea," and type it.

I've had the ideas before.

The ideas can be like when you're brushing your teeth.

Yeah. Or sitting with your family.

Or walking - or watching telly, or reading a book.

It's like the idea... That's when they pop up.

It's very rare... In fact, I couldn't tell you.

I don't think I've ever had an idea happen here.

Are you like a... Do you fist-punch the air when you've nailed...

When you think in your head you've nailed it? Oh, I do.

I go... Do you scream?

I sit... Do you dance in celebration? What do you do?

I do sit here laughing at my own jokes.

Do you? And then I laugh every time I read it back.

BOTH LAUGH

Which is terrible.

Have a little camera on me doing that. Yeah.

And I cry at the sad bits, I think.

Yeah, yeah. And I get excited.

What I do is just play music all the time and it's like...

Do you? If it's exciting,

if you're writing chases, which,

Doctor Who is mostly one long chase.

I'm coming up at the end of episode seven now -

the peak of it's going to go higher and higher and higher.

So I absolutely have loud chase music on then.

When you're pottering and you have an idea... Yeah.

...do you stick it on your phone? Do you voice note it?

Do you write it down?

Never. No. I don't. A lot of people do.

That's fine. Good. But I think... I think...

I think if you have a good idea, you don't forget it.

And if I do forget it, I won't know.

BOTH LAUGH Cos then it's gone.

Whoosh! Like the Silence, a bit!

No. They just stay there.

And there's nothing ever - there's nothing on a piece of paper for it.

It's all up here.

No. If I get run over by a bus, no-one will know how it ends.

No. Have I told anyone?

No. No-one knows.

Partly because I haven't decided it.

There's a couple of ways you could get to the ending. Yeah.

That's the choices I've got to make over the next few weeks

is choosing which way to go.

Yeah. I know what happens,

but I don't know how it happens. Yeah.

Like one of those books where it's like, "Turn to page 72."

Yeah, it is a bit. Yeah. Yes. Exactly.

Yeah. Turn to page 71.

Yeah. Just in your mind. Yeah.

Still to come on Doctor Who: Unleashed,

whilst the crew shoot Ncuti on set,

I shoot off to shoot a little something of my own

for my work experience.

Oh, wow.

We discover how Stage 3 is transformed from this...

...to this...

...to this.

And, spoiler alert... SIREN BLARES

...we've got an exclusive peek at the next Doctor Who episode.

But first...

As well as his no-nonsense new companion,

in this episode, the Doctor also had to deal with

megalomaniac baddie AI Alan...

Behold!

...played by Jonny Green.

How long does that take, then, Jonny?

How long have you been creating...?

So I got here... Ten minutes?

I wish. THEY CHUCKLE

I got here at seven,

and I think at about half nine, we'd done it.

So, actually, it was... It was pretty quick, really.

As prosthetics go, that's not too bad, actually,

two and a half hours. Maybe you got the short straw...

You got the long straw there.

Are you putting a voice on?

Or do you think about that? Or was that a conversation?

Yeah. Sort of... I had a conversation with Vicki about that.

Yeah. About what we sort of feel is going to work best for it.

Because I think I'm going to be on a mic for some of it,

once I've sort of heard that in the space,

I think it will help. Yeah.

The Robots will bring her to me.

So metal and skin may weld within Miss Belinda Chandra.

Maybe some of it we'll do further down the line,

if we want to go back and kind of... Yeah.

I think it's just about playing with it in the space,

and what sort of is feeling best.

I've got ideas, obviously. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But... Yeah. Because it's funny...

...I'm not married to one version at the moment.

Yeah. That's interesting,

because of how characters change and develop, right? Yeah.

Because we sometimes think that you turn up as like,

"Right, there you are,

"there's your box and you go just do that."

But actually with something like this that's so unique and...

Yeah. ..part human, part AI, part robot,

part all of those things. Exactly.

What would you sound like?

The Robots will bring her to me.

So metal and skin may weld within Miss Belinda Chandra.

There's also that factor of, I want the end to be,

where I'm upset, I want that to...

I don't want that to be on the same level

as everything I've done in the scenes before,

because otherwise people will go, "Oh, he's shouting again."

Yeah, yeah. That'd be the worst thing ever.

So I don't want to do that.

Belinda.

Oh, my God!

Alan, are you all right?

I am supreme.

But it's exciting.

There's a lot going on in the scenes as well,

so I don't think there'll be much time

for me to sort of overthink or anything like that.

I'll just be able to sort of feel it

and feel what's working, you know? Yeah.

Sharing the robotic limelight is Alan's mechanical muscle.

Polish! Polish!

No, I don't mean him.

Let's meet...

The Miss Belinda Chandra-bots.

This is probably one of the most surreal things

we've ever done,

because this is a street in the middle of Cardiff

that I used to live on the corner of.

And there are just two giant robots

in the back of someone's garden.

It's a bit mad, isn't it?

Working with the Robots was... Was an experience!

My parents!

Oh, my poor parents.

The first bit that I had to shoot in the garden,

I nearly got squashed between the two of them.

Yeah, sweet! Because they can't actually

see where they're going.

Robots are kidnapping me!

I was getting pushed from my back by one robot

onto the front of the other one.

And I was like, "They're not stopping.

"I'm just... I'm just going to get crushed."

This is where I die. "On camera." LAUGHTER

So who are the men behind the mechanics?

That's Robert. This is Robert.

Recognise him yet?

This is actually the third time we've met Robert on Unleashed.

Firstly, he played a Wrarth Warrior

in the 60th anniversary specials,

and last season he played the Bogeyman in Space Babies.

How are you doing?

I'm doing well. This looks very complicated.

It is, I guess, but the amazing people at Millennium

have made it so streamlined,

so comfortable...

Yeah. ..it's kind of remarkable.

Yeah. What I love about it is, once you're in it,

it looks like you're kind of operating a suit with,

like, handles or something. Yeah. But it's all just us.

Although right now it gives us these funny little T-rex arms. Yeah.

These bionic behemoths are the work of Millennium FX,

the team responsible for bringing the live-action creatures

of the Whoniverse to life.

Designed digitally, the suits were then 3D printed,

with each robot split into 28 individual pieces for the torso

and then six pieces for the legs,

as well as all the mechanisms on the inside, too.

The pieces were then glued together

before being moulded with silicone,

and then cast out in fibreglass to make a sturdy shell.

In all, it took eight weeks to make the four full robots.

And before they went on to set,

the suits had to be tested.

The man in the second robot can is Stephen,

who also played a Wrarth Warrior

alongside Rob in the specials.

What you have to make sure is that you're ready to be on camera.

That feels lovely and padded.

So you need to know that they will work

with the cameras, with the shot size,

with the whole staging of it on the stage,

on the set, to make sure that everything's working.

Where would you like me?

One of the things in particular is the movement -

making sure that the robots

would be able to move at the right time.

I mean, ultimately you could do this on the day,

but you never have enough time.

So it's like rehearsal,

it's kind of testing, it's practical tests,

like how long it takes them to put them in.

I don't know if you've noticed,

but there are two stands for their arms so they can rest

because it cuts off the circulation otherwise.

Cool. Just turn around. Let's do that once more.

It's preparing.

You have to be prepared with anything.

If you encounter anything, you know what to do,

or you've got a rough understanding of how to solve

because you've already had some testing.

After a few further checks and adjustments,

the suits are signed off and are ready for set.

When you were the Bogeyman,

you talked about your performance.

In this, because it's quite static,

can you still sort of give a performance,

or is the suit doing a lot of that work?

You know what I mean? Yeah. It's interesting, isn't it?

I guess, I mean, that applies to every kind of creature.

This one is obviously the biggest suit on top of the performer. Yeah.

We kind of wanted to bring an expressive life to it.

But then they're also robots, you know,

so it's got to have that kind of digital feel to it.

Yeah. But then also it's got a fluidity to it.

You want to make it look like it's made of metal. Yeah.

So that we are these, like, car-sized things...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. ...that are lumbering in.

So that's part of it as well.

And then making the moves kind of very economic,

you know, because it's not an organic thing. Yeah.

I think there's a lot of expression you can still get,

even though it's really the other end of the spectrum

to the Bogeyman. Yeah. It's not one sort.

Well, I'll let you get finished up and...

I'll let you get back to your tea. Yeah, I know.

It's keeping me warm. I don't want to say this head

would keep me warm because I know you're cold in there

because you've only got like one layer on.

Well, I can put a little hot-water bottle in here.

Oh, hello!

And then between takes, we stuff duvets in.

Thanks, Mum.

They're looking after us. Hey?

And I've got a heat pack on my kidneys as well.

You know, the highest-tech TV show in the land.

Hot-water bottle. That's all you need.

Hot-water bottle. And tea in a paper cup.

Perfect. It's the way. Thank you very much, mate.

Right. I'll see you later. Thank you. See you later.

Good luck. Thanks. Bye. Bye!

Season two of Doctor Who

has been filmed entirely in South Wales,

and mission control is Wolf Studios in Cardiff.

Consisting of seven stages and a backlot,

the studio has a constant buzz of sets being built,

dismantled and repurposed for future episodes.

And of course, there's sets being filmed on.

One of the advantages of filming here

in Wolf Studios in Cardiff is you've got these giant stages

for big, complicated sets.

Look how big it is.

For the designs in this episode,

Russell had something very particular in mind.

I just wanted the aesthetic of the 1950s.

There's something a bit dumb about the robots.

There we go. Hello.

If they'd been very modern AI robots,

they would have looked a bit too stupid.

So they've got a bit of old-fashionedness.

They've almost got an old-fashioned courtesy about them,

and there's almost a politeness about them.

You are Miss Belinda Chandra?

How do you know my name? Name confirmed.

Your Majesty.

Your what now?

So that made me think

there should be something a bit retro about them.

So once you start thinking of that,

once you start thinking of robots...

And I wanted them to have great big laser guns.

I love those laser guns.

...an old-fashionedness just creeped into it

and it just became the 1950s.

That kind of bled into the whole thing

and became part of the design and the style of it,

and it's lovely. I love it.

Rewind to October 2023.

With filming of the episode still eight weeks away,

I met production designer Phil Sims to ask him how he planned

on transforming this empty studio

into Russell's retro dream.

Phil, when you see it in this state... Yeah.

...which is basically an empty room...

Yeah. ..with some wooden floors,

are you excited about what it will become?

Are you... Is it panic, maybe?

Because there's quite a lot to do, isn't there?

Er... Filming in a few weeks. Mainly... Mainly I feel great.

This is perfect. Yeah. As soon as it starts to be built,

then the anxiety levels build and the stress levels build.

Yeah. I think, I mean,

it just gives us a chance to, you know,

hark back to your childhood

all your favourite B-movies,

your favourite '50s movies.

So this is quite influenced

by something like Forbidden Planet and This Island Earth,

which was a reference Russell had that he really liked.

Yeah. And it will inhabit this space?

Yeah. Soon.

Very soon.

Fast-forward through eight weeks of hard graft

and a whole load of green paint,

and the empty studio has been transformed

into a 1950s sci-fi set.

Wow. This is it, then, Phil.

It's crazy to think that the last time we were in here,

it was just basically tape on the floor.

It was. Yeah. And your brain.

Ye... On the floor. Yeah. Yeah.

It was. Yeah. And now you're going to be filming on it in,

like, less than an hour.

Yeah, I think so. Yeah. The crew are coming in now.

So it's all going to kick off any minute now.

How do you feel? Ah, I love it.

I'm really pleased.

I'm relieved. Yeah.

Because it's a huge set to build in the time that we had.

Yeah. But... It's big, isn't it?

Yeah. But I'm over the moon.

It's amazing. The guys have done so well.

It's brilliant. I think the catwalk...

I do, I love that, and then obviously

the console is just great, isn't it?

Yeah. That's the AI Generator.

Yeah. That's Alan.

Alan?

Is that your favourite part of it - Alan?

Oh, it's one of my favourite parts.

I mean, the set itself is one of my favourite things

of all time that we've worked on so far. Is it?!

Yeah. It is.

Of all our time walking around

all the different sets that you've built, Phil,

I know that you've reused lots of stuff.

Yeah. But this is the first time

I think I've seen a set like this where you've got

so many different locations in one spot.

Yeah. It's kind of evolved, as these things do,

to become a parallel set.

So it's going to work as the AI Generator,

where Alan lives. Mm. Yeah.

And then it also becomes the Robo Chamber.

That's how we designed it. Yeah. And how difficult is it for you

to dress it so that it feels different enough

for those other sets?

It's not very difficult at all. We've got two bits of dressing.

We take them out, it's dressed, it's done.

Change the lights. It's all down to Sam Care,

the DP, who's amazing.

It's really atmospheric, Phil. I have to say,

Good. And I think... I think I might agree with you.

What, it's your favourite? I think... I think that's...

Is it your favourite? Shh! I think I kind of do.

Stage 2 will hear you. Sorry. Shh.

Don't... Yeah. It's very sensitive.

It's just me and you here.

And Alan.

With everything from laser-gun battles...

...to walking through walls...

YELLING

...to dry ice and even a light dusting...

...the SFX team are involved in almost every scene

of this action-packed episode.

So to kick off my work experience for this series,

I'm going in all guns blazing

alongside SFX supervisor Danny Hargreaves.

And action!

And if I'm a good boy,

he's promised me I can shoot some stuff

and blow some stuff up.

But not on the actual set.

That's only for the professionals.

I've got to play outside.

Right, let's drag that back.

What we're setting up here is a typical Doctor Who,

where it's like bullet hits, laser hits. Yeah.

So we wouldn't necessarily test this now,

but we're going to give you a go. There we are.

This is why we're setting... Special treatment.

Yeah. We're setting up for you to get familiar about... Yeah.

...what the effect is, how it's going to work.

And we'll even get you to press the button as well.

Ooh! Is that all right? Yes, pressing buttons, yeah. OK.

The best thing I love to do on Doctor Who...

Which is? Which is the paintball gun, the zirc gun.

Action!

YELLING Fire!

POPPING AND SPARKING

So it's a paintball gun. Yeah.

But we have these little pellets inside,

which are basically...

They look like... If I can get one out for you.

It's a material that with friction, it sparks. All right?

Ahh. So it's got casing inside. Yeah.

Really good, fun effect. But it's super serious

because what we're doing is we're shooting a projectile.

Yeah. And we never shoot them at the cast

or anyone like that.

We're shooting behind them.

And what this does is it's just a really quick way

of achieving those spark effects that you see. Yeah.

But obviously safety in mind. Yeah.

We treat it like a real gun.

Cocked, ready to go.

Yeah. Safety's off.

POPPING AND SPARKING

Oh, wow!

All right? So, take your aim.

Thank you. So the safety's on at the moment.

Yeah, yeah. And then you're going to shoot at where I was shooting.

Yeah, yeah. Perfect. OK? So aim up. Aim up now.

OK. You ready? Yeah.

And then we're going to take the safety off. OK.

And then we're going to shoot.

POPPING AND SPARKING

Very good.

There we go! Know what you're thinking, Danny.

That's three from three there, did you see that?

That was pretty good, actually. Did you see that?

Yeah. Very good, very good. Three from three there.

Time to take things up a notch.

So what this is, is this is my remote firing system.

Yeah. All right?

Now, what this means is,

the very little wiring that needs to happen.

So my team at the moment are plugging in the pyrotechnics. Yeah.

Each one of those has a thing called a receiver.

And then they put them in a sequence...

You with me on this? Yeah, yeah. You still with me on this, yeah?

OK. Pyrotechnics, receiver, sequence.

That's exactly it. And then we put them in order,

so wherever we want to start the sequence,

we start with number one and we run. Yeah.

So what we're going to do is we programme this

and it's going to go bum-bum-bum-bum-bang!

This looks very much like you're a Bond villain.

It's pretty cool. It's one of the boxes...

Every time I pick it up, I think I am, yeah.

Yeah. I mean, this is so powerful.

I mean, essentially, we could programme this,

I can take this in my car and drive off down the road,

just press the button and it'd still happen.

Cos it basically means you can be far enough away.

I can, yeah. So, we...

Obviously, this is programmed so that we are far away.

Erm, I'm pretty much nearly really quite close a lot of the time. Yeah.

And that's purely because I need to see what's going on.

So anything changes, the action changes,

the Doctor slips over,

or something falls not quite how we want,

we've got to be quick and not fire. Yeah, yeah.

So the first thing to do now is obviously make sure

that the environment around us is safe. OK? Yeah.

So there's a few people that have turned up.

We've got fire protection here.

The gentleman here is with the fire protection

to make sure that we're all good to go.

Now you're going to press the button on this occasion.

Oh, hello. All right?

So when you press that button number one... Yeah.

...things are going to happen.

Right. All right?

OK. So... STEFF STAMMERS

Are you all nervous? I think I'm a bit nervous now.

Well you will. This is just how it is.

I was all full of bravado earlier.

Like, "I can blow stuff up," and now it's come down to it...

Right. Are you ready? Yeah.

We're going to count three, two, one,

and you're going to press that button. Pressing the button.

OK. All right. You ready? Yeah. Don't press it too soon.

No, I won't... OK. You ready? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All right. Firing in three, two, one.

POPPING AND SPARKING Oh, wow!

Flippin' heck!

That is a bang! Isn't it? HE LAUGHS

I thought it was going to be like some smoke going off.

That was like a proper bang!

No, I told you it was going to be a bang.

Oh, that's amazing. It feels...

It's a bit weird, isn't it, the power when you press the button?

Yes. So we've seen what that does now.

So imagine we're going to put that into the set.

Probably a bit more. Yeah.

So, yeah. Ready to go.

As the SFX team tool up,

I'm going to observe from a safe distance.

And action!

POPPING AND SPARKING

CREW MEMBER SHOUTS INSTRUCTIONS

Three. Two. Set.

Pull back!

Lovely! Well done!

And that is how you blow stuff up on set

without hurting anyone.

How cool is that?

Stand back.

Next time on Doctor Who...

DOCTOR CHUCKLES