Original subtitles

Action! Argh!

In this episode,

the Doctor gets hands-on, learning sign language.

My name is the Doctor.

I'm really impressed.

Normally it takes, on average, about seven years

to become fluent in sign language.

Well done.

Thanks to some new high-end kit...

Action!

GRUNTS

..the stunt team are flying.

Spot-on.

Why am I wearing shorts in a quarry

on a freezing February night shoot?

You do know we live in Wales, right?

SIREN WAILS

And spoiler alert,

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

Unleashed.

Well, have you come out from behind the sofa yet?

No, me neither.

But get ready for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look

at the spine-tingling The Well.

And if you don't want spoilers...

..then maybe do this.

No. No, no, please, no. Stop. No.

"Don't tell me." Don't tell me, please.

I don't need to know.

Ready?

Argh! Argh!

In this episode, the Doctor faces an unseen alien life force

on a killing spree.

But the beating heart of The Well is Aliss,

a character who we never 100% trust...

What did you do?! It wasn't me!

I didn't do anything! She was just standing there!

Stop! Stop, stop, stop! Get back!

..but who still manages

to pull our emotional heartstrings.

There's something behind me all the time.

Now please...help me!

A very difficult balancing act to pull off,

but the formidable Rose Ayling-Ellis nails it.

I'm really angry at her,

because her performance was so beautiful.

It was so stunning.

That's what I do every single day...

I was like, "This is just...

"..a wasted performance that I'm giving."

I was blown away.

Blown away by her talent.

Can you take me home?

I don't know how Rose did it,

because she was operating on three levels.

To sign and speak at the same time

is very difficult.

And then to also have, like, in your head,

what you need to be doing as your character.

I was like, "This...

"That's so much to have in your head."

And she just does it effortlessly.

Cut.

SIREN WAILS

Did you enjoy it

when you got to read the script for the first time?

Yeah, it made me so excited

because it's such a great character.

It's such a complicated moment.

And it's a bit scary, it's a bit spooky.

I loved actually hiding

what she didn't really want to tell,

but she didn't really have a choice.

Yeah. And I just...

That just got me so excited.

A lot of your work before has been, like,

on stuff, you know, like, obviously EastEnders,

been in sitcom, and your theatre work.

Is this the first time you've really done something,

like, sci-fi like this,

where we're in like a, you know,

a mining centre on a planet, that sort of stuff?

Yeah. I'm actually having the best time ever

because of that reason. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, the attention to the detail,

my costume, the spacesuit, I just...

It's really hard to act really sad

when, actually, deep down, I'm so excited

for everything I do. It's just amazing.

It really is. Yeah.

Action.

What did you see?

BSL consultant Sarah Lawrence was brought in to support Rose,

the cast and the crew.

For people who don't know what your role is today...

..tell us, what are you doing here?

I'm here... Well, it's really interesting,

actually, cos in Doctor Who, in the script...

..the Doctor, the character the Doctor, actually signs,

and there's also a deaf character in this episode.

So my job has been to teach the Doctor how to sign

and while being on set whilst they're recording

to make sure that signing is right.

On-set communication with Rose

and much of her interaction with the Doctor was signed.

That gave the cast and crew

the opportunity to learn some BSL -

British Sign Language.

Before we started filming,

we did a deaf awareness course.

Yeah. Which was really important

just to ensure that we understand the...

..the barriers that are in place

when you're communicating with somebody who's deaf.

For example, you know,

facing them when you're talking,

don't just suddenly turn away.

Yeah. Um...

Understanding how to work with an interpreter as well.

And also there's been... You know,

it's quite a unique process

that you don't come across every day,

if you are working with a deaf person,

just integrating those processes

into working on set. It is completely different.

You learn stuff about the prejudices.

There's moments when people turn their backs on Aliss,

and so they're deliberately shielding their lips from her,

which makes her angry...

Don't turn your back on me.

Please, don't turn your back on me.

..which is all very true. That's true of real,

lived, authentic deaf experience.

So we had Rose go through the entire script,

and we actually had notes off her,

of course corrections, of how to do things,

how to phrase things, how to say things exactly.

Hi there. My name is the Doctor.

So I got the chance to learn BSL,

which was amazing

and I think just such a more effective,

beautiful, intentful way of communicating.

You have to really commit yourself

to communicating to who you're talking to.

Was that OK?

Um, I did this and I did name with two fingers...

I'm really impressed.

He very quickly learned sign language

because normally it takes, on average, about seven years

to become fluent in sign language. So...

And he was learning to sign

after he'd finished shooting, when he's already so tired.

Well done.

I've never connected with another actor like this.

This is such a different level of communication

and it's really beautiful. Why am I getting emotional?

LAUGHS

He's going to become, like, a deaf icon,

because he signed, "Name me the Doctor."

The deaf community will go mad over that, I think.

The Well saw the Doctor revisiting the scene

of an iconic Doctor Who episode.

What is this planet called?

6-7-6-7.

The old name.

400,000 years ago, what was the planet called?

It was called Midnight.

I've been here before.

Back in 2008, the Tenth Doctor

took a tourist trip on the planet Midnight,

a beautiful but airless deathtrap

covered in diamonds.

Here, the passengers and crew and all the watching Whovians

were terrorised by an unseen entity.

SCREECHING

Fast forward 400,000 years

and the Fifteenth Doctor is back.

The planet has been renamed 6-7-6-7,

all the diamonds have been mined,

but that entity is still lurking.

Have you ever heard of the planet...?

GASPS

What?

I thought I saw...

But what's going on, Russell?

It's the sequel no-one ever expected.

And it's the kind of episode

you should never do a sequel to.

So...that's where we went, frankly, right to that.

The interesting thing for me

was that I watched that episode,

and there are

two things that are similar about Midnight.

Did you just...?

One is it that it's the same monster,

even though he's sort of morphed.

What did you see?

Just there, that ridge. Like...

Like a shadow. Just... Just for a second.

What sort of shadow?

It's behaving slightly differently.

It messes with you, it plays games.

Why are you repeating?

Why are you repeating?

Another thing about Midnight is it's also a bottle episode

in the sense that it is...

It's all set in the one small space,

and within that are

a bunch of people and the monster.

I can guarantee you everything's fine.

CLANGING

The creature in Midnight was only ever heard, not seen.

In The Well, it gets physical and deadly.

Argh! Argh!

GASPS SHRIEKS

To me, this is the scariest monster

that I've faced so far.

I just think the way that Russell wrote it

was terrifying,

but really beautifully descriptive.

But... But just an implication.

It's your complete own interpretation

as to what this monster actually is.

Oh, yes.

Oh! Gosh, just reading it was very... Like, it put...

It put shivers down your spine.

Action!

The monster's grown, the monster's learned,

the monster has, like, you know, has been waiting

for...like, a chance to get out and cause trouble,

so I loved that it was, like,

a bit of a continuation from Midnight.

The elements kind of said to me, like, it's a mining planet

and it's deserted and it's deadly

and it's poisonous and there's something hidden,

people have disappeared.

All those scary things are in place.

This one's got a broken neck.

So that all just kind of...

In the end, just kind of demanded... It said, actually,

"Don't try to pretend this is something else.

"This is the same planet."

The one big difference between Midnight and The Well

is that, in the former,

everyone was stuck inside a static space bus,

but in the latter,

they're free to run around like action heroes.

So is this what superhero V would look like?

Because it's quite superhero-ish, isn't it?

It is so... It's so superhero-ish. Um...

It's actually kind of more like my bread and butter.

Like, especially after doing a lot more, like,

action things. Yeah.

So when I put it on, I was like, "Ah, I'm home."

Actually, I had to kind of actively be like,

"No, this is Belinda,

"not...other characters that I've played."

Yeah. "Characters that I may or may not have played

"in other franchises in the past."

That's also from Disney, yes. Yes. Those ones.

Yes.

I think the first day or something

when we were running, it was very, like, action hero.

Yeah. And I was like, "No, wait,

"I have to be a little bit more normal person."

Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, no...

That's cool. It's been... It's been...

I love this. I love this outfit.

Yeah. Except going to the loo.

Going for a wee is...

Oh, is it? It's very difficult.

I won't go into details but it takes some time, does it?

It takes time. There's so many attachments and zips and...

I was just... Yeah, I need three people to...

VARADA LAUGHS

I need an entourage... Just to...

..just to help me unclip and unzip.

That's just you in normal life.

That's got nothing to do with the costume whatsoever.

Yes. It's actually just what I've, like,

written in my contract now.

Camera set!

And...action!

It's the 1st of February, 2024,

and in classic Doctor Who fashion,

we're in a quarry in the night-time.

And, yes... Yes, it is freezing cold.

Some things just naturally belong together.

Strawberries and cream. Fish fingers and custard.

The Doctor and quarries.

For over 60 years

these rugged halls have been the go-to

Doctor Who backdrop for a far-flung alien world.

And tonight, this quarry

just outside Bridgend in South Wales

is about to become...

Ncuti's first quarry.

It's kind of something you inevitably do.

Who is your commanding officer back at base?

And, frankly,

it's a Doctor Who homeland. It always works.

I like the fact also this is a mining planet,

so it should look like a quarry.

The whole surface used to be diamonds

and it's now been mined.

So you're not pretending this is a rocky planet -

it's actually been mined.

So that takes the edge off the quarry-ness of it.

Yeah. Love it.

Cut!

Tonight we're filming the scene

where V and Ncuti,

they've landed on the planet.

DOCTOR CHUCKLES

Oh! My God!

Ah! Life...with you!

DOCTOR CHUCKLES

I know. I know, I know.

It's very atmospheric here.

I've never been in a quarry before.

Nice and quiet!

Everybody's just setting up now.

At the moment, they're talking through

with the rest of the actors who play the troopers,

talking through the scene with the director

and the director of photography and everything over there.

Oh, look, look at the helmets. Have you seen those helmets?

That is way cooler than I was thinking it would be.

Every one of the troopers has got their own person

cos they've got, like, all the boxes there.

Each box is for a specific helmet,

so they don't get mixed up or lost or whatever,

cos they've been made specially

for each of the different actors.

Every time they shout cut, they are fast getting in there

because it's cold,

so they're getting all those big coats on them

to keep them warm.

It's a busy old quarry tonight.

And with so much going on down here,

it's a perfect opportunity for me to dive in

and learn about another role in the TV industry.

For my work experience this episode,

I'm joining trainee grip Rhys.

Well, thank you very much

for having me along. That's all right.

I guess the first place to start is,

what's your job here today?

So I'm a grip trainee. Yeah.

Anything the camera goes on, we supply that

and we set it all up.

Cameras can be attached to tripods, dollies and cranes.

And tonight, I'm going to help Rhys lay a dolly track.

Two little track joiners. So, they join the track.

They go in the little bits. Tidy.

See if you can work that one out.

Does this, like, go in the hole?

So, first of all...

RHYS CHUCKLES

Oh, no, hang on. Is it going...? Is it going...?

Do they clip on those? On...

They join those bits.

So, you want to join the track together.

Yeah, yeah. There you go.

And then you can tighten them with that.

Oh, I see, I see, I see. Yeah.

OK, so they're on. So that stops it from, like,

slipping and sliding away, right?

But that's not tight at the minute.

See how loose that is? Yeah.

And there's a little gap in the track.

And the dollies are so sensitive

you'll feel that little bump.

Even the tiny little gap? Even the tiniest little bump.

So, yeah, you've got to... Other way.

Just got to make sure that's...

Right.

So they're tight in there now.

The next step now is to level it.

OK. So with levelling

always start at the high end.

What is it about being a grip that, you know,

attracted you to do that job?

Erm, I think, from a young age,

I've always wanted to be hands-on and doing stuff.

And then, later in life,

I developed that love for film and TV and I was like,

"Right, OK, that's something to do. Can I...?" Yeah.

"Is there any way I can put two and two together?"

So I went to uni, studied film and TV.

Yeah. I didn't really learn

what a grip was in uni, but I did my own research

and thought, "That sounds amazing." Yeah.

So I went and did that for two weeks and then,

yeah, got a job straight away.

And I've been doing it ever since, really.

Every day of my job is different

and that's what I love about it.

Like, you see people go into offices,

they're sat down at the same desk, the same computer.

Here, like, when do you get to come to a quarry

in the middle of the night?

So thankful that I've...fell into this.

Bring it up there. Yeah.

And then...

That's not far off. That's pretty good.

So, then, if you pass me that wedge. Yeah.

It's a different job to everything else.

Yeah. And, you know,

if you didn't work in the industry,

you wouldn't understand

what we do. Yeah.

It's quite hard to explain that to people sometimes.

Pressure there. And that's bang-on.

Nailed it.

But it's really important, right? Because obviously

you've got all the jazziest cameras in the world,

all the most experienced directors.

If the camera doesn't stay on something,

then it can't work, right? No.

The camera is always on something

which we have to use.

We have to do those jobs,

you know, like the dolly and stuff like that.

We have to push it for the camera to move,

for them to achieve that certain type of shot,

or swing the crane to achieve, you know,

the kind of different angles

they need or whatnot. Yeah.

So it's always, like... You're always hands-on.

Always, yeah.

What have you got on tonight? I know you've got the...

You've got one crane out, but what have you got...

What else is going on for you tonight?

Um, they're currently setting up a B camera shot,

so we've got a dolly ready on standby.

So a dolly, is that basically a camera on wheels?

Yeah, essentially.

All right, boys.

As the trainee grip,

Rhys is tasked with a range of jobs,

from moving equipment and heavy lifting,

to more important stuff like taking the team's food orders.

Um...dauphinois potato.

How do you spell "dauphinois"?

But I've got one burning question about the job.

SHIVERS Oh!

There's an elephant in the room as well, Rhys.

We're the only two people here in shorts.

Yes, we are.

And I was told that I had to wear shorts

to come on work experience. What are we doing?

It's February. It's the middle of the night.

There's a... There's a vicious wind.

Just part of the uniform, yeah.

Is it? Yeah, in the industry...

Yeah, it's grips' uniform. Yeah.

It's, like, shorts all the time.

You do know we live in Wales, right?

RHYS LAUGHS

Right, stand by.

Still to come on Unleashed...

The stunt team take flight.

Action! GRUNTS

I unmask the real Midnight creature.

SIREN WAILS And spoiler alert,

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

But first... Helmets!

Accompanying the Doctor and Belinda on planet 6-7-6-7

was an 11-strong trooper unit.

I loved having them around.

It was so much fun when there's, like,

a gang to hang out with.

It gives you that extra boost of energy.

Oh, it's just been everything and more.

I'm such a big fan of the show.

I've come in as, like, a huge...

She's so much fun to work with. No, I am...

I am actually such a huge fan of the show,

and I came in as a fan

and I'm leaving as a bigger fan, yeah.

All of the troopers we sent to trooper bootcamp.

Now...squad, attention!

That whole element

of the way they move,

the way they come around corners,

all of the protocol was all drilled into them

by this ex-military guy who was...

..who was on set with us.

That was really fun for them

to be able to bond on that military bootcamp,

but then also take that behaviour through.

Contact rear!

Fantastic.

Then no sooner than they finished

all that bonding and drill training,

the creature starts taking them out.

SCREAMS

Yeah, it's a tricky one, this,

cos it's the most brutal episode.

There are nasty deaths in this, actually,

and there are dead bodies

from the moment they enter that base.

And we had a lot of conversations about,

um, you know,

keep those bodies turned away from the camera,

don't make the bruises too great.

Some of them have been shot.

This one is laser fire.

So we're in a funny territory

between acceptable deaths and non-acceptable deaths,

which is... Flying through the air

propelled by a psychic force is somehow acceptable.

Action!

The snapping of the bones,

the thwack on the floor - you want a bit of that,

you want the visceral pleasure of that,

but, actually, you need to go easy on it as well

and say, "Actually, this is...

"Careful, there's six-year-olds watching this."

ALL SCREAM

All of the stunts needed to be

carefully choreographed by stunt coordinator Derek

and Max from the wire team.

To complicate things further,

everything had to revolve around

a very particular concept.

In the script,

Russell pinpoints each character's position

in relation to Aliss and the unseen creature,

as if they were hours on a clock face.

So I definitely did not understand it

when I read the script.

I read that whole sequence as it being, like,

"Oh, wow, that's really scary. Loads of people die."

I kind of went,

"OK, well, we'll get... We'll do that on the day.

"We'll get to that. That's not my business, really."

Um...I don't have a clue.

Still confused? Let's have Belinda explain it again.

It's like this.

If this is Aliss

and this is us, facing her...

Now...

..there is something behind her.

And if you go behind it...

..you die.

If it was a clock-face...

..you die at midnight.

I have to say, it took a while to...

..to get into my brain,

but when we had rehearsal with Amanda, she had...

She actually had a drawn out clock-face

with little toy soldier figures,

so we actually understood what was going on

and who would be flying where,

who would be landing where, yeah.

PANTS SOFTLY

When you see it done,

it's absolutely...genius.

With the action routine mapped out,

that meant Derek and Max could get to work.

First thing, test the different wirings

to be used for each stunt.

Yeah, keep that under tension. As soon as you start the ride,

then bring it to life.

Next, prepare the nitrogen ratchet system.

Seriously, I'm not making this up.

It's used for fast acceleration and power.

Right, stand by!

In three, two, one. Action.

GRUNTS

Spot-on. Yeah.

So what we're trying to achieve now

is just a last bit more energy going into the wall.

Then I think we've got it nailed.

But if you sort of shot that right down the line,

you'd get away with that anyway.

All right, well done, mate. That... All that's brilliant.

It brings it to life.

Now it's time to try out the digital four-point wiring.

This allows the team

to pre-programme repeatable and accurate flight paths

into a computer.

We haven't used a winch system on Doctor Who before,

but when this sequence came up, um...

And it was Max's idea, to be honest, um,

and he's just said it'd save so much more time

if we use that system.

Moving.

Each wire has its own winch,

so the same four wires can do every single person

all around the set,

so you don't have to keep moving rigs

and changing wires and...

And then if people do change their mind

and they want someone to start two foot nearer

or two foot further back, it's easier to do

than if they were on a conventional wire system.

Tests over, it's on to the real thing.

Principal photography on the episode

finished yesterday,

so the stunt team can now take their time

working through the long list of shots

that they still need for the clock sequence.

And three, two, one. Action!

SCREAMS

Because we're using the winch system

and we rehearsed it

and we've dialled everything in,

this makes this so much easier.

We just built it up slowly but surely speed-wise,

but they're landing in the same place every time.

I just love how it's been computer programmed,

all the wire, so that they lift up

in the exact same place

and land in the exact same place,

and it looks so gentle to land

that their feet just go like that.

Wow.

The last shot to get before the day wraps

is a point-of-view angle

from one of the flying troopers.

Here we go. Shooting. And...

..three, two, one. Action!

SCREAMS

Not quite as high technology

as we're used to, but it did look very good.

Him flying through the air holding a GoPro.

It's quite cool.

Oh, that's excellent!

Yeah, really good work. Really good work.

Oh...

It's great.

The Whoniverse prides itself

on the fact that many of the baddies

the Doctor encounters

are physical, live-action characters.

Not only are these creatures

testament to the skills and talents of the teams

who bring them to life,

they're also invaluable for giving the actors

something to react to.

MEEP GASPS What the hell?!

But how do you get the cast in the right frame of mind

when the foe is never seen?

Well, you give a fright mask to Unleashed regular Paul Kasey

and tell him to go and scare the pants off 'em.

There's always that chance that there could be

a shadow somewhere

on a wall, or you may get a very small glimpse of him,

but you never actually see him.

Yeah.

So their reaction should be...real.

Right. Right?

Cos there is something there. And don't get me wrong,

I'm going to go all-out...

Are you? ..to scare them.

Absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah.

To kind of help get Rose in that headspace,

I had Paul Kasey right behind her,

and Rose was immediately like, "Oh..."

It was... It was just... It was so creepy.

LAUGHTER Thank you.

With a green screen, you rely a lot on imagination.

"Oh, it's behind you, there's something there."

But for him to actually wear a mask and come up,

it works. So it did...

"OK, this is what Aliss is experiencing."

First bit of interaction input.

She was definitely, like, freaked out by it.

That's the idea, though.

That's what's living behind her.

Yeah.

Luckily, Paul's a mate now, so he wouldn't try to scare me,

but I am keen to find out if any of the Who crew

have had any weird or spooky experiences.

When I was very young, I woke up at night

and saw lights outside my window.

Did you? Yeah. Yeah.

It was definitely coming from above and...

Oh!

In my bedroom, this is when I was a teenager,

I just had the distinct feeling

that there was a person in the room,

but it was so strong, that feeling, that I was like,

"I'm actually too scared to open my eyes and look."

When I was a little kid, we went to a secret bunker

over in Dover. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I turned around

and I thought I saw someone in an army uniform,

and I was like, "Oh, that's cool,

"They've got people dressed up here."

So when I spoke to one of the people

that worked on the front desk, I was like, "Is there, like...

"Is there people dressed up here, like, walking around?"

She said, "No."

I was like, "Oh." She's like,

"You're the only people in the...in the tunnels."

I was like, "Oh. OK. Cool."

It was, like, around mid-morning. I remember

cos I checked my phone, it was, like, 6am

at the weekend. Yeah. "Why am I waking up at that time?"

Why are you up at six in the morning?

Um, but, like, I just felt like

my whole body sort of, like, seize up.

And then something with, like, three...

..like, almost like a claw, like, try and claw up my face,

and then, like, I just woke up immediately after that,

and I was like, "That is really creepy."

So, basically, I woke up in the middle of the night,

I went to the toilet and I left my door open

so you could see it in my hallway.

Yeah. And then on the side

there was, like, a wooden boat that's just decoration.

And I saw it move across...

And then I sort of went,

"No, no, no, stop, stop!"

I put the light on and it just stopped.

In a different spot.

I got so scared, I ran into bed and I hid.

And then I felt someone was, like,

pushing against my back.

Like, lying against my back. Oh, I don't like this.

And then I felt this clicking sort of...across me.

And I thought, "It's my brain playing tricks.

"My brain's playing tricks."

And then I did the research about it the next day

and, apparently, when you shut your eyes,

and because I'm deaf,

your brain starts using other senses

to try and make sense of the environment.

Right. And I think because I woke up

in the middle of the night,

my eyes started playing tricks on me.

Or it was a ghost.

No!

STEFFAN LAUGHS

Right, bye-bye. Bye-bye.

Thankfully, despite all the scary stories

and weird experiences,

I've managed to navigate the day

without getting scared at all.

I've been practising my dying fall.

Yeah. I've been practising how I land.

Are you going big?

I am, I'm trying my best. Yeah.

Oh, my goodness me! BEYAGY LAUGHS

Don't do that to me, Paul!

You horrible man!

BEYAGY LAUGHS No!

Stop that! I can't cope with this. I'm off. Bye-bye.

This wasn't in my contract.

The movements are just...

It's just the movements...

Did I get you? You did get me!

Good. Trying to keep it together.

This is the...

..hazard of working on this show. Bye, Paul!

SIREN WAILS Next time on Doctor Who...

This week I found someone who knows its secrets.

In fact, she's even been inside it.

And I'm going to ask her to introduce herself.

Hello, everyone. My name is Ruby Sunday.