Original subtitles

CREW SHOUT INSTRUCTIONS

In this episode...

It wants you scared...

..and running,

and pumping with adrenaline.

..we welcome back good friends.

The trauma that Ruby went through,

it is really cool to see how she's dealing with that.

It's very loud. But it looks cool.

We reveal how to shoot a helicopter action sequence

in just three hours.

That was exciting, wasn't it? Oh!

It has been a chore getting to know you.

Guest star Jonah Hauer-King reveals

why he loves playing Conrad.

It's just really fun being horrible.

And spoiler alert - stand by for that exclusive clip

from the next episode.

Unleashed.

Welcome... Hello.

..to the insider's guide to all things Who.

Today, we're going to unlock Lucky Day,

the fourth episode of season two.

It's November 2023,

and at Wolf Studios, the Who crew

are shooting Lucky Day back-to-back

with episode one of the season - The Robot Revolution.

Action! So whilst the Doctor and Belinda

are dealing with retro robots on Stage 3,

on Stage 1, we've got the return of a fellow partner in time.

I am Ruby Sunday.

Actually, no, sorry. Wrong way round.

I'm Millie Gibson and I play Ruby Sunday.

Ruby Sunday - the companion who stepped away

from the TARDIS in the season one finale, Empire Of Death,

to spend time with her newly extended family.

Will I ever see you again?

Of course you will.

Of course you will.

Oi!

So, how does it feel to be back?

It's weird. I mean, it's such a nice growth

with both me and my character because,

you know, she's got a new look. She's got a family now.

She's not with the Doctor any more,

which is really weird for her.

So it's a whole new side of Ruby

that I think we've not seen before, but it's been so cool to explore.

This is a script we always had planned.

We knew when we left Ruby behind on Earth

that was not the end of...

We love Millie. We love working with her.

We love that character. We always planned that we would come back

and we'd find out what happens to a companion

after life with the Doctor has gone.

And how vulnerable are you?

I think I'm in shock.

Because what happened last year was just not...normal.

But the episode is really interesting because it's dealing

with, like, companion post-Doctor and, like,

the PTSD that comes with travelling with an alien

that travels through time and space and battles a lot of monsters.

I just need some time to get my head around it.

Even though Ruby is absolutely a survivor

and is the hero of this in the end,

you can't deny that once you've seen those vistas,

once you've been to those planets,

once you've seen death on that scale,

once you've seen life on that scale,

you are going to be in a state of shock.

It's still a rich area to explore -

like, what's the psychological effect on someone

who's travelled in time and space?

You could explore that for ever.

We've actually done it very rarely.

So this is an opportunity to take Millie

and to explore that. I just think this can go on for ever.

How was that, coming back to Ruby, then,

having said goodbye to her at the end of series one

and now coming back to her? Yeah.

We've just got such an instant chemistry.

And very quickly, we were like...

We really are trouble together.

We're not... HE LAUGHS

We are... It took us maybe two seconds for us

to start breaking pieces of set

and just being just general mischief-makers.

Yeah. And that was very fun.

Working with Ncuti, you can just click back

to your normal rhythm with each other.

And that's what's so beautiful about working with him.

Yeah, it was a breath of fresh air

when I had that day with Ncuti.

It was like, "Oh, my God, back to our old ways."

Cardiff city centre, Friday the 24th of November, 2023.

Over the years, the city streets and landmarks

have served as backdrops to countless adventures

in time and space.

Today, the Who crew are hard at work

filming one of the episode's earliest scenes.

I know!

Cut there. Cut there!

Looks like a big important serious meeting that they're having.

They're probably asking what's for lunch.

And action!

I'm here to catch up with Jonah Hauer-King,

who's playing love interest turned love-rat

conspiracy theorist Conrad.

Most famous for playing Prince Eric

in the live-action adaptation of Disney's The Little Mermaid,

playing Conrad is a bit of a tone shift.

How pleased are you that you get to play a villain?

It's probably the biggest... Because...

..maybe the single biggest reason why I wanted to do this.

Yeah. Because it's such a great character.

It's so brilliantly written.

The grown-ups are talking!

I've played roles more like the nice version of Conrad.

Yeah. I've sort of been there, done that.

And when they sent it to me,

they mentioned it was a villain role and so I got excited

and then started reading it and thought, "Have I got...? Am I right?

"Is this the right script?" Like, "What's going on here?"

You know, you believe this relationship

and you believe their...their love, I guess.

And then it has that amazing turn

and I was completely gripped.

What the hell is going on?! We are Think Tank,

exposing the lies perpetuated by UNIT.

By you.

And it's just really fun being horrible because,

like, that's not how you should be all the...obviously, ever.

That's a tag line for the rest of your career.

"It's great to be horrible." "Really fun being horrible."

Yeah, and it's a challenge as well because he is so far from me,

I guess, and, like, how we would want to act.

And so...so going to that place is

an acting challenge and it's just... Yeah, it's fun.

It has been a chore getting to know you!

With filming on the street complete,

the Who crew flat-pack the TARDIS

and move on to the next location,

giving me the chance

to grab a chat with the writer of Lucky Day, Pete McTighe.

You've written for Doctor Who before.

What's different this time around

to the work on the previous seasons for you?

I guess it's just... It's just a very different energy.

This is quite a Doctor-lite episode.

So for me, that was really exciting, actually,

because some people would kind of go, "Oh..."

You're writing Doctor Who and there's not much Doctor in it.

Yeah. But actually it's kind of freeing to not have the Doctor,

because it's more dangerous.

Straight away, if the Doctor's not around,

the stakes are higher because...

Ah, I hadn't thought of it like that before.

Yeah, he's not around to kind of rescue people.

So that's been the challenge and the kind of gift of...

..of this episode - is being able to...

..to have an adventure without the Doctor

where people are genuinely in more danger

because he's not around. Yeah.

Oh, right. We must go.

Time and the Doctor wait for no-one,

and Pete and I are ushered away to the next location,

which might be somewhat familiar to watching Whovians.

Department store, central Cardiff.

Mannequins. And action!

This is Howells. This is a very famous location in Wales,

in Cardiff.

And the corner of Howells was the store that, erm,

Billie Piper worked in in episode one, season one.

Back in 2005, when the BBC and Russell T Davies

brought back Doctor Who, the very first episode, Rose...

Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life.

..saw the Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston,

and his new companion, Rose, played by Billie Piper,

come face-to-face with classic Doctor Who baddies the Autons.

Two decades later, director Peter couldn't resist

some sly nods to the past.

Do you like playing with audience expectations?

Absolutely. I mean, I'm a massive fan.

I've been a fan since I was about four.

We are in a shop. It felt like, why are we not putting mannequins

into this shop? I love it.

I mean, they're just the creepiest things ever.

And especially if you see, like, the shadows,

and I think we're going to have one rocking.

It's just going to let go... Oh, is it? Yeah.

The last scene of the day in the old department store

puts Jonah in a rather sticky situation.

I thought it would...they would have just, like, mixed it up

in a random little pot. But Doctor Who being Doctor Who,

it's a whole process. And they went away, they made this specifically,

and it's come in a pot called Shreek Secretion.

Love it. Which is brilliant.

See? Told you. Oh, OK. Shreek Secretion.

This is Shreek Secretion in all its glory.

Very delicate work, this, isn't it?

You're not just slopping it on. No, no, not just slopping it on.

Just... Look how gloopy it is.

Yeah, it's got a bit of glitter in it as well.

So, erm... Oh, it has, hasn't it? Yeah.

Could be all the rage. It could be. Starting a new trend. Exactly. Yeah.

It's definitely vaguely artistic in some way.

Shreek Secretion.

Shreek Secretion. Amazing.

Get to know!

Still to come on Unleashed,

I'm moving like the clappers on my work experience...

We're about to go for a take.

SHRIEKS

..this thing "shreeks" havoc on set...

..and spoiler alert - we've got an exclusive sneak peek

at the next episode of Doctor Who.

But first...

Action.

Also returning for the first time this season,

UNIT, led by Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.

We're on our way. Divert the nearest ground crew to Colson village.

We'll take the helicopter!

And what an entrance they make, swooping in to rescue Ruby,

Conrad and the local residents from a pair of bloodthirsty Shreek.

Kate, there's two of them, at least!

Shot over three nights in the South Wales village of Newton,

a small army of cast, crew and supporting artists

set up camp at the location.

That is the keys for the schoolroom.

I've got the keys to the church, lovely church just behind you.

And I've also got the keys for the pub over there.

Security has got the keys for this pub.

It's just there's so many moving parts here.

And, you know, we are so spread out as well.

So it's been a...been a fun one,

and we've got ridiculous road closures.

And it's been really interesting

talking to people in the village because,

you know, they're really excited and want to know

how much prep goes into all of this.

But it wasn't until I sat down the other day

and realised - per block, we have an allocated budget

for six weeks, and we spent two-thirds of that budget

on three nights filming here.

So it just gives you an idea of quite how much we've got going on.

But it's great fun.

And the centrepiece of all the fun

will see UNIT'S Kate Lethbridge-Stewart,

Shirley Anne Bingham, and Colonel Ibrahim

land on the village green in a helicopter.

Right. OK, guys, start locking down, please.

In your positions. Thank you. Lock it down.

When the rotor blades are spinning, we can't move.

So, basically, everyone clears back.

We've got a very useful village green wall,

and everyone stays behind it.

And then this thing can come and go as it pleases

while that's happening, and we have to wait

for the rotor blades to fully stop before we can move.

The Who crew have got three hours to capture three shots.

Shot number one - a simple take-off and landing.

Shot number two - a bit more risky,

with a camera operator filming out of the open cargo door.

HE MOUTHS

But it's shot number three

that everyone's most eagerly anticipating -

the moment when Kate and UNIT walk away from the helicopter.

Sam and Peter. Michael, if you can be with the cameras, make sure

you're letting us know when they're up and running.

Dev, I know you're getting Shreek ready,

but if you can stick with the cast as well, please.

Charlotte and Ash, if you spread out, that'd be amazing. Thank you.

INDISTINCT INSTRUCTIONS

That was exciting, wasn't it? Oh!

I'm just glad we weren't in it.

Oh, no, no, no. We've had this conversation.

Both of us were quite frightened of it.

Helicopters aren't for me, and I'm not for helicopters.

But that was very cool. It was a... It was a very...

It was a very cool shot. It was a very cool shot

and a really cool entrance for UNIT, I think.

Yeah, I might take it home. What's next?

Tank? Stepping out of a helicopter and walking down the street

next to one of the most beautiful churchyards...

It's gorgeous! ..under a full moon.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's OK.

Yeah. That'll do. We'll take that.

In past episodes of Doctor Who,

real-life presenters and their shows have crossed over

into the Whoniverse.

Trisha Goddard appeared in Army Of Ghosts.

You are in love with a ghost.

BBC Breakfast presenters Bill Turnbull and Sian Williams

interviewed Charles Dickens in The Wedding Of River Song.

Oh, we love a ghost story.

Newsnight's Emily Maitlis appeared in Revolution Of The Daleks.

..honorary knighthood. You took a big risk.

And in this episode, The One Show and Alex Jones

join the canon.

Although for Jonah,

who's appeared on The One Show numerous times as himself,

sitting on the famous sofa as his character Conrad

is a bit discombobulating.

I've been trying to explain it to people and they haven't

really been able to get their head around it,

I think I said, "I'm doing The One Show as my character."

They said, "Are you... Are they, like, putting it out live?

"Is this some kind of, like, weird stunt as promotion?"

I said, "No, no. It's in the show. It's not live."

And I'm kind of now getting myself confused.

But, yes, he's... My character is doing...

He's doing the media rounds.

Erm, and obviously doing stuff like this

gives it that level of authenticity.

And it is kind of meta because, yeah,

obviously it's BBC and on the BBC,

and it's all kind of like breaking the fourth wall a bit.

So, yeah, it's sort of a funny feel because we're doing...

We're, like, a skeleton crew today.

The main unit are back in Cardiff

and we've sort of scuttled away here with...

We've got Vicki, our producer, we've got Russell over there in the back.

He's hiding somewhere in a yellow coat.

And it's kind of like a school trip.

It's really fun. It doesn't feel like a normal filming work day.

It feels like the rules seem a bit different.

It's all more relaxed and chilled. It's quite fun.

Five, four, three...

I mean, you took a big risk.

We can see on the video

there are soldiers literally pointing their guns at you.

That's how they suppress us - with fear.

Meanwhile, they're working against us.

When Doctor Who said that they'd like to film here,

I was super excited.

I mean, it is absolutely iconic.

It's been around forever, even before me, which...

It's hard to find those items these days.

But I was so excited

that they wanted to film with The One Show studio.

And we've had lots of shows filming here

and myself playing myself,

but this is by far the most exciting one.

It's an absolute moment. Come on!

Mam said... No, no. Yes. It's like...

.."The only time you'll use your drama degree."

HE LAUGHS All that money Alun repaid.

She's cruel. She's cruel, your mother.

And... I know, she is. An awful woman.

She never leaves me alone. BOTH LAUGH

"Get my daughter on Doctor Who," she says.

Yeah. "Get her on Doctor Who. Let's use the money we paid."

Aw, thank you. No, but thank you. It is really special.

School trip over, it's back on the bus up to Cardiff.

Right, it's that time of the episode now

where I stop prancing around being a presenter,

I roll up my sleeves and get on with some hard graft.

Yes, it's work experience time.

Now, previously on Unleashed

I spent some time with Kudzai doing work experience as a camera trainee,

and I think we can all agree

that that went really rather well.

It's shocking. This is unbelievable.

So, given that, the camera department have agreed

that I can go back, but this time we're going to step it up a level.

Today, I'm going to be working alongside Evangeline and Sarah,

who are both clapper loaders.

Having worked their way up from camera trainee,

their job is the next step up in the camera department.

Talk to me about your particular job in the team.

What do you do? How does it fit with everyone else?

So, the main job that everyone will probably notice

is the board. So you're in charge of this?

I'm the one that puts this on.

Or got an even smaller one. Oh, my...

A baby one. Baby board... Look at that. ..which everyone loves...

Yeah, that is cool. ..every time that comes out.

So, since we're on the clappers, talk to me about what

I've got to do, then.

Because sometimes I've seen you clapping.

I've also seen you clapping upside down.

That's an end board.

So, you can have a front board and an end board. Right.

If they see this upside down, that's the end of the clip. Right.

And if they see it that way, they know it's...

It's the start. ..the start of the clip. OK. Makes sense.

The clapper board is an iconic bit of kit

and is crucial on any TV and film set.

Yes.

The moment it is closed is captured by both the camera

and the microphones, and is used by the editor

to match up the pictures and sound.

407, take one.

If you come in and know nothing about films or telly,

everybody knows about the board. Yeah.

So, you're in charge of it? That is me.

We've got two cameras on the job all the time.

So, Sarah will have one, who's on the A camera team,

and I've got one for the B camera. Right.

Mark it. Scene marker.

And so how does this job differ from what I was doing last time?

You obviously started off as a camera trainee, right,

and you're working your way up. Yeah.

So, you've got a bit more responsibility.

You assist the focus pullers a lot more.

Right. With putting lenses on, changing filters and stuff.

Yeah. And putting cards in the camera.

Oh, right. So... I know that sounds simple

but that's really important, isn't it? Yes.

That's where they... Like, all the stuff gets recorded on

and everything. Yeah. So if you do that wrong...

Might have to redo the whole day.

Which would cost a fortune. So don't do that.

Yeah. So, you're putting, like, lenses... Are those lenses? Yeah.

We've got one here. Like, that's worth...

A lot. ..a lot of money, isn't it?

So don't drop them either.

Did you always think, "Oh, I wanted to work with cameras"?

I wanted to be an operator. Yeah.

So you're working... That's the goal, is it?

Hopefully, yeah. Yeah. And so you've got to go through these steps

to get to that point? Yeah. You don't have to.

But I think it's better to, because you understand all the roles

on the camera department a bit more. Yeah.

As a clapper loader,

one of the main jobs is to mark up the clapper board

with the correct information for the scene that is being shot.

So, I've got the date, obviously. Yeah.

The scene then goes in there. So we're on episode four. Yeah.

Scene 19 and 20.

And then whatever slate we're on there will go there.

Takes goes there.

If we... Can we dry-run this? Yes.

550 is next.

550. Yeah.

And say now take 1.

I'd say it's a bit too small. Oh, would you go bigger?

Go a bit bigger than that. OK. Oh.

550.

There we are. Perfect.

So, you'd walk out in front of the camera. Yeah.

Hold that there.

Always have the sticks already open, though.

Sticks already open, OK. Yeah. Maybe not that open.

OK, not that... So, sticks a little bit open. Yeah, that's fine.

So I walk out, hold this in front of the camera.

And then you hear, "Sound speed."

And then I clap? No. No. Then I say...

.."Slate 550." You don't have to say slate. OK.

Just say the number. Yeah.

This is good. This is good tips. This is good.

550.

Take 1.

And then I'll pretend to be the focus puller and say, "Mark it."

There you are. And then I walk off. And then get out of there.

Just two numbers. Yeah.

The slate, the number.

What could...? I mean... What could go wrong?

What could go wrong?

What indeed?

I'm heading onto set, where Evangeline is handing me over

to Sarah for my clapper debut.

First things first. The slate and the take number.

551.

How big do you go?

Big. As big as you can.

So it's easy to read for the editors.

That's beautiful. Look at that. Beautiful. There we are.

Beautiful. And then we're saying "Take 1", right?

Yeah. Take 1. You're first up.

Next, where am I supposed to stand?

So, I'm five foot. five Yeah, you're foot.

So my wingspan is five foot.

So, if you were about, say, here...

Here? OK. ..you'd be fine. Fine, fine, fine.

And then a cheat is if you look down the lens,

you can see your own reflection.

Oh, there he is. So you want to be about here. There.

Yeah. But you look silly looking down the lens.

I mean, I've made myself look plenty silly loads of times. That's fine.

Right, time to do this thing.

No pressure.

I'm starting to get a little bit nervous

because there's a lot of people now relying on this to work.

So, I'm going to be there. Is that cool with you? Yeah.

Are you all right with that? Certainly is.

And I won't do it much louder than that.

That's fine. Are you happy with that? You can go bigger.

I can go bigger than that? You're happy with that? Way bigger.

Bigger. Yeah. There we go.

Just checking that you're comfortable with that,

so we're all on the same page.

We're about to go for a take.

I don't mind admitting...

Here we go then, please. Thank you.

We're rolling, please.

..I'm clapping my pants right now.

Sound speed.

551, take 1.

Beautiful.

Oh... Shh.

Right, yeah, so that was it.

Just done my clapping. I'm not going to lie to you,

I'm very pleased and very relieved

and a tiny little bit smug that it went so well.

Because let's be honest, the last time I was with

the camera department, it was a disaster.

This is much better.

Clapperboards - the way forward.

End... End... End board.

OK, lock it down outside, then, please. Lock it down.

Nice and quiet everywhere.

If, like me, you were floored by the Conrad plot twist...

We are Think Tank.

..I think we can put that down to a brilliant script

and Jonah's fantastic performance.

But be honest - how long did it take you to figure it out

that these Shreek were, in fact, fake Shreek?

They're not Shreek.

LAUGHTER

Got ya!

Throughout the history of Doctor Who,

the show has worked hard to make sure the aliens and creatures

don't just look like people dressed up in rubber suits -

mostly succeeding, but sometimes perhaps not.

People always talk about Doctor Who,

they talk about shaky sets and rubber monsters.

You know, in the '70s, it was very much that kind of feel.

There was a... It was a low-budget feel.

However, for this red-eyed creepy creature,

the design team at Millennium FX

were challenged with a slightly different approach.

It's kind of an odd thing where you're building a rubber monster,

and then someone says, "Right, build a rubber monster

"of the same rubber monster, but it's a rubbish rubber monster.

"And that one's real, and this one's a bit rubbish."

So it's like, how rubbish is it,

and at the same time, it's still got to look like it can

pass for real within the story?

So that was actually really difficult to nail how that worked.

For the real Shreek suits, Neill and his team

used the same hi tech they would normally employ.

The design was sculpted in clay on a 3D print

of the actor's head and body.

Fibreglass moulds were then cast from the clay

and injected with silicone, and finally painted by hand.

The real Shreek was then crowned with its own animatronic head.

So he's got some eyelids that can make him blink.

He can get dizzy. Whoa!

This is kind of as soft as he can get. This is kind of zero. Yeah.

And this is kind of 100. Wow.

Gross and gorgeous... Yes, at the same time. ..I think. Yeah.

For the fake Shreek, they really had to put their heads together.

We got the final design, and we got a sculptor in

and let him look at it once and just went,

"There it is. Right, you have a few hours to sculpt that from memory."

And what that meant is he ended up just hitting the main points,

but all the detail was kind of lost.

So it was someone's impression of the Shreek.

Then for the fake Shreek's head, we just went with older processes.

So it was a clay sculpture, a plaster mould

and just stiff latex rubber.

So it moves like an old rubber mask

because it is an old rubber mask.

For a cosplay costume, they're amazing.

That's got to be difficult, though, hasn't it, really?

Like, how do you make something look bad,

but it's still got to look really good?

That's quite a challenge, I think, for Millennium.

But they nailed it - again.

The next step was to work out

how the two different types of Shreek would move.

And we cut there, thank you. Hello.

Movement is always an important thing.

You can build this fabulous-looking thing

and if it can't move, it sort of loses impact.

For the fake Shreek and the real Shreek,

you're trying to get that movement different,

so when you see the real Shreek,

you don't feel it's a human being in a suit.

But when you see the cosplay one, that's one of the giveaways.

It is people wearing a rubber outfit.

It's always strange chatting to someone

in this sort of get-up, Gethin, I'm not going to lie to you,

so I don't know what it's like being that person.

Well, I mean, this particular suit

kind of feels like wearing a full-body resistance band.

Oh, does it? So you're working really hard.

Like, yeah, to do that, the whole thing is just trying

to pull me in like that. Yeah.

But otherwise it's just really warm, which is handy, because it's winter.

It's November, it's Cardiff, it's freezing. Yeah.

Erm, when you read the Shreek and you realised a lot of this

was going to be on all fours... Mm-hm.

..were you thinking, "Yes!" or were you thinking, "Oh, gosh,

"that sounds like a lot of hard work"? No, I like...

Crawling's not too bad. It's quite fun.

And we came up with different versions of the movement

before we had finalised on the creature.

So in a way, we came up with it, and it's like I'm my own worst enemy.

So every time we're like, "Oh, I could do this.

"It's more difficult, but it looks better..." Yeah.

And then you get a note and I go, "I need to make it more difficult."

And you're like, "Why? Stop doing this to yourself."

"Just go with the easy one." Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What's it like performing this blind? Because you are sort of...

You can't really see much. When the mouth's closed...

When the mouth's closed, I pretty much can't see anything. Right.

So in here, I've got a little earpiece. Yeah.

And Paul. You've got Paul in your ear.

If I don't...can't see what I'm doing,

he's...he's, like, going, "Turn left. A bit more left.

"Head up. OK, cool. Now walk forward three steps."

And it's definite teamwork between myself, Gethin and Rachel,

who's puppeteering the face.

Yeah, it's all teamwork.

So how about a demonstration, then?

That is actually really freaky.

I'm going to go this way.

You...You carry on.

Oh, I don't like it. Oh, gosh!

On the next episode of Doctor Who...

LIVELY CHATTER

Auntie!