Original subtitles

In this episode...

Action! Lights! Door!

..the stars are out and shining bright.

Oh, my God, it's the actual TARDIS.

I think I'm going to collapse.

I actually think I'm going to collapse.

What do you think of this?

It says backing dancer.

Is that...

I get to direct 100 aliens on my work experience...

You can move your mouths and make as much noise as you can

without actually making any noise.

We lift the lid on

an absolute howler of an earworm.

I'm wiping my hands of Dugga Doo.

It was nothing to do with me.

SIREN WAILS And spoiler alert -

we've got an exclusive clip

from the next episode of Doctor Who.

Hi. Isn't this fantastic? Look at you.

Don't you look fantastic? Hey!

And welcome to Unleashed.

Yes!

CHEERING

Oh, good evening, Harmony Arena!

Welcome, bienvenue, willkommen, a croeso.

Unleashed,

your personal portal to all things Who.

It can't be.

In this episode, we'll be defrosting...

The 803rd Interstellar Song Contest!

HOST WHOOPS

CHEERING

I think it's a marvellously mad episode.

The Eurovision Song Contest meets Die Hard.

And here's Bruce Willis.

Ba-ba-ba! You'd like to think. LAUGHS

This is the dream brief.

I attend Eurovision regularly.

I'm a proper fan.

If you cut me through the middle,

it's just Eurovision and sugar.

And try to stay calm...

Oh, my God, I'm so pleased to meet you! It's Rylan!

..as we're gonna pop the top on this explosive episode.

Let's start the show!

CHEERING

One of the many iconic things about the Whoniverse

are the stellar guests who pop in and deliver

memorable cameo roles.

SHE SHRIEKS

But who else had a hologram of this fella...

Hello. I'm Graham Norton.

No way!

..on their bingo card?

Poor old planet Earth died many years ago.

It is said the planet disintegrated

into rock and dust and ashes.

Graham, can I start by saying, what do you think of this?

Would it fit in...

Well, Eurovision,

or also the Interstellar Song Contest? What are you thinking?

It says backing dancer.

Is that...

I'll take... That's fine. Or backing singer.

I can live with that. I don't think you're the act.

Oh, Graham!

Sad face.

How did this happen, then? How did you end up here?

Listen, they asked me if I wanted to be in

an episode of Doctor Who. And of course I said yes.

And also, it was very easy. I'm just here for, like,

half a day, so it's easy. Have you ever thought

of yourself as a hologram before?

No, I have not. But I like the idea.

I like that it seems like very easy work.

X-Ray 231, take 7.

Now, there's a bit of history with you and Doctor Who,

isn't there, from back in the day?

This is my first time

of officially being in Doctor Who. Yes.

I've ruined a couple of episodes.

STEFFAN LAUGHS

The first one could have gone so wrong

because it was my very, very first

live appearance on BBC One. Yeah.

We came off air into

the first episode of the revamped Doctor Who.

Yeah.

And I don't know who messed up,

but we were doing a trail for the next week

and somebody brought my microphone up

and broadcast it during Doctor Who.

So they were going through a basement and people thought,

"Oh, that's clever." You know,

Billie Piper is listening to Graham Norton in a basement.

And then they realised it was just me wanging on.

I could have so easily sworn, said something terrible,

you know? Yeah.

Yeah, we got away with it.

But it's a full-circle moment. It is. Here you are, as a proper...

I'm meant to be here. I'm meant to be here.

CREW CHATTER

The star power in this episode was doubled up

by cryogenic co-host Rylan.

Literally, I've been here now for a couple of days

and I'm just still pinching myself every time

I walk into these studios. Yeah.

I got to go into the TARDIS yesterday.

Oh, my God, it's the actual TARDIS!

I think I'm going to collapse.

I actually think I'm going to collapse.

So were you much of a Doctor Who fan before this?

Massive Doctor Who fan. Oh, is it?

I've been a massive Doctor Who fan my entire life.

Oh, my God. I'm actually walking on the TARDIS!

You can't press any buttons. I won't press any buttons.

I don't want to end up in the future.

So who was your first Doctor?

My first...my first Doctor that I really got into

was Christopher Eccleston. So when it came back,

the revival, that's when I really got into it.

And I just remember being obsessed with that series

so much, like the Game Station

and Satellite Five and all of that.

Yeah. And because obviously

I loved Big Brother as well at the same time,

so when Game Station came in...

Yeah. ..and it was a crossover

of all the shows, I was like, "Oh, my God,

"this is the best episode I've ever seen in my life."

Right. So for every Whovian out there,

I swear to you,

it is everything you want it to be and more.

It is so gorgeous.

Your Venn diagram... This is bang...

This episode has been written for Rylan. And I will own that.

I'm so thrilled.

Thank you so much for letting me do this.

Can I just, like, live here?

Is this slightly different

to maybe the stuff you've done before?

There's obviously more acting rather than presenting.

Yeah, I mean, I was a little bit nervous, to be fair.

I've done some acting in the past,

but nothing like Doctor Who. Yeah, yeah.

But...obviously I'm playing Rylan,

but I'm not playing real Rylan.

So, like, there's things in the script where it's like,

I don't know what I'm doing. As in like, "Oh, something's

"going wrong in my ear." Whereas in real life

I just carry on, ignore it. Absolutely.

He's a pro. He's a pro.

Come on. Um, so, yeah,

it's just getting it all right. But, you know, it's just been

so lovely. Like, everyone's amazing.

The crew are fantastic,

because you never get to really see all what goes on

behind the scenes apart from when you watch this.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Rylan.

Well done. Obviously. Which I am a fan of.

The team know. I didn't pay him to say that.

Yeah. It's just so lovely. It feels like we're all, like,

family vibes. Yeah.

Everyone's just here because

they want to make it a great show.

And this ep especially is very glossy.

It's very glitzy, it's very glam, and I love it.

Of course, the Interstellar Song Contest

is a supersized Eurovision, which means

the episode needed some Eurovision-style songs.

Songs with that certain je ne sais quoi

that land you...

Douze points, Doctor. Mm-hm.

I wanted to kind of capture

how mad some Eurovision Song Contest songs are,

without taking the mickey out of it,

but sometimes songs are just odd.

The past few days I just keep singing My Big Feet,

which is a mad, mad lyric.

Russell enlisted Who composer Murray Gold

and scriptwriter Juno Dawson

to help out on the Euro songs.

I left the gaps in the script

and then Russell was like, "No, we need to do some lyrics."

So Russell wrote some lyrics, I wrote some lyrics,

it went to Murray and it came back as songs.

Songs like Liz Lizardine's

I Love You But My Heart Says No...

...and Cora's aria.

CORA SINGS IN HELLIAN

Were you relieved when you got sent this song?

I'm assuming that you liked it.

I know! Because you could have

been sent one and you thought, "Oh, you know what?

"Doesn't vibe with me."

Because not every song does vibe with you or speak to you.

True, true. No, yeah, I loved it. I heard it,

and I was like, "Wow, this...

"I can see this filling the auditorium."

SHE SINGS IN HELLIAN

I love that it's a different language

because I've often listened to songs in a different language,

and I feel it. I go on that journey

and I don't know what they're saying,

but I feel what they're saying.

So they always say that music is a universal language.

So I really think that's really powerful

in this episode to show that.

And like any Eurovision worth its salt,

there was one song in particular that split opinions.

So this is Dugga Doo.

It's going to go on stage in a minute,

and it's got an amazing song,

which I think is going to...

Christmas number one.

And action.

Dugga, dugga, dugga doo

Worthy of the dreaded nul points?

Let's see what Ncuti and Varada make of Dugga Doo.

Oh, wow.

There is Dugga Doo.

I'm wiping my hands of Dugga Doo.

It was nothing to do with me.

Dugga Doo is entirely of Murray Gold's creation.

There was no point in the script where I said,

"A funny little alien sings a song called Dugga Doo."

It just landed in the inbox.

Oh, my God.

Mercifully, in the edit, you don't hear it much.

Actually, you don't see much of the Dugga Doo song.

If you isolate that, it'll drive you mad.

It'll drive you absolutely mad.

I think...I think Unleashed is the place to actually show,

properly, Dugga Doo.

You actually... You...

I thought you... That was not the reaction I was expecting.

Nah, I think that's a number one hit...

You were vibing with that. ..right there.

I was vibing with that. I think that's...

The beautiful Murray Gold with some fantastic work there.

That's not Murray, is it?

That's Murray Gold! Oh, my God!

From the sublime to the ridiculous.

Oh, wow, Murray. What can't that man do?

That is...that is the gem of your career, Murray.

BOTH LAUGH

Wow.

I could say this every time I'm on set

on Doctor Who, but today, it really is a special day.

Because if you follow me this way...

Last time this happened, it was a gloriously sunny day.

We were outside. We got to see a bi-generation.

Well, we are now seeing another one.

Only the second time it's happened

and it's happening right there.

Today, the Who crew are filming the huge plot twist

at the end of the episode that reveals

not only is the mysterious Mrs Flood the Rani,

but that she also bi-generates.

It feels totally different to when David and Ncuti split

because it was outside and sunny, and here we're inside

in a very green-screen sort of area.

There's a lot... It's very technical

because they've got to move at the same time

and end up in the same place,

and look, they've got a little green... If you come

this way, look, if you have a little look over there,

there's a little green cross

that they've got to look at for eyeline,

so that the bi-generation thing works.

It's all very busy, all very technical

and all very important.

When I read that there was a bi-generation in my script,

the first thing I did was watch Unleashed

because it's the best document to show how to do it.

And so we, as the programme-makers, watched

the behind-the-scenes from the old special

to learn how to do it.

You want to get this right,

because this is like a big moment,

not just for your episode, but also in the sort of...

..the Doctor Who pantheon of stories, if you will.

Yeah, yeah, it's not lost on us

how significant a moment this is.

What we have had to be really careful about

is shoulder pads.

She's got some amazing shoulder pads in this episode.

When someone bi-generates,

the clothes that they're wearing

get shared between the two resulting people.

I hadn't even thought about that.

So in the original bi-generation,

Ncuti took some of David's costume.

Yeah. In this case,

Anita is giving some of her costume to Archie.

But if we're doing like that

and my shoulder goes in front of you,

then it's game over. Yeah.

Shoulder pads aligned

and Unleashed study notes memorised,

it's time for Ben and the team to get this bi-generation done.

Let battle begin.

Oh, must we? How inelegant.

Oh, I'm ever so sorry, ma'am.

And while we're here...

Finally, Russell.

Finally, we found out who Mrs Flood is.

I think ever since Mrs Flood appeared

people have been saying she's the Rani,

and sometimes you just want to deliver what people expect.

I mean, yes, she's a Time Lady. Yes, she is the Rani.

And, yes, she's bi-generated and now she's Mrs Flood

and Archie Panjabi as the Rani, which is so exciting.

It was kind of the plan almost from the beginning.

I always thought she was the Rani.

Which actually is a very old Doctor Who villain

who's never been brought back

since the show came back in 2005.

She's kind of been waiting in the wings,

and the time has come.

The Rani is a renegade Time Lord and nemesis of the Doctor,

who hasn't appeared on screen since the early 1990s.

We'll have more of a deep dive on the Rani

in the next episode of Unleashed.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to get to the bottom of

Mrs Flood's mystery since

she first turned up in 2023.

Despite numerous appearances,

Anita's resolutely refused to give me a scoop.

Anything you can share with us about what's going on?

No.

Surely by now there must be something.

You're trying it on again, you see.

This is why I love you, though. You never give up.

But now...

Finally, Anita, some answers.

After all this time dodging my questions,

ducking and diving, here we are.

I did well, though, didn't I? You did really well.

You did so well. Often I would go home

and I'd curse Anita Dobson's name

because you wouldn't tell me anything.

Oh! My heart's broken.

So you're holding inside Mrs Flood all this time

one of the most famous, iconic

Doctor Who villains of all time?

We think.... I don't know how long she's been in there,

but she's certainly out and running now. Yeah.

Are you happy with what Mrs Flood has ended up becoming?

Oh, yeah!

I mean, how many people get the chance to split in half

and give birth to the Rani?

I mean, yeah, I'm made up about the whole thing.

Yeah.

My whole journey's been unusual and really exciting.

Well, congratulations on one becoming two,

and for being very good with secrets.

So if you need any secrets kept at home,

Anita Dobson is your woman.

But don't tell him. Don't tell me, apparently.

Hi!

Still to come on Unleashed...

Hello, Unleashed.

..we go behind the screens behind the scenes.

There's so many! Look at all the screens!

We find out what drove the return of a Who legend.

I think it was fan power.

I think fans have been saying,

"Where is she? What's happening to her?

"Are we going to see her again?"

SIREN WAILS And spoiler alert -

we've got an exclusive clip

from the next Doctor Who episode.

But first...

In the script for The Interstellar Song Contest,

the Harmony Arena is packed with 100,000 spectators

from all across the Whoniverse.

But in reality, it would be impossible

to fill the studio with 100,000 people.

Instead, around 100 supporting artists filled all the roles.

So how do you turn 100 into 100,000?

Well, there's lots of different ways you can do it.

The way that we're picking is that we're starting with

a number of SAs

who are going to be real-life people in the frame,

and they provide the sort of front layer that you'll see.

And then we're going to use things called digi doubles,

which is digital mannequins of people

that you programme in movement and then you just times them,

in our case by 100,000, and fill

your digital segment. Right.

And we do that by scanning the extras

that we've got here today, but also just designing them

on a computer and giving them movements

and then letting them,

in our case, have a big party in the background of that shot.

Let's roll, please.

If you think of the Eurovision Song Contest,

you've got Hungary and you've got Sweden, well,

we've got Planet Zorg and Planet Wotchinall.

So we've got bulbous-head men, we've got vultures,

we've got wrinkly, scaly faces, we've got pigs.

And, yes, they've been

dancing around a lot for the last four days, sweating,

but having lots of fun. Um,

and Jen Day, my 3rd AD, up on stage,

she's been bossing them around for the last couple of days,

so, um, hopefully they've enjoyed it.

They look great.

Unlucky for Jen, though,

those 100 people she has to look after today

has turned into 101...

Morning.

..as I'm going to be joining her for some work experience.

Jen. Hi.

You have drawn the short straw today,

Haven't I? So what are you up to today

and how can I help you? So the crowd 3rd

is sort of in charge of, um,

placing the background. Yeah.

Dressing them to shots.

Not with their clothes, but into the frame.

Yeah. Um, sort of giving them directions.

Yeah, make sure they look good on screen.

OK. Let's go do that, then. Yeah, let's do it.

Let's watch a take.

First task - we need to closely watch a take of the scene

being filmed.

Turning!

As 3rd ADs, we specifically need

to keep our eyes on the SAs in the background,

taking note of their performances.

The scene being shot is Cora's emotional big finale

towards the end of the episode.

CHEERING Cut! Cut!

Lovely blurs in background. Good blurs.

Do you have any notes?

Not really.

I reckon the lights could get up earlier.

Yeah? Maybe?

Get them up earlier, get them waving in the air a bit more?

Yeah. They're pretty late.

Should we do it? Yeah, let's do it.

As we're now between takes,

we can pass on directions to the SAs.

In this case, I've got a note about the LED wristbands

some of them are wearing.

Passing notes.

This is Steffan. Hiya. I'm helping today.

If you've got a bracelet on,

can we get those slightly up earlier?

Right? Slightly... Just like 30 seconds or so earlier,

towards the end of the song.

Because they look lovely in the background. All twinkly.

Yeah, that's when you get the bracelets in the air.

Lovely. Wave them around a bit.

Thank you. Great.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much, gang.

Is this always what you wanted to do?

Did you fall into it, or how did you end up here doing this?

I was always interested in making films,

but my sister did costume, so she got me on set

as an extra one day on Gavin & Stacey.

Yeah? And I was just like,

"This is awesome." So much fun.

So then I did some extra work, some SA work. Er, and...

Oh, so that's why you're good with the SAs,

because this was you. I used to be one.

They're your people. Yeah. Yeah, basically.

Um, and I just thought, like,

that'd be amazing to, like, be able to direct the SAs.

So I was like, "Yeah, I want to 3rd."

And now it's like, "Yeah, I want to direct."

So, yeah.

And then how easy was it to get your first job?

Did you start as a runner?

I did, yeah, so I did, um...

I became a regular extra

and then got to know the 2nd AD,

and I was like, "Please can I have some work experience?"

And then got a runner job from then on

and then worked my way up.

So basically once you get your foot in the door,

then work hard from there. Exactly.

And here you are, in charge of 100 aliens.

Here we are. Yeah!

Pretty surreal. Yeah.

Next task is a bit of a challenge -

picking up on a scene that is already half-shot.

We did this yesterday. So we have to match -

so the same people have the same props,

they're stood in the same place.

But now we're moving on to a later scene where they

start dancing to the song. Right.

Continuity nightmare. Absolutely.

So I've got photos of where everyone was stood.

Yeah. The props team are

giving out the same props to the same people as yesterday.

So if you had, like, a fluorescent popcorn cup yesterday,

you've got one back again today.

Yeah, yeah. And a flag.

And a flag. Yeah. Yeah.

As I direct the SAs into

the right place with the right props...

Oh, perfection. And take a half a step to your right.

..Jen gets some notes

from director Ben to pass on to the crowd.

Mute, mute, mute. Mute! Mute, mute, mute.

So what was Ben telling you then? Mute?

So no noise?

So no noise, so we can record the dialogue for the actors.

So they've got to wave,

but not make any sound? Yeah.

But they can still move their mouths.

Love that.

Like that. OK. And from the beginning.

From the beginning. Yeah.

Shall we go up on the stage and tell them?

Yeah, we should do that. Yeah, let's do it.

Hello, everyone. How's it going? I'm Steffan.

I'm just going to let you know some notes

for this take, if that's OK.

Do you mind, as soon as they say action,

we need to be excited from the get-go.

So get those flags up, waving, really excited.

You can move your mouths and make as much noise as you can

without actually making any noise.

I'm quite enjoying this one because in a strange way,

when you're talking to lots of people, it's easier than

talking to one person, if you know what I mean.

I know that sounds a bit odd, but it is.

So we need it mute and excited right from the kick-off.

Is that OK? Perfect.

Just like that! Love that.

More of that energy, please. Fantastic.

And it's fun because, like, you're looking out

for little details in the background,

and it's tough because your eye always gets drawn to

the main performers. But you've actually got to see past them.

They're not important. Looking at the other people.

Um, so, no, it's good, it's good. A lot to take in, mind,

a lot going on.

I don't want to, like, get in a position whereby

on the day, when this is on the telly, I think,

"That background performer's

"gone a bit early on that flag-waving." You know?

There's a lot of pressure.

Where's Jen gone?

Now we've had the Rani, we've had Rylan

and Graham Norton.

Surely there's no space

for any more legends in this episode.

Well, this being Doctor Who,

there's always time and space for one more.

This particular legend

had the TARDIS buzzing with excitement.

I can't believe it!

She first appeared in Doctor Who 62 years ago.

She hasn't been on the screen in over 30 years.

But here she is the Doctor's granddaughter,

his very first companion, Susan Foreman,

played by Carole Ann Ford.

At that extreme moment in the Doctor's life

where he's frozen in space and could be dying, I wanted

something extraordinary to bring him back.

It was a great moment sitting with Juno,

who wrote that script, to say,

"Please can you put in Susan?

"Please can Susan appear to him

"and pull him out of his deep freeze?"

Go back, Grandfather.

Go back!

She was like, "Wow! Will I do that or what?"

And then along she came.

Carole Ann Ford came to the studio, top secrecy.

Everything closed down.

Everyone signing NDAs. Brought in,

onto the TARDIS. And I think Ben

directed that beautifully as well.

When you're working with someone who's as experienced

as that, the temptation

is to just let them do their thing.

But I learned very quickly with Carole Ann Ford

that she is a sharp and thriving actor

who really relished direction.

And even though she might be in her 80s,

she was as present and as energetic

as an actor who's just starting out.

Last seen in 1993, in Dimensions In Time,

a Children In Need special, Susan's name

has popped up in a number of episodes since,

and she's featured in books and audio dramas,

but this is her first on-screen appearance in 32 years.

Grandfather, go back.

So why is Susan back now?

Well, I think it was fan power.

I think fans have been saying,

"Where is she? What's happening to her?

"Are we going to see her again?" And...

Russell and I hadn't met,

and we had both been hoping to meet

and we went to a party.

It was the screening of Star Beast.

And so we met there

and it was big screams and hugs

and, you know, "At last we meet," sort of thing.

And while we were hugging, Russell said to me,

"Would you like to come back?"

And I said, "Yes, of course I'd like to come back!"

And he said, "Well, that's good because you're coming back."

And now that Carole Ann is back,

how does today's TARDIS compare with her own?

There's no comparison.

I could almost put my arms around

the console of the TARDIS that we were in.

I certainly can't do that with the one we've got here.

Ours was maybe ten steps across.

You'd have to take about a thousand steps, I think,

to go up and around

to get across to the other side of this. I mean,

this is like a universe all of its own. It's stunning.

It's amazing. And I feel very honoured to be here.

It's extraordinary.

Right, everyone. Here we go. Bit of focus, please.

Tighter on Rylan.

Welcome to...

Music fade out. Steady on 26.

Every multi-camera event,

be it Eurovision, a Premier League match or the news,

has a broadcast gallery with multiple screens.

And cue confetti cannon.

This broadcast gallery is the control room

for every image beamed to the 3 trillion viewers

tuning in to the Interstellar Song Contest.

But this is no ordinary set-up,

and these are no ordinary camera feeds.

Time to go behind the screens behind the scenes.

I mean, this is a TV gallery set,

and there are close to 16 screens,

all of which we've had to make content for

to make it look like a real-life gallery. So, yeah,

that's what's been really unusual about this episode,

that we've had to move heaven and earth to get everything

ready to go on these screens,

because it's not just we need one video -

we need upwards of 20 videos ready,

all playing at once on screen in the background.

The majority of the footage on the screens,

including the shots of Rylan and Sabine, aren't live.

They were shot ten days previously

with a full cast and crew.

So in some cases we need 12 angles

of scenes that we shot with Rylan and Sabine,

and it's just meant that we've had to be really on top of

getting the coverage we need and then handing it over

to our amazing colleagues at Painting Practice,

led by Erica McEwan,

who's just done all of this and turned it into a realistic

futuristic TV gallery. It's crazy.

So, often, you have a lot of... You have graphics and cameras.

It's quite a normal thing, but to be able to get footage

that we've shot within the same shooting block

into camera is really unusual, and it takes a huge amount of

military precision coordination,

and it's been really hard.

But to have this many pieces, and multi-camera as well,

it's quite a miracle that we actually got it all.

It's mad. Yeah. Like, we're looking at stuff here

that we shot less than a week ago in some cases,

and it's here in multi-camera form,

and it's just so convincing. And it's just

those extra lengths that you can go to

to make the set feel real,

to make the actors feel more immersed.

And crucially, it means that

we're not having to replace screens in the background,

which I think always looks a little bit fake.

Nobody move. This gallery is mine.

To be on set and it actually physically be there -

so much easier than having it all in your head all at once.

So, um, that's been an absolute delight.

On top of the footage,

Erica had to also create bespoke graphics,

music videos, and even Hellian-language feeds.

Then there was the small matter

of making sure the right image was on the right screen

at the right time.

These scenes in the gallery are being intercut with shots

of Rylan and Sabine on stage doing their thing.

So we need to make sure that whatever's going on

behind them on the screens, which we've already shot,

matches what we're going to be intercutting with.

If we're cutting into a scene

where Rylan and Sabine are already talking to the audience

we can't be showing a clip of Rylan walking up on stage,

because that's already happened

and the audience have already seen it.

And the same for the autocue.

The words have to be matching what they're doing

and what we're seeing Rylan and Sabine saying

when we're cutting in between, if that makes sense.

We're working with Ben, the director,

who obviously is all over what is happening in the episode

and the performances and what we're going to be seeing

at any one time, and working with Brad...

There's so many! Look at all the screens!

..our wonderful art director who is all over

the visuals and the set and props

and what we can see and not see at any given time.

Working with Erica from the visual effects team

who's making sure that the screens are all in order.

There are so many marvellous people

doing a marvellous job to keep things running.

It's not all just the continuity,

it's a group effort.

On the next episode of Doctor Who...

Many years ago, when Gallifrey was young,

the Doctor and the Time Lady had been terrible enemies.

They had fought over all sorts of irrelevant things.

But the Time Lady knew

they could be great friends.