Doctor Who team say filming season 1's "apocalyptic" finale was an "emotional ride every day"
May. 15, 2024Exclusive | Showrunner Russell T Davies and his cast tease that we won’t be prepared for this season’s conclusion
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The new season ofDoctor Whomay haveonly just started, but the show’s team are already warning fans that they need to start emotionally preparing themselves for the upcoming finale.
Little is known about the double bill conclusion whichconsists of episodes ‘The Legend of Ruby Sunday’ and ‘Empire of Death’,but those titles alone are ominous. And as showrunner Russell T Davies tellsSFX magazinein the new issue, which features Doctor Who on the cover, it’s going to be “apocalyptic”.
It seems then that we will have to get the tissues ready, with actor Millie Gibson, who plays companion Ruby Sunday, adding that they were needed on the shoot too, saying “it was an emotional ride every day”.
Co-star Ncuti Gatwa, who portrays the Fifteenth Doctor agrees, also teasing that the season 1 climax will see his Time Lord confront the best villain he’s ever battled, saying: “Every day you had to give every single part of yourself to it. You had to rip your soul out. It’s like the darkest of scenarios. Also, what was hard about that was that we were facing, of course, the greatest monster I’ve ever, ever, ever faced in my life and it was operated by little green men [laughs loud]. It was a lot of energy of, ‘I have to be terrified by this thing’ and I’m trying not to laugh!”
It looks like you can expect to laugh during the double bill finale too, despite how dark the story is. Davies promises that there is also plenty of humor there, also adding that one of the reasons he came back to Doctor Who after several years was to write an ending just like the one coming up, which is something he has been thinking about for years.
As he concludes: “Despite the most intense story in history, it does have Ncuti on a Vespa with Bonnie Langford – don’t tell me there’s no jokes in it, that is absolutely hilarious! I do love a season finale. One of the reasons I came back to Doctor Who was the chance to write those great big two-parters, you don’t get the chance to be that epic in any other show. And don’t forget, I think about Doctor Who all day long, soI’ve had ideas swirling around for decades. At least 40 years! There are very clear links to stories from the 1980s in what’s coming up. Their time has come!”
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The new season of Doctor Who airs weekly on BBC iPlayer and BBC one in the UK, while you can find it onDisneyPlus internationally. The above is just a snippet from our interview, available inthe latest issue of SFX magazine, which features Doctor Who on the cover and is available from Wednesday, May 15. See what you should be looking out for on newsstands below…
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As Entertainment Editor at GamesRadar, I oversee all the online content for Total Film and SFX magazine. Previously I’ve worked for the BBC, Zavvi, UNILAD, Yahoo, Digital Spy and more.
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