Box of Delights

Ultimate DVD, Nov. 2005

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Publication: Ultimate DVD
Date: Nov. 2005
Author: Paul Spragg
Page: 26
Language: English

DVD producer Paul Vanezis talks us through the box set's extras

PAUL VANEZIS, one of the team putting together the box set of the new series of beginning of this was to come up with some short proposals of what I felt should be in the DVDs. My first proposal went in September 2003, then it sat on a shelf for a year while the series got underway. And it all changed because Doctor Who Confidential was made."

Doctor Who Confidential was the 13-part documentary series that directly followed the show on digital channel BBC Three, looking at various aspects of the programme's past while going behind the scenes on the new series. While the Confidential team's presence meant the DVD makers didn't wind up on set, it worked out just fine in the end.

"There was an arrangement where there would be Confidential material available for the DVD, so there's a disc full of Confidential material, which leaves four discs for the episodes and the other bits and pieces that I've been putting together." And what else? "5.1 soundtracks and DVD commentaries, audio description for all the episodes and all of the Trailers that were used on BBC1. That's been difficult, pulling everything in from the different departments, but everyone's been fantastic co-operating because everyone's a Doctor Who fan. We've run out of room to get everything on, which is a slight shame but that's just the way things are. You can't be absolutely definitive unless you've got the space and there is limited space.

"I don't think it has to be definitive, what it has to be is really, really informative and it's got to be entertaining. So you've got the entertainment element from the Confidential material and the gritty behind-the-scenes footage and then you've got slightly more considered features like behind-the-scenes of the destruction of Big Ben, building the destruction of Big Ben, how they planned the explosives they were going to use for the Nestene lair for Rose, plus the filming of the barrage balloon sequence for episode nine. And then we've got a couple of writing features, and video diaries of course; the 'on set with Billie Piper' video diary - great fun and not a bad camerawoman, I don't think. She's obviously having a lot of fun with it, and the same with Russell [T Davies, executive producer], of course. He and [executive producer] Julie Gardner did a little video diary of the first few weeks of filming."

And then there are the Commentaries. "In an ideal world, you want the director or producer, or both, the writer, the lead actors and at least one guest artist. Chris [Eccleston] wasn't free for any of the dates that we gave him, and Billie was very difficult to pin down for the two episodes that we did get her for; as soon as she finished doing the recording in Cardiff, she was straight off to rehearsals. Russell wanted to do all 13 but he's only been able to do two.

"I'm particularly pleased that a lot comes out of it. If I sit there and I'm not really entertained there's always the danger that if it's not working you have to stop it, have a bit of a chat with people, saying, 'We should be taking it down this path'. I haven't had to do that at all, on any of them. Everyone has been really relishing the opportunity to talk about what a great experience it's been making the series.

"It's been a great experience for me to listen to their stories and I'm hoping it's gonna be the same for the people that buy the DVD. I'm entertained by it and of course I'm a huge fan of the series. But I'm hoping that those casual buyers of the disc are gonna listen to it and say, 'Yes, I can't wait for series two'. That's what we want."

Caption: Piper on the monitor

Caption: Billie Piper contributes a video diary and two commentaries to the box set, but Christopher Eccleston couldn't make the dates

Unquiet Thoughts

A LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN movie, a second series of Nighty Night, the live Quatermass Experiment, the drama Funland... it's been a busy year for Mark Gatiss. Yet his personal highlight must be writing an episode of Doctor Who - The Unquiet Dead - and contributing to the DVD box set...

What have you contributed to the box set?

I did a Commentary with Simon Callow and [director] Euros Lyn, and I did a Video Diary... it was great. I thought at first that they weren't going to do any extras, but obviously they're just quite canny about how they sell these things. As ever, I'm absolutely thrilled to be a part of Doctor Who. It's still vaguely unreal, I have to say.

The Guardian described your episode as 'the best family entertainment on TV ever'. How did you feel about that?

I have actually had a gravestone prepared with that on it. I couldn't believe it to be honest - it was amazing. 'That'll do me,' I thought.

Did you watch the rest of the season?

Yes, absolutely. One of the nice things about writing a script so early in that season was that they stopped sending me scripts for later episodes, so the last quarter of the season was new to me. I watched it as a fan and I loved that I didn't want to have all the surprises spoiled.

I was in bits by the end - it was fantastic. The impact of the final episode was such that it seemed that Christopher Eccleston had been doing it for three years - that beautiful farewell message to Rose, and where he lies to her and runs out of the TARDIS. It was just brilliant, and I just can't wait for the new series.

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