Just what the Doctor ordered (Sunday Life)

http://cuttingsarchive.org/images/2/2d/2011-12-18_Sunday_Life.jpg

Publication: Sunday Life
Date: 2011-12-18
Author: Sarah Walker
Page:
Language: English

As Bill Bailey and Arabella Weir do their comic turn, Sarah Morgan gives us a sneak preview of the unusual costumes they're wearing in return for a part in the iconic Dr Who Christmas special

It's an unseasonably warm October day when the Doctor Who set flings opens its doors to journalists, providing a sneaky advance peek at its Christmas special.

Matt Smith, who's played the Doctor for two years now, is his usual hyper-enthusiastic livewire self-popping over between scenes to say hello and giving out enticing titbits about what we can expect in the Christmas Day episode.

"Last year, it felt like a Christmas romp in many ways," he says. "This year, well, I don't want to use the phrase fairytale because that gets used an awful lot and isn't quite right in this case, but there's a sort of slow-burning magic about the world in this story," he grins, and then he's off again before we can pin him down for more.

Not everyone is enjoying the sunshine, though. Guest stars Bill Bailey, Arabella Weir and Paul Bazely (the other famous faces appearing belong to Claire Skinner and Alexander Armstrong) look a little glum in their costumes, which involve wetsuits underneath what appear to be Cybermen helmets teamed with pieces of an old yellow skip.

"I hadn't thought of a skip until you said it, but now you have..." says Bailey when the likeness is pointed out to him. "Yeah, we're three space skips and we parade around a forest in a futuristic forest walker."

"We're not high end," adds Bazely. "We're sort of working for the council." Actually, the trio are intergalactic forestry commission workers or "space gardeners", as Bailey claims with a smile.

They enter the story when the Doctor, who's landed in Dorset during the Second World War, tries to give a widow and her two children the best Christmas ever by whisking them away to a magical land via a big blue present.

Unfortunately, they then discover the land is dominated by an enchanted forest where something evil lurks...

However, Bill and Arabella are keen to point out they're not evil - quite the opposite, in fact.

"We're not very frightening. When you first see us we look scary, but really we're more like The Three Stooges," explains Weir. "We don't really know what we're doing. We're kind rather than heroic."

"And if there are any stunts, it won't be me doing them," says Bailey. "When we did a night shoot, we had to go from the studio up to the location. It involved getting into a people carrier, and that was the most difficult thing of the whole night! I had o sort of roll in face down... we didn't look like an elite fighting force at that stage."

But despite being uncomfortable, all three are thrilled about being in Doctor Who. "My son's just the right age for it," says Bazely. "He's already told his friends at school and I've got kids coming up to me going, 'You're gonna be in Doctor Who'. It's then you realise what a huge thing it is."

Bailey adds: "I've watched Doctor Who for as long as I can remember. It's a cliche, but I really did hide behind the sofa from the Cybermen particularly. Because of them, I had an irrational fear of lift doors opening for years!

"But I'm a bit worried about talking to anybody about this episode. I'm worried I'm going to be rugby tackled to the ground at any moment by a BBC spy team, screaming, 'Don't tell them anything!"

Weir can boast that she's actually played the Time Lord. Back in the days when the series was off-air, she played an alternative version of the Doctor in an audio adventure.

"They asked me to do it as a woman. She came back as basically a shopworker from Sainsbury's, a comedy Doctor Who. She farted and burped a lot and it garnered the most complaints they've ever had!"

With that, the trio are whisked back to the set by a runner although Bailey, ever the joker, claims: "We're all going down to Yates's Wine Lodge now."

Weir chips in: "Yeah, we're doing All The Single Ladies on the karaoke, dressed like this!"

Now that really would brighten up Christmas Day.

Dr Who, Christmas Day, BBC1, 7pm

Caption: ANYONE CALL FOR A DOCTOR?: Matt Smith stars in the Christmas Day special

Caption: OUT OF THIS WORLD: Arabella Weir

Just what the Doctor ordered (Sunday Life)

Navigation menu

Page actions

Page actions

Personal tools

Navigation

Search

External links

Tools