Trap Street Issue 3

script already had in place in several sections. There were some bits that changed quite a bit as a result, but I'm not sure what level of detail I can go into without approval as that references drafts that aren't in public sight, but I will include more information in my Churchill Fellowship report when completed. Interestingly, there's one element of the final CGI spiders that I'm curious to see if they got right. I'm not mentioning what it is until I see how it's been handled!

[Dallas: In a follow up I asked] Have you now seen the story and can you tell us the “one element of the final CGI spiders that I'm curious to see if they got right”?

Actually I haven’t. I’ve been almost constantly on the road with Sixteen Legs and other aspects of Bookend’s work since the episodes screened, and the only ones I’ve seen are those that have happened to be on when I’ve been in a hotel room or at home at the time of broadcast. The funny thing is that with prior seasons of Doctor Who, I would go out of my way to see them as soon as possible in order to avoid spoilers, but with this season – because I had seen scripts, line edits, rough cuts, etc – that urgency hasn’t been there, and nor has the time. I did make a concerted effort to see the New Year’s Day special on broadcast though, as I was keen to see how scenes I had watched being filmed came together in the final edit.

Do you know of any of the cast and crew who had arachnophobia?

Yes, quite a few to different degrees. Real SFX supervisor Danny Hargreaves in particular, much to my amusement.

Conversely were there any ‘fans’ of spiders in the cast / crew?

I don’t think there was anyone there that you could say loved spiders. There were some people who were ambivalent towards them, and / or fascinated by them, but at a distance.

Did Chris Chibnall make it clear about the ‘Green Death’ / ‘Planet of the Spiders’ parallels?

Not really beyond the obvious, but I think he was more after a large-scale B-movie horror feel than specific links to those stories. That's a creative element that's beyond what my input was about.

What is Chris Chibnall like as a person? He is obviously known as being a fan and having been in fandom. Were there any other people in the production team who were also fans?

Chris is an interesting and friendly character. He jokNiall with Real SFX supverisor ingly referred to me as the "Third Doctor to their Danny Hargreaves UNIT", at least until I pointed out how much trouble he had caused the Brigadier. He obviously loves the show and its history, and cares about putting together something that has a specific look, details and momentum in keeping with his vision of the show, just as every producer / showrunner brings that to their era. It was very deliberate on his part to have a different structure and visual approach to this series. As with all showrunners, he’s also got a lot on his plate, which isn’t just making the show, but also all the promotional management and corporate diplomacy that goes with that job – which is a real challenge to balance. There’s simply not enough time to deal with all the things being thrown in his direction - something I can fully sympathise with!

As for other members of the production team, well it’s a big production unit composed of lots of people. As a result it’s a mix of lots of different backgrounds with the show – people who grew up as fans of the classic series, people who became fans of the new series, people who have worked on the series for a long time and so love it from that side of the fence, and people who are there because it’s their current job. It would be fair to say they’re all fond of it, but for lots of different reasons.