Five writers were announced in addition to Chris Chibnall. They are given primary credit for one episode each, though that does not necessarily discount a writers' room type collaboration over all ten episodes. They were each asked to describe their episodes in three words:
Malorie Blackman: heartfelt, thought-provoking, timely
Ed Hime: really rather spooky
Peter McTighe: creepy, fun, rollercoaster
Vinay Patel: educational, epic, emotional
Joy Wilkinson: dark, funny, squelchy
This is what was learned from the directors:
There was an outdoor scene filmed in Wales intentionally involving inclement weather in Episode 1, 7, 9 or 10.
A filming block involved scenes that went from "Baroque to the future".
The location filming of Episodes 4 and 6 occurred during quite a bit of rain, snow and mud. This might have something to do with writer Joy Wilkinson describing her episode as "squelchy".
Episode 5 or 8 contains a zany action sequence in an entirely digitally-created world.
The director's statements:
Jamie Childs, Episodes 1, 6, 7 & 10
"I love real locations, and I think they bring a lot of realism to any film, especially in sci fi when you want to ground the surreal in the real world. As we shoot mostly in and around Cardiff, one of the main concerns with any exterior location was always: will it rain? I have to say Wales never let me down. I don’t think I got bad weather once, apart from the one time I wanted a specific type of ‘bad’ weather and I got it. So I was very lucky overall.”
Mark Tonderai, Episodes 2 & 3
“It’s a movie a week in essence without regular standing sets. But I always think – as under pressure that I am – what about design or costume? Man, they are really under the gun. Sometimes they go from Baroque to the future in one block. But what’s great is that on Who I operated camera B, which meant the episodes I shot really are mine, you know? I shot it how I saw it. And our crew were wonderful human beings whose craft elevated everything I did.”
Sallie Aprahamian, Episodes 4 & 9
“The weather was not kind to us on one of the episodes – howling rain storms, snow, lots of mud and bright sunshine, sometimes within minutes of each other. The cast and crew were amazing, working on through with good humour and craft. That’s how Doctor Whomagic sometimes has to happen."
Jennifer Perrott, Episodes 5 and 8
“It was my turn to film just after the apocalyptic snow storms earlier this year, so I wasn’t hindered by arduous weather. The previous team lost filming time due to red-alert snow storms. I did have a zany action sequence in studio where we just had the actors, green screen and fans blowing their hair – the entire world around them will be created with VFX. I can’t wait to see what those geniuses at [effects house] DNEG create for that.”
