Filming in Spain/Finale Block Actress

According to a local news source in Granada Province in Andalucía, Spain, Guadix y Comarca en Elaccitano, a Doctor Who crew has been filming in the town of Aldeire.

El ayuntamiento de Aldeire (Aldeire Town Hall) put out a notice to residents on June 9. Here is my best translation:

It is reported that, during the next week, filming will take place in Aldeire. We hope that it will not be an inconvenience but any questions or doubts that arise should be addressed directly to the city council.
The filming will be outdoors and will only occur during next week.
The show is broadcast globally and is one of the most important British television shows. The name of the show is "Doctor Who" and they have chosen our city for the scenery. We encourage you to be tolerant of the filming which we believe will make Aldeire a key attraction for the province.
Best Regards

The cast and crew have been in nearby Guadix and La Calahorra in the same province as well. Some have visited Castillo de La Calahorra where other productions have filmed.

A spanish company that unclogs plumbing visited their filming base in Lacalahorra on June 13.


The head of the makeup department, Claire Pritchard-Jones, posted an Instagram photo which shows that the set is within view of Castillo de La Calahorra. She is married to the production designer, Arwel Jones, who is also at the location in Granada Province, according to one of her earlier Instagram posts.

Loving my brush buddy @mykitco #locationfilming #mua #hothothot #travels #keepthefliesaway xxx

A post shared by clairepritch (@clairepritch) on Jun 15, 2018 at 4:12am PDT

A fan managed to find the set on June 15. He was not allowed to take photos, meet the actors or come near the set. This is my translation of his report which can be found in the comments on the Facebook post below:

"We went to the set but they didn't let us in. We saw the Doctor behind some trees. They were filming a cart pulled by oxen. The Doctor was on the side, in costume."

The Papel Psiquico blog, with which I have been exchanging information, contains an account of filming and two photos of the TARDIS on location. I have translated as best as I can:

“Today, Friday, the crew were filming between the cities of La Calahorra and Alquife. Despite the fact that the crew did not allow him to get very close, he saw filming in a wood cabin and was able to recognize Jodie Whittaker dressed as the Doctor along with Ryan (Tosin Cole). He also spotted someone who looked like Graham (David Bradley, who was assumed to be in the UK). He also saw the actors board the wooden cart mentioned previously, which was pulled by a pair of oxen. He also said that the first day of filming was at a mountain near Aldeire.”

I can now confirm that Bradley Walsh, Mandip Gill and Tosin Cole were filming in Granada Province. They appear in this group photo at a party on June 15 celebrating Jodie Whittaker's birthday after the location filming had wrapped.

The end-of-Spain-filming fancy dress Thirteen party. Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole in second photo. #dwsr pic.twitter.com/WsTxhfpDKg

— Girly Letters (@GirlyLetters) June 16, 2018

I will continue to update this blog as I get more information and again with some information I am saving until I am certain they are finished filming in Granada Province this week. The production returned to Cardiff the following week.

I can now share the identity of an actress who was filming Doctor Who in Granada Province. She is Amita Suman.

#lifeexperience. Wish I could say more ;).

A post shared by amita suman (@amita_ks) on Jun 15, 2018 at 7:51am PDT

I don't think Suman's Spotlight CV or the CV on her agent's website will be updated any further until her casting is official so, for now, all that is showing is "UNTITLED BBC DRAMA". Undisclosed BBC drama would be more accurate.

Series 11, Episode 1 SPOILERS!

I have some more information about the Doctor Who filming at St. Mark's Church in Gabalfa on November 15. What follows is information about the kind of scene filmed. I've mentioned this scene before on Twitter but there is more information I didn't mention before at the end of this blog post. It involves a character's family.

First, some background about the filming that day.

The first report was of Jodie Whittaker present at the church on Facebook. It was first mistakenly reported as a wedding scene.



The schedule did not permit the Jodie Whittaker photo op with the students.

It was clear later that it was not for a wedding, but a funeral with a wicker coffin.

They carried out a coffin when packing up, it was like woven straw...

— Megan Dee (@m_dee215) November 17, 2017

It was well made and structured like a normal coffin

— Megan Dee (@m_dee215) November 17, 2017

A bit like this pic.twitter.com/h4maFuHDEY

— Megan Dee (@m_dee215) November 17, 2017

I can now give you more details about this funeral. SPOILERS FOLLOW! Highlight the black bars below for the spoiler text.

The funeral scene filmed at the church involved a moving speech by Bradley Walsh's character, Graham memorializing his son, David. The scene is believed to occur early in the episode.

Edit: Sunday October 7:

The scene filmed was obviously Grace's funeral.

I think, with so many people in the crew and the many extras hired to fill the church, Bradley Walsh spoke some altered dialogue for the filming which was later changed in ADR (additional dialogue recording) in post production. Specifically, "Dave" was change to "Grace" and "he" to "she". The beginning of the scene was filmed from a distance so there was no need to make the words match his lips so he probably said "son" when he filmed that scene, which was later changed to "wife".

This is interesting in and of itself and I will certainly keep this incident in mind when reporting on Series 12 filming.

May 11 Doctor Who Series 11 Character Shoot

Stills photographer Simon Ridgway was busy with a Series 11 character shoot at his new studio space at the Pinewood Wales studio complex on May 11.

All set up for some character portraits at Pinewood Wales. Nice to have a bit of space for a change :-) #cardiffphotographer #unitphotographer #specialsphotographer #pinewood #studiophotographer #filmstills #productionstills

A post shared by Simon Ridgway (@simonridgwayphoto) on May 11, 2018 at 4:03am PDT

I know this shoot was for Doctor Who because he said as much in his blog here and here.

I realize there isn't much to see here but it tells us two things; Simon Ridgway remains the stills photographer for Doctor Who, and a character shoot occured on May 11 with an unspecified prop crucial to the shoot.

I'm sure we all look forward to seeing the official photos of the characters along with the "crucial" prop once they are released.

Exclusive: Doctor Who News and Merchandise at the Licensing Expo

The Thirteenth Doctor is on the cover of The Bugg Report, a publication released in conjunction with the expo. Unfortunately the publication does not impart any new information about Series 11.

This is what I've been able to find so far for Doctor Who merchandise at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. I hope to have more news soon.

There is a new line with an attractive coat, a handbag and some jewelry featuring Gallifreyan symbols and, most importantly, stars. I hoped there'd be stars!

BBC Dr. Who at licensing expo #travel

A post shared by Anne Toole (@tisamely) on May 22, 2018 at 11:02am PDT

Do the stars look familiar? They should! There are stars on the Thirteenth Doctor's earring.

This is the highest resolution image I could glean from the PocketMags version of #DoctorWho Magazine of Thirteen's earring. You can now see the delineation of the fingers in the gold hand. #JodieWhittaker pic.twitter.com/C6osFJQNis

— Girly Letters (@GirlyLetters) January 11, 2018

The simplified rendition of the thirteenth Doctor's earring for comics shows only four stars. The number of stars on her upper ear seems not to matter. Note the lighter color at the (fingertips?) of one of the (shaking hands?). A gem of some kind? pic.twitter.com/4bY9FXIBsf

— Girly Letters (@GirlyLetters) May 6, 2018

It appears I was fortunate to find what little I did about BBC Studios' presence at the Licencing Expo. While other booths featured pieces of television sets, puppets, a live cat, and people dressed in character costumes including Power Rangers, a Velociraptor, Godzilla, etc., BBC Studios quietly offered space featuring several of their programs for convention goers to explore. I'm told there are two Doctor costumes in the far right of the second photo in this tweet.

Bbc booth pic.twitter.com/zRIskPS4la

— Floyd Lu (@FloydmoneyL) May 22, 2018

ITV posted a video of an accelerated walk-through of the convention which briefly included the BBC Studios booth.

It’s a busy first day here at #licensingexpo2018! Pop by stand L204 to chat to us about our licensing and merchandising opportunities. @licensingexpo pic.twitter.com/fvUrBRufZa

— ITV Studios (@itvstudios) May 22, 2018

Here is a screenshot of the video which shows the outside of the BBC Studios booth with a poster of the thirteenth Doctor.

So, with Doctor Who Series 11 premiering in October, it's too early for a huge thirteenth Doctor merchandising promotion.

Three Things I've Learned About Doctor Who Production from the BAFTAs

Jodie Whittaker and Bradley Walsh attended the television BAFTAs Sunday night, May 13. They were both interviewed by several media outlets. First, the filming is "midway through now," according to Jodie Whittaker at 1:28 in this BAFTA video.



Second, According to Lizo Lizo Mzimba at 0:25 in another Jodie Whittaker interview for the BBC, "We spoke to Bradley Walsh earlier. He said Chris Chibnall is giving it just a huge cinematic canvas."



Third, in a Reuters interview at 0:15, Jodie Whittaker said "I'll be probably regretting my night out tomorrow when I'm on set running about but yeah, it's really good." So production resumes today, Monday, May 14.

All the Doctor Who Series 11 Directors are Discovered

Thanks to @Ruther2 on Twitter, all the names of the directors of Doctor Who Series 11 can be named. They are Jamie Childs, Mark Tonderai, Sallie Aprahamian and Jennifer Perrott.

The director of the first filming block, Jamie Childs is the only director who was officially announced. Childs' involvement was first discovered by @Ruther2.

The director of the opening block is @jamierosschilds pic.twitter.com/YDUXqHZkFo

— Ruther (@Ruther2) October 26, 2017

Childs was then officially announced in Doctor Who Magazine. Childs also directed Jodie Whittaker's reveal which premiered on July 16. Childs directed Episodes 1 and 7.

More #RutherExclusive #DoctorWho s11 info: the opening block is episodes 1 & 7 @cultboxtv pic.twitter.com/BZXVJNsoTw

— Ruther (@Ruther2) October 27, 2017

From Doctor Who Magazine 519 Gallifrey Guardian:

"…Jamie Childs is the first director to be working on the 2018 series."

Then gradually, the other directors were discovered.  Mark Tonderai directed Block 2, Episodes, 2 and 3, which was filmed in part in South Africa."

It looks as though the director of block 2 (?currently filming in South Africa?) is Mark Tonderai https://t.co/xhGhvUecwW

— Ruther (@Ruther2) January 6, 2018

This year done 3 shows back to back 2 episodes at a time. This one kicked it all off. Can’t tell you much more but very excited for you to see my take...

A post shared by Mark tonderai (@marktonderai) on Aug 14, 2018 at 5:43am PDT

Sallie Aprahamian directed Block 3, Episodes 4 and 6.

#DoctorWho Block 3 will be directed by @SallieAp pic.twitter.com/aCRCK26qib

— Ruther (@Ruther2) December 23, 2017

Jennifer Perrott is currently directing Block 4, most likely Episodes 5 and 8.

#Rutherexclusive #DoctorWho news - Dunno if it's block 4 or 5 but it's good to know we have a new female director on Doctor Who: Jennifer Perrott https://t.co/2hVYcoQZOM

— Ruther (@Ruther2) May 8, 2018

Which would leave what is likely the the finale block to Jamie Childs, who will return to direct the final block, Block 5, likely Episodes 9 and 10.

It's block 4. Jamie Childs is back for block 5 pic.twitter.com/7PRDyQOuNi

— Ruther (@Ruther2) May 9, 2018

Chris Chibnall's Different Kind of Relationship with Doctor Who Magazine

I received the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, #525, via my digital subscription. I contains some interesting articles on scenes and characters cut from various episodes of Doctor Who.

What it doesn't contain is Production Notes or news of any kind regarding Series 11 production.

This is a significant departure from the type of news the magazine used to report on series production during the times when Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat were the showrunners.

The editor of Doctor Who Magazine, Marcus Hearn was interviewed by Doctor Who: Panel to Panel podcast, which became available on February 3. It seems he couldn't stress enough how important Doctor Who Magazine is to Chris Chibnall, Matt Strevens, the BBC and BBC Worldwide (now BBC Studios). Below are a few excerpts from the podcast I've transcribed. All of it is interesting but I've highlighted the parts where Hearn is emphasizing how important Doctor Who Magazine is to the people producing it.

“I had a long meeting with Chris [Chibnall] and Matt [Stevens], I think in September were it was clear to me that both Chris and Matt are very enthusiastic about the magazine, have a very detailed knowledge of the magazine’s history and I’m please to say that both Chris and Matt and all their colleges and our colleagues a BBC television and BCC Worldwide value the magazine very highly, which is lovely to know.”

“It is the official Magazine. One thing I was delighted about was that Chris and Matt and all their colleagues at the BBC do actually recognize that we have a role to play as the official magazine and actually helping them to promote the series. We have, I hope, inside information.”

“It’s probably too early in the game to actually say. ‘How is the magazine going to help, or to work alongside of colleagues at the BBC to promote the new series because, as I’m talking to you now, we’re only in very early February and so we’re some months away from that but we have had a number of conversations about how much they value the magazine and about how they’re going to be working with us to help to promote the series when that comes around. So yes, we’re talking to Chris and Matt, we’re talking to the cast of the new series. I haven’t been on set but my deputy editor Peter Ware and as well assistant Emily Cooke have been spending some time in Cardiff. I’m planning to go next week for the first time. And so we are gathering material for when the time comes for outright transmission.”

Since issue #521, published after Jodie Whittaker's Doctor appeared on Twice Upon a Time and featuring the thirteenth Doctor on the cover with the caption “Jodie Whittaker is the Doctor", there hasn't been any production news of note. In past series, the magazine provided the names of the directors and writers, information on what block was currently being filmed and the occasional name or two of some of the actors who would appear in the series. The absence of production news is a very different approach with the new showrunner.

I look forward to seeing the material gathered by the magazine staff once they are given the go-ahead to publish it. here is another quote from the podcast which gives you an idea of the Hearn percieves the magazine's directive.

“That we will be breaking news, I hope. We the time comes later this year when the new series begins but I don’t necessarily feel that’s our primary function. I don’t think, as Series 11 approaches, I would hope we get the opportunity to do that but I think people will look to Doctor Who Magazine more for a detailed and accurate representation of what’s actually happening. I think they will look to Doctor Who Magazine for a detailed and accurate representation of actually how the show is actually coming to the air. They’ll look to Doctor Who Magazine for an accurate and detailed representation of the people who are actually making the show because that’s the sort of thing we do on Doctor Who Magazine, we talk to the people, not just the actors, who are obviously terribly important, but we talk to the people who actually the writers, the directors, the behind-the-scenes people that maybe other magazines may not be interested in but that’s what we do on Doctor Who Magazine. I see Doctor Who Magazine not just as a source of accurate news of that sort buy also as a journal of record.”

Doctor Who Magazine is available at UK Newsstands Thursday, May 3. It is also available right now via a Kindle digital edition and on Pocketmags at 12:01 a.m., May 3.