With all of time and space to explore,
what keeps bringing the Doctor back to America?
Is it the scenery?
Is it the locals?
Who the hell are you? Sir.
I just walked into the highest security office
in the United States, parked a big, blue box on the rug.
You think you can just shoot me?
Hello, sweetie.
Or is it just that he's always sure of a warm welcome.
Doctor! Don't worry.
Everything is completely under control.
♪ Dr. Who Specials 2x05 ♪ Doctor Who in the US Original Air Date on September 29, 2012
== sync, corrected by elderman ==
The Doctor himself is such an iconic figure.
One of the reasons
we're sending him to America more often these days
is he cuts such a different figure against that backdrop.
Great locations.
Great potential for great stories out there.
When I look at the stuff we've done there -- Utah, New York.
You can point a camera anywhere in New York,
and it looks kind of sexy.
I don't know! We're in New York!
The world looks to America
for its sort of cultural life these days,
so I guess it makes sense that you want to tell
some "Doctor Who" stories from there, as well.
When the Doctor always comes back to the U.S.,
there's always that element of what's going to happen.
It's something completely different.
I think it's just -- it's got a real epic feel to it
which really matches the kind of --
the scale and the ambition of the program.
We are in the U.S. of A.
In most Sci-Fi, America is the hub of --
you know, hub of where things are happening.
You know, a spaceship always seems to be parked over America.
What's the city called? New New York.
Oh, come on. It is!
It's the city of New New York.
Strictly speaking,
it's the 15th New York since the original.
So that makes it new new new new new...
new new new new new new new new New York.
I think. I hope I got that right.
Yes, the idea of being, that in all the --
in all the planets that human beings will colonize
throughout future years,
and each one will become a new Earth
and each one of those new Earths will have a New York.
We're arriving on new Earth, which is the Gower.
The Gower peninsula near Swansea.
And it's blowing a gale.
We were supposed to be here slightly earlier in the summer,
and various shooting schedule things
meant that we're a bit late, so it's a little bit
more wintry than intended,
but once the computer people have fiddled about with it,
it's going to look extraordinary.
I'm told.
I think the Doctor took Rose
to new new new new new new new new new new new new New York --
there's not the right many of "news" in there --
because, number one, if you're going to impress a girl,
you take her to New York City, because although
it's one of the busiest cities in the world,
it's also one of the most romantic,
with the beautiful skyline.
I'll never get used to this, never.
Different ground beneath my feet.
Different sky.
Can I just say,
traveling with you, I love it.
It's just impressive to see that cityscape that was done.
I mean, it looks beautiful.
And for series seven, the 11th Doctor
went back to the original New York to do battle
with one of his greatest enemies.
With the weeping Angels in town,
there's another reason why the city that never sleeps
doesn't close its eyes.
There's something with the weeping Angels and New York,
and I don't know why,
that just made me think that's a good fit.
I believe the weeping Angels would infest New York
in their terrible and vengeful way.
I specified in the script that we use this whole area
and we use that fountain, and I specified
that there was little cherubs on it.
What I hadn't noticed was there's a whole weeping Angel
standing right on top of it.
So it is wonderful to have this opportunity
to vilify one of New York's finest landmarks
by saying it's actually
an evil aggressor from outer space.
The weeping Angels are back, and it is terrifying.
And it's dark, and it's how you want
a New York episode of "Doctor Who" to be.
It's really exciting,
'cause the weeping Angels are my favorite monster.
And it's one of my favorite cities,
so, I think, to have them here,
particularly in the time that they're in,
is -- I don't know -- thrilling, really.
And I think they're going to be even more scary
with this sort of mad, gothic city around them.
So, in one of America's busiest cities,
did filming "Doctor Who" in New York's Central Park
go unnoticed?
Okay.
Well!
Apparently not.
Ahh!
Filming in Central Park is something
that I don't think any of us would ever forget.
There were hundreds of fans following us around.
And it was mind-boggling.
It was sort of amazing,
'cause we got to do it kind of guerilla style.
'Cause, usually, "Doctor Who" is big sets and everything,
but we got to just take a couple of cameras,
get out into the park, sort of bop around.
When you hear us yell, "cut," please no more screaming either,
'cause we don't like screaming. It makes us nervous.
Bye!
We're going this way.
We did not expect this to happen in New York.
It's really odd.
I can't quite get my head round it.
Yeah, and there's a girl over there
with a TARDIS phone cover!
Every time we go to America,
we are always surprised
with the response from American fans
and just surprised at how big it is getting over there.
Thank you very much.
Hey, guys, make a hole!
We're coming right through here! Make a hole, guys!
As the days went on,
just hundreds and hundreds of people
just turned up to watch us film.
It's incredible just to be filming here
in the first place, and little did we expect
that there are massive crowds of people all around,
which is amazing.
So we've been having the best time ever.
Just running around New York,
shooting in all these iconic locations.
Central Park just looks amazing on camera.
Ooh, can I see the cover?
No, no, I'm busy.
It's your hair.
Is it your hair? Oh, shut up. It's the glasses.
I'm wearing reading glasses now, see?
On my nose. There you go.
I don't like them.
They make your eyes look all liney.
Oh, no, actually, sorry.
They're fine. Carry on.
Okay, I'm going to go get some more coffee.
Who wants more coffee? Me, too -- I'll get 'em.
Rory, do my eyes have noticeable lines now?
If I could film every episode
of "Doctor Who" in New York, I would.
If it was up to me,
we would film the whole thing in New York City.
Beware the Yowza.
Do not, at this point, yowz.
Doctor, what did the skinny guy say?
He said,
"I just went to get coffees for the Doctor and Amy.
Hello, River."
Hello, Dad.
Where am I?
How the hell did I get here?
I haven't the faintest idea.
But you'll probably want to put your hands up.
Good to see you.
Are you having a nice time?
They turned up just to see people
kind of getting out of cars and things.
We weren't really filming at that point.
But it was very nice that they turned up.
You know, they were very chatty.
We went out and we just made sure that they were all quiet
and Matt gave a very rousing speech.
Firstly, thank you for being so patient,
and thank you for coming.
But I think we better go round and do this scene,
so they've asked me to ask if, when we're doing the scene,
you could be quiet so they can get the sound.
And I said I would ask you.
"Doctor Who" is going from strength to strength in America
in ways that have outdistanced our attempts to keep up with it.
I'm really quite surprised.
It used to be that "Doctor Who" was that cult show,
then it was that British import.
Now "Doctor Who" in America is just "Doctor Who."
I love you so much!
Hey!
Me, Karen, and Arthur
now have this sort of affinity with the city.
We just totally, totally love it.
Good evening. Hope we're not interrupting.
Jack Harkness.
I've been hearing all about you on the way over.
If we're talking about America,
we have to talk about Captain Jack,
because Captain Jack was the first American character
introduced to the new "Doctor Who."
Excellent bottom.
I say, old man, th--
there's a time and a place.
The wonderful thing about bringing Captain Jack
into the Doctor's universe is he is a proper
dashing, gung-ho, womanizing, manizing, shrub-izing soldier.
We should really be off.
Sorry, old man.
I got to go meet a girl.
But you've got an excellent bottom, too.
The difference between the Doctor and Jack,
the Doctor would never carry a gun.
The Doctor, you know, uses the sonic screwdriver.
The Doctor will resort to violence at the last resort.
So for him to have this American,
you know, gunslinger with him --
you know, Jack's answer to everything is to pull out
the gun and just shoot them between the eyes or kill them,
that's it.
I hate to use the term and to quote a President,
but "you're either with us or against us."
That's Jack's philosophy.
We ended up casting, of course -- thank goodness --
the brilliant John Barrowman.
And we listened to his range of accents.
He could do it in his own Scots accent,
which, unaccountably, I rather liked.
He could do it in his perfectly perfect English accent.
Or he could do it in his sort of adopted American accent.
And somehow, that part just came alive
with John Barrowman being American as Captain Jack.
Yes, he has an American accent
which, I guess, gives him a sort of
international feel as a character.
He's, uh --
but we never really learn
where he comes from or why he speaks the way he does.
Wh-wh-what are you taking your clothes off for?
I'm going in.
Well, by the looks of it, I'd say the stet radiation
doesn't affect clothing, only flesh.
Oh, well, I look good though.
Part of the joy of Captain Jack
is that there's --
he's sort of without origin.
We don't quite know
where he's come from or where, indeed, he's going.
But whether he's actually come from America,
whether he's just picked this accent up
somewhere on his travels
is a question you can ask of John Barrowman
just as much as you can ask of Captain Jack himself.
For myself, as the actor,
you know, thinking about where Jack had come from,
all I knew about it,
and all that Steven and Russell had written
and had told me was that he was a con artist
and he was a time agent.
And he has traveled through time
doing things for himself to find out where he came from.
So, to be honest with you,
the history of Jack was not known.
Little did we know it was yet to be created.
During his visits to America,
the Doctor has met some interesting characters
in some very iconic places.
Now, if we go back
and jump back to William Hartnell's time,
he appeared on the Empire State building for a brief moment.
The Empire State building featured
in "Doctor Who" in the story called "The Chase."
Which is quite an odd story.
It seems to just be an excuse
for the production team at the time
to visit lots of locations in a hurry.
And then, at one point,
the TARDIS lands on top of the Empire State building.
So the Doctor did have some history there.
Hot diggity, I knew I was right!
You should be wearing a police uniform.
He then goes back in the TARDIS, disappears,
the Daleks then come out, and they meet this guy,
who is a, you know, a hillbilly or a tourist,
you want to call him, from the United States,
and it happens to be Peter Purves.
Say, you sure are an ugly-looking friend.
Do I played Morton Dill,
who was a genuine hillybilly visiting New York.
You come all over in blue spots.
Where I probably had the most execrable Alabaman accent,
but I played it for all it was worth.
It really was quite fun.
I know you're there somewhere about.
The idea that they could recreate this
all in one week was perhaps slightly ambitious.
I think it works quite successfully,
from what I remember.
But you know, I think overambition has always been
"Doctor Who's" great curse and great virtue.
Why not create the Empire State building
in the corner of a tiny studio somewhere?
That's real clever how they done that.
The United Nations have issued an edict
asking the citizens of the world not to panic.
The newsreader Trinity Wells, I mean, you know
whenever you see her that it's a global catastrophe.
The President is said to be furious
that Great Britain has taken unilateral action.
Trinity Wells...
appeared in more "Doctor Who" episodes
than just about anyone else.
So far there has been no explanation
of the 26 planets which have appeared in the sky.
It's a very simple narrative device, I suppose,
that works extremely well, that you have an American newsreader,
so, suddenly, you feel like this news is all over the world.
The military are on the lookout for more spaceships.
Until then, all flights
in North American airspace have been grounded.
Of course, it's filmed in a small booth in Cardiff.
She's always there when things are at their absolute worst.
It's midnight here in New York.
The United Nations has gathered.
England has provided them
with absolute proof
that the massive weapons of destruction do exist.
And she reports it...
with a sort of, you know, "It's okay, planet."
You know, "This is what's happening.
We will watch this situation, but carefully."
And not everything is fine.
There's no known connection to the Doctor,
but why it's always her, I think,
is a really interesting question.
We are warning anyone and everyone --
stay away from the cars.
Repeat, stay away from your cars.
Let's see, over the years, Trinity has commented on --
I can't -- let's see how many I can remember.
There's the Atmos. I remember the Atmos cars.
With the freeways blocked by Atmos cars,
populations of major cities
are now walking across open country to escape the fumes.
It is being likened to a biblical plague.
Some are calling this the End of Days.
There was the Slitheens.
That was my first one.
The council is voting.
The results should be known any second now.
The development of the character then went
to getting the call to do Sarah Jane.
The President has walked out
of the White House and is apparently holding hands with
the wife of the Prime Minister.
Then I got a call to do Torchwood, which was like,
"Oh, wow, so cool!"
'Cause that's the really grown-up one.
The children of America are saying:
two three four, zero zero zero zero.
I do believe there is something kind of unanswered, really,
in exactly why that character is there
and why she pops up when she does.
I wouldn't be surprised if, at some point in the future,
there's more to that character.
But that is not a hint. That's just a guess.
Because she's always there when things are going really bad.
Maybe she's the cause of these things.
I don't know, but she's always there, regardless.
In the Doctor's adventures,
there is one adversary that he has fought
across time and space and continues to do battle with
across the whole of America.
The Empire State building must be completed in time.
This human is our best option.
"Daleks in Manhattan," which, as a title,
does exactly what it says on the tin.
You're dealing with New York City,
one of the most iconic cities in the United States.
You're also dealing with a building,
the Empire State building,
which is one of the most iconic buildings.
The design of the Daleks from 2005
had a slightly art deco kind of feel to them,
which somehow suggested the Empire State building.
Yaaaaah!
What is the attraction with Daleks
and the Empire State building?
'Cause they've been there before.
What keeps bringing them back?
You know, is it a tower that can produce and send signals?
Is it something that can receive signals?
Is it a giant spaceship?
Is it a rocket? Who knows?
You know, all that art deco architecture
in design in Manhattan,
it fits with the Daleks somehow.
The army awakes.
There was a kind of inevitability, perhaps,
that we had to see those Daleks in the Empire State building.
I didn't get to go to New York.
I stayed filming in Cardiff, in Wales,
uh, where it rains a lot.
I spent a lot of time in Cardiff filming "Doctor Who."
I'm very fond of it.
But the idea that we might get to go to New York for a bit
and do some filming was very appealing.
We were going to set up Whooverville in Central Park,
and we were going to film in the Empire State building.
Of course, we didn't, inevitably.
I think about three or four people were sent to New York.
Sorry, sorry.
Can I just point out our lovely producer Phil
and our director James
and our special effects man Dave
all got a nice weekend in Manhattan.
We are in a car park in Penarth Leisure Centre.
Draw your own conclusions.
I'm ashamed.
And a local dog just wee'd on the TARDIS.
So it wasn't quite the trip to New York
that we were hoping for.
It was more of a virtual trip to New York
for the actual actors involved.
It's real, it's now!
Come on, you. Where shall we go first?
I think our detour just got longer.
Stop there.
Aah!
From the top of the Empire State building in Manhattan
to deep underground in Utah, the Doctor has traveled
nationwide to take on the Daleks.
In "Doctor Who's" first year back in 2005,
there was an episode set in America.
Again, it wasn't filmed in America.
It was filmed in Cardiff again.
In fact, in the bowels of the Millennium Stadium.
There were a few episodes filmed
in the bowels of Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
But then, I suppose one mad man's underground base
looks very much like another mad man's underground base,
it turns out.
Away! Away!
It was set in Utah
in the far-flung future of 2012,
which seems rather funny now.
And that was --
that reintroduced the Daleks, of course.
Doctor?
Impossible.
The Doctor?
Exterminate! Exterminate!
Let me out!
Exterminate!
Sir, it's going to kill him! It's talking.
You are an enemy of the Daleks!
You must be destroyed!
That was in America, although very underground in America.
You didn't see a lot of America in that one.
And it was another Dalek episode that led the Doctor
to one of America's most famous addresses.
That all men are created equal.
Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln!
That just what I asked for! The Gettysburg Address!
The Doctor acquires an incredibly useful bit of kit
called the Time-Space Visualiser,
which can see any event in history.
You can dial up anything and eavesdrop on it.
For instance, you could dial up the Gettysburg Address
and see Lincoln and actually go and visit it,
which is exactly what the Doctor and his companions did.
So conceived and so dedicated,
can long endure.
We cannot hallow this ground.
Doctor, can I have a go? Can I, can I, please?
Yes, yes, yes, now, all in good time, my dear.
All in good time.
There's something vaguely
sort of unintentionally educational there
in that it'll focus on a moment in history and sort of,
uh, you're just expected to kind of catch up on it.
And I'm sure many children have been sent
scurrying to history books or, these days, to Google.
During his time in America, the Doctor has visited
more than just one famous presidential address.
I mean, obviously, we're not going to go
and film in the White House.
It's impossible. We'd just --
you know, Obama wouldn't have it, I'm sure.
I mean, Obama, if you're watching, if you ever want
to invite us to the White House, we would love to come.
But the Oval Office was a perfect replica.
The designers are so good on "Doctor Who."
And the art department making everything look so real.
When we walked into that Oval Office set,
it felt like we were really there.
It just felt so, so surreal.
Apparently, they did it all to the right dimensions
and had everything in the right place.
Yes!
Look at this!
What a set!
You know, you've got a guy there with Nixon's face on,
so it was, you know, utterly surreal,
but brilliant, and it really felt like we were there.
And then you walk outside and you're in rainy Cardiff,
so it was a very, very odd thing to do.
Yeah, what a great set.
Doctor, you have to give me more than this.
I didn't have any more than this.
What were doing to Apollo 11?
I played George Bush, I played Eisenhower,
but I've never actually been in my own Oval Office,
so here I am now finally.
And it's absolutely beautiful. Beautiful.
Oh, look, this is the Oval Office.
I was looking for the...
Uh, oblong room.
I-I-I'll just be off then.
Shall I?
One of the things I really, really
want to do this year was to make sure
there's a huge visual contrast between each show.
And it suddenly occurred to me we hadn't done a Western
for years, not since the 1960s,
when they attempted it in a black-and-white studio.
And I just thought, can we do a "Doctor Who" Western?
You could fake New York. We can do that.
You can do that with a few actors,
but you can't fake that vista, those distant mountains,
that heat simmer, that light.
We can't pretend.
So, for absolute, maximum authenticity
with this most iconic moment in American history
and a landmark in their culture,
we decided to go to Spain.
Despite the fact that Matt Smith's legs
were clearly designed to be fitted round a horse,
he is the least probable replacement
for Clint Eastwood in an action-packed western.
So I was just thrilled to put him into a western town.
That's not right.
And just before I go into the saloon
in the scene, I said, "Can I have a toothpick?"
'Cause I wanted to look like a, you know, cowboy.
And then I thought, well, you know, as always with the Doctor,
you've got to sort of flip and reinvent whatever it is.
Tea, but the strong stuff.
Leave the bag in.
There's a little bit of business
that Matt does with a toothpick,
which he chews wrongly and it gets stuck in his mouth,
which sums up perfectly why he's not a western hero,
yet the Doctor would always believe that he is.
What you doing here, son?
Son? Ha!
You can stay.
In that episode, the Doctor gets to play at being a cowboy,
and of course, it's sort of a silly cowboy.
It's not a very good cowboy,
but he sort of puts his hands in his trousers
and wears a Stetson and all that,
but he's kind of just a bit silly with it.
Action.
Can I borrow your horse?
Official marshal business.
He's called Joshua. From the Bible.
It means "the deliverer."
No, he isn't. What?
I speak horse. He's called Susan.
And he wants you to respect his life choices.
It's a village, it's a town.
It's a proper western town
with a saloon and a bank and everything.
You know, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly was filmed there,
and it's got so much of a film history to it,
but there was no imagination needed to film there.
I've got a phobia of horses.
Karen, just stroke it.
I've never stroked a horse before.
I don't really want to face my --
they can smell fear though, right?
Don't be frightened.
She just hates you.
Oh! Oh, my God!
Can you ride?
Me? I-I'm scared of horses.
He's friendly. He's lovely.
Do you touch them there?
God, I'm doing it, like in the films.
Isn't that great? We could feed him an apple.
Do you want to feed him an apple? No.
And action!
There's a great scene
where the Doctor's frog-marched Kahler-Jex
to leave the town.
You wouldn't.
I genuinely don't know.
Doctor?
And Amy quite strongly disagrees with what he's doing,
so pulls a gun on him.
Let him come back, Doctor.
Or what? You won't shoot me, Amy.
How do you know? Maybe I've changed.
I mean, you've clearly been taking
stupid lessons since I saw you last!
I didn't mean to do that.
Everyone who isn't an American,
drop your gun.
It's brilliant.
I think it is the way Karen would wield a gun,
just by flailing it around,
as if she kind of just made of --
made of spaghetti.
But it was a really fun scene to film.
It's always good, 'cause, you know,
you've got loads of people there dressed as cowboys,
and you're in the middle of it.
But I think Karen was really funny in that scene.
Excuse me, can I --
I told you to just hold it. Don't talk to me.
I'm sorry, madam.
God!
Let's go.
Keep up, keep up.
One of the oddest moments for, I think,
any "Doctor Who" viewer --
okay, sorry, guys, girls. This is it.
You have William Hartnell, who goes to the O.K. Corral,
to be taken care of by the dentist,
who happens to be a gunslinger himself, right.
But then what happens?
You've got Peter Purves, the character of Steven,
and all of them end up going off
and having a big kind of sing-along around a piano,
and it's the weirdest thing
that ever goes on in the world of "Doctor Who."
"The gunfighters" is --
it's certainly not typical of "Doctor Who" stories.
It's a bit of a musical.
♪ The girls come to Tombstone in their high silk hose ♪
Well, the very fact that there's a lot of British actors
playing Americans,
with varying success, has to be said.
Not just yet, Doc.
We haven't had our little talk about brother Rubin,
the late brother Rubin.
This was one of the wonderful things
about the early "Doctor Whos"
was that there was a serendipity about it,
because you never knew where the TARDIS would end up.
Anyway, we ended up in Tombstone.
I dress rather --
and say rather like Roy Rogers or Gene Autry, had to sing.
♪ It's your last chance of boozing ♪
♪ when there's no one to mind ♪
The director, Rex Tucker,
cast it wonderfully.
The cowboys were fantastic.
And his filmic style,
in a very small studio in Ealing,
he created Tombstone.
♪ It's your last chance of rye ♪
♪ it's your last chance of living ♪
What's going on here?
But I think it's been rejudged over the years
and found to be rather a favorite.
One of the things that makes America an exciting location
for "Doctor Who" is that it's just so very good-looking.
What is the most iconic thing that says
you're definitely in America,
we absolutely have flown out there?
So we went for, you know, the valley of the Gods,
and it just gave it such scale, such size,
such cinematic grandeur.
Howdy.
A/B common marker.
It's an extraordinary, expansive, wonderful
piece of land, piece of the world,
and I think it gave the episode such great scope.
Yeah, thank you.
We cut anyway, and then we...
First shot of the day.
Yeah, it was basically just running for my life,
desperate woman, girl.
Suspect directly ahead.
Coming to you now, over.
It's the altitude, which is why I'm out of breath.
So that's why.
It's not me being unfit at all.
We were just really excited to be in a helicopter to film it.
And I didn't get to see -- actually, it was quite nice.
I had a lie-in that morning, and Karen was
running around the desert being chased by a helicopter.
It was one of those things where we were just like,
that means we're basically filming a big movie.
What's brilliant about it is it really gives it
the scale of the place, you know, how vast it is.
It goes on like that for miles.
Dear Arthur had to -- he got to go
and film in the dam there up in Utah,
and, I mean, it looks like he's sort of run out
in a James Bond movie or something.
It wouldn't surprise me if James Bond's been filmed there,
or some great big movie has, because it -- again,
as a sort of piece of manmade structure,
it's sort of -- it's just incredible.
Action!
Action.
They got a bit edgy about me running around,
'cause I wanted to look like I was really knackered
and really, you know, really tired,
so obviously I'm running up and down,
and every time I got towards the edge to kind of --
to look over, could feel everyone there who
had responsibility for us, all the grown-ups,
as we call them, just kind of tensing up
and being like, "You don't have to hit it so hard over there."
Tell Arthur to give us a good
four-beats look over the edge, but he shouldn't
throw himself against the wall.
It doesn't matter at this distance.
There was no chance of me falling off it.
There was a small chance of me falling off it, but, you know,
I'm sure someone would have tried to catch me
if I had have gone.
But it was really -- you know, I didn't want to go over there.
It was really high and actually pretty scary.
America has played an important part
in the Doctor's life, so it's maybe
not surprising where the Doctor came to die.
We filmed the Doctor dying, which actually
turned out to be the Doctor as a teselecta dying.
So I'm going to get my arms back, I'll look at you,
and I'm going to go, gvvvvv, vroom.
Okay, exactly.
Action.
Doctor!
Amy! Stay back!
The Doctor said stay back!
Doctor!
I'm sorry.
It's just a bunch of us
kind of talking and really getting, you know,
getting into real character stuff.
Oh, my God, he died.
It's not possible.
There's all the adventure side of the stories,
but at the heart
of that story is these four characters,
and when we see the Doctor die, it was such a huge --
such a huge event within the story.
Doctor!
Well done. Good, cut there. Cut.
And I think everyone
was on really good form.
It was great to be able to film that in America.
Yeah, it's wonderful, I've got to say.
It's, uh...you know, we've got these
wonderful locations.
This place is -- I mean, you know,
you've seen it for yourselves.
It's just devastatingly vast
and epic.
And that's when I close my eyes,
exactly. But this is where we lose it.
Exactly. At that point there, it becomes a different story.
Yeah. Yeah.
So there's this, you know, huge secret running
throughout the whole series about his death,
but we didn't know how that resolved until very,
very late on in filming.
So when they were filming the scenes
with the Doctor and the astronaut,
we had no idea what they were saying
and weren't allowed to know.
You get used to it, though.
It's like, "Oh, this is all the secret stuff
they're filming. Okay, fine.
I'll ignore that. Otherwise, it'll just
eat me up and I'll want to know about it."
Day three. In America.
It's pretty cold. Missing the good stuff right here.
Oh, dear.
So... How's it going out there, Matt?
It's day three in Amer--
we've already done that.
I know, I felt a bit left out.
Oh, come in.
Come, get in this shot, you.
Why are you in sun-- it isn't hot, Arthur.
I'm trying to pretend it's hot.
Yeah. He's got sensitive eyes, apparently.
Arthur went in the water today.
That was pretty cold. It is so cold here.
And the burning of the boat was just brilliant.
We filmed there about
4:00 in the morning.
I mean, the light in Utah is incredible.
It was like the sort of dawning of --
like being on Mars or something.
I mean, it was freezing cold,
and poor Arthur had to get in the water.
Everyone was like, "oh, are you all right
in the cold of the water?"
And I think I might have milked it slightly,
but I just couldn't wait to get in.
It was great.
We had to do it at sunrise to make it look like sunset,
so we got there really early in the morning.
It served us brilliantly in the episode
and gives the ep such expanse
and scale and style.
Just having the image of that burning boat
and sending it out there
is just -- it was great to film.
Another great moment in the world of "Doctor Who"
was the first time that "Doctor Who" went to Comic-Con.
If the world was a little more like Comic-Con,
the world would be a better place,
because there's a lack of cynicism there
which is just about celebration.
Hello! Hello!
The only time I actually got to
physically go to America for "Doctor Who" was --
I'd already finished filming
and I went to Comic-Con in San Diego
in 2009.
And it was the only time David
was actually in the states,
to something to do with "Doctor Who,"
and he was stuck in a hotel room and a convention center!
He didn't get to go do anything!
It was really quite overwhelming.
It took us a little by surprise, I think.
As someone involved in the show and someone who's
a great fan of the show as well, you want to sort of --
it was fun to go over there and proselytize
a bit about it and see its reach growing.
Hi, David! Hi!
You're all very lovely people, aren't you?
I was so -- I didn't realize there was going to be seats.
I was going to do stage-diving.
Now, I was there with "Torchwood"
because we were there for the first time,
but also I was there
because I was being put into some elements
of the "Doctor Who" world, because Captain Jack
obviously flips and crosses over from both worlds.
The full plan of the day, you're going to see
someone else that I'm going to ask
my lovely friend to stay for that.
John Barrowman, ladies and gentlemen.
And we were all there on the panel
and we came on and the crowd just went nuts.
Aw, isn't that cute? I'd kiss him, but, no.
And we talked for a little bit
and then they started shouting stuff,
and I looked at David and David looked at me
and we just laid the biggest smackerooney
on each others' lips,
and the crowd went nuts.
I've slightly got all flustered, I really have.
I've been waiting for that for years.
Thanks, David.
It wasn't John and David kissing,
it was the Doctor and Jack kissing.
It was a little bit of John and David,
and it was really, really good,
and I hope David thought it was good, too.
For the American launch of series five of "Doctor Who,"
some of the cast traveled stateside
and were surprised by the warm welcome
they received.
First press trip me, Karen, and Steven made to New York
is probably one of the greatest experiences of my life.
I mean, I fell in love with New York.
Where are we, Karen? We're in NYC.
NYC, baby, New York City. Just, you know,
casually walking down an NYC street.
And we're about to go into The New York Times
and talk to them about "Doctor Who."
It's the best show in England, we want to make it
the best show in America, and look who it is!
It's Steven Moffat. Oh, no!
Hi, Steven!
It feels like seconds, it really does.
So, Matt and Karen went out to New York without me,
which was nice.
New York is amazing.
And it's just exciting
to bring the show here, because it's brilliant
and we've got a brilliant first episode
and we want people to get into it like they should.
And, look, man, the grates and stuff, the fire --
I just -- I just look back to that day on the beach,
our very first day filming, and look where we are now,
and all of this stuff has happened in between,
and it's just --
it seemed impossible, really.
Yeah, it felt like it never actually would sort of
come to this, if you know what I mean.
We had no idea that the fans would respond
as vocally as they did and be in such numbers as they were.
There's a queue.
Yeah, apparently there's a queue right round the block,
which is really exciting, 'cause we weren't sure
is this is it? How people were -- oh, God.
Karen, Karen, Matt! Karen!
We've been standing here all morning!
It just blew my mind.
There's people waiting all night.
Is that a first, Matt?
That's my first head, yeah, yeah.
I did like a signing in an Apple store.
You know what? I have to say,
we've all been overwhelmed,
and I'm not just saying this.
I know it sounds like a kind of political, "hey!"
But, like, we've been overwhelmed by
the welcome that we've had in New York.
You guys are great. You clap all the time.
It's cool.
I know!
We need to get some of this in England,
I'll tell ya.
It was surprising
to know that they were coming to New York,
but very gratifying, because it's --
to me, it's just as much a sign that Doctor Who is
a success here as it is overseas.
And now he's on the sides of buses in New York. It's wild.
Yeah, it's -- you can't escape him,
and he's made tweed fashionable, which makes me very happy.
And bow ties are very hip.
I see it in Chelsea.
I couldn't -- well, but --
I'm not going to go there.
It was amazing.
It was something I'll never forget.
With all of time and space to explore,
it seems the Doctor can't help but keep
returning to America.
America is --
it's where so many of our stories come from,
so much of our sort of cultural life comes from,
that it would be weird if we didn't
take the Doctor there now and again.
It's just a beautiful country
to film in, and I think
there's so many stories to tell there.
The scenery,
the locals,
and a very warm welcome looks likely to
keep him coming back in the future...
Or even the past.
== sync, corrected by elderman ==