Doctor Who – Meet The Crew

As Doctor Who fans, we’re abnormally knowledgeable about the background efforts that go into getting our favourite telly show to the screen. Most of us could pass a pub quiz that posed the question, “Who directed The Horror of Fang Rock?” or “Who designed the Daleks?” We know the names of producers, script editors, writers and production designers, but look at the end credits for the show now and there are near on 100 names there, amid a dizzying array of mystifying job titles. What do they all do? What is a ‘post-production supervisor’? What does being a production secretary entail? What are your responsibilities as ‘prop master’? So, for a change, we’re shunning the director, ignoring the writer and cold-shouldering the producer – this is the chance for the **other** people to have their say…

One thing that unifies everyone working on Doctor Who, whether you’re the top dog (hello Steven) or the lowliest tea boy, is that your day starts early. Really early. “You never truly get used to your alarm going off at 5.30am – and sometimes earlier! – and you try and not smash the thing,” says James DeHavilland, who joined Doctor Who as 2nd Assistant Director on David Tennant’s valedictory run of specials in 2009. It’s his job, he says, “to type up the callsheet, book the background, give the cast their call times and get them to and from costume and make-up and set.”

Luckily for James, home is comfortably close to Doctor Who’s Roath Lock base, and so he can rock into work by 6am.

“We’re on camera at 7.30am so once the cast are on set I spend my day typing the next day’s call sheet, which is basically a bible for the cast and crew of that day’s work,” he says. “Also I’ll be booking supporting artists or reading the next block’s scripts and breaking them down. We wrap at 7.30pm and then as soon as we see the cast off we’re gone.”

Dark morning starts and long days are a cruel reality in the world of television. For Sandra Cosfeld, Doctor Who’s Production Secretary, a normal working day begins at 7am, though sometimes night shoots can mean saying ciao to your regular sleeping patterns.

“When we’re filming at night, that means splitting the team and one of us may have to sit in the office till 5am, just in case the crew needs anything,” she says. “On a normal day, though, we get in around 7am, make sure no emergency has landed in our inbox overnight and then get on with the everyday tasks. We issue scripts when new ones come in (they’re all watermarked individually, so each copy has to be printed and emailed out one at a time!), organise travel for our cast, book additional crew and so on. There are so many tasks, even a 12-hour working day often isn’t long enough.”

Being a Production Secretary involves a lot of organisational skill, it seems.

“Basically, we issue the scripts, schedules and callsheets and we organise accommodation and transport, set up meetings, liaise with cast and agents, and we try to make sure each department knows what’s happening,” she says. “We also make sure that all our records and paperwork are up to date and available at all times – this is the exciting stuff you never get to hear about in the DVD commentaries! But someone’s got to file all those risk assessments, compile the daily progress reports and keep records of everything that happens on the show.”

For Standby Art Director Christina Tom, a typical shooting day is a punishing 11 and a half hours long, and starts, generally, at around 7.30am. Her job is to be in charge of the sets and props that the Art Department have prepared for that day’s filming.

“I have to make sure we have all the props ready for that day,” she says, “watch the monitor whilst filming, dress things and keep an eye on continuity. I would usually get a few weeks prep, which would involve extensively breaking down the scripts and making lists of the props that are needed for that episode.”

Working alongside Christina is Prop Master (gotta love his title) Paul Smith.

“I can be office based, or dressing the various locations and studio sets,” Paul tells us. “I might have to make basic props or I might have to turn up at 6.00am to set the TARDIS up on a beach or on a hillside!

“There’s never a typical day on Doctor Who,” he continues. “Usually I get to work around 6am and if we are in the studio I will have checked the callsheet the night before for any changes. My crew normally get in between 6.30 and 7am and I’ll go through jobs with my chargehand, Kyle.

“I’ll go onto the set at 7am to check that the Art Director and Standbys have everything they need for that day’s filming, and to check if there are any additional requirements. In an average day, Like most jobs, there are a lot of phone calls and texts. I probably get more texts in an average day than a teenager does! If we are going out to the location the next day I would be loading lorries with the dressing props required for that day. These could be anything from aeroplane parts to a 19th century boat, or dressing for a spaceship or the TARDIS.”

For Adam Knopf, a typical day kicks off earlier than anybody else. It’s his responsibility to, he says, “oversee the day-to-day running of the shoot making sure that all elements required to shoot are in place on time.

“I’m in before the Unit Call to make sure that if any problems arise with a location or equipment they are solved or a solution actioned as soon as possible,” he tells us. “I’ll then split my time between the set and the mobile production office where I’ll be planning the next few weeks in advance. I’ll be working alongside the various departments, in particular the locations team and 2nd Assistant Director to look at the upcoming days and the logistics of those days. I’ll check in with all the departments during the course of the day and fill them in on any plans to make sure that it all makes sense and is the best course of action.”

When filming for that day is done, the footage is given over to the show’s editor. Long-time fan (“I saw the first episode go out live in 1963 and loved it from day one!”) Will Oswald has been working his editing magic on Doctor Who since 42 in 2007 and it’s his job to patch the episode together.

“Scene by scene I watch the rushes, reread the scene and any notes the script supervisor has passed on,” says Will, “and the most important of these is the director's ‘selected takes’ – this tells me what performance to try and match take to take, angle to angle. Sometimes something will zing out of the rushes and give you an idea of how to construct the scene, other times it is a matter of retro-engineering the director’s vision. It seems strange to outsiders but you virtually never have an in-depth discussion of how a scene should be constructed with anybody: it's the editor’s job to build the cut absorbing the scripted intention and the director's envisioning of that script.

“An episode of Doctor Who takes on average 13 days to shoot and about 15 days to lock,” he says. “Day by day the scenes build up, and weekly there is a playout for the showrunner, execs etc. If there are concerns about cover or performance or anything else these will be addressed and if pickups are needed these are scheduled.”

Oswald nabbed the Who gig after working with director Graeme Harper on BBC One’s Robin Hood reboot. He’d been working on Casualty and various other BBC Wales productions before his fortuitous meeting with Harper. Impressed with his editing skills, the Who director hired Will to cut together Chris Chibnall’s 42.

“When Steven Moffat came in as the new showrunner liked my work and I've ended up working all the way through including on this, his last series,” he says. “I’ve also had the chance to work on Sherlock. I'm a lucky man.”

For Sandra Cosfeld, Doctor Who came calling after a stint working in factual TV.

“I always knew I wanted to work in drama,” she says. “Then one day I saw an ad for expenses-only work experience on a drama production in Wales, so I put my job in factual on hold and went for it. That placement led to my first paid work as the office runner on The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe and I’ve slowly worked my way up to my current job.”

James De Havilland says it was always his ambition to work in TV. After studying at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design, he volunteered for work experience on such shows as That’s Life, Watchdog and The Crystal Maze, before getting a job with BBC Experience organising tours of TV Centre. After EastEnders producer (and former Doctor Who director) Matthew Robinson gave a talk during one of the tours the two stayed in touch which led to DeHavilland being offered the job of Runner on the long-running BBC soap. And then, in 2004, he landed a job on Doctor Who.

“They were doing night shoots for Rose and Aliens Of London in South London and I was a Daily 3rd on that,” he says. “I was working on EastEnders during the day and then at night, I’d go down to South London for the night shoots and then I went back to Elstree!”

Doctor Who’s backstage crew encompasses all kind of ages and backgrounds. Some of the people here grew up with the old show while others weren’t even born when Survival was transmitted. And one, Prop Master Paul Smith is one of the very few production people to have worked on the show in its previous, pre-2005 incarnation.

“My first experience of working on Doctor Who was setting the scenery and dressing the props for Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor,” he reveals. Nowadays however, the experience is a whole lot different to what he was used to in the late 1980s.

“Doctor Who is unlike any filming job I have done before,” he says. “I’ve worked on Waking the Dead, Silent Witness, EastEnders and Casualty and my crew on Doctor Who is twice as big as other jobs I’ve done in the past!”

“Doctor Who is like a family,” adds Adam Knopf. “We are together for ten months of the year and a lot of the same faces return each series. This leads to a great shorthand between crew. There are also various elements that come with Doctor Who as it’s an established brand that you wouldn't necessarily have on new or smaller shows. We have publicity and interactive/online teams as well as a loyal fan base that follow the progress of the shoot closely… sometimes in obscure and isolated locations!”

“There is no other show I’ve worked on like Doctor Who,” says James. “It’s one of a kind. All shows can be busy and high pressured, but with Doctor Who we’re making a completely new drama with new sets and new cast more or less every two weeks. One week we’re in space and then two weeks later in Victorian times. The high turnover of guest cast and locations always keep things feeling new.”

Other drama shows, as loved as Doctor Who, don’t seem to inspire the same lust for spoilers. With some fans and story-hungry tabloids all craning their necks to get a sneak peek at some future episode, Doctor Who has to protect itself more than most of its drama stablemates. Because of that, Doctor Who has been amazingly lucky with some big-league plots twists – whether it be Tom Baker’s turn in The Day of the Doctor or Jenna Coleman’s unexpected appearance in Asylum of the Daleks or Davros turning up in The Magician's Apprentice. And a major reason why these secrets never leaked is because 100 or so people didn’t squeal.

“We all sign a confidentiality agreement when we start,” reveals Christina, “so my family and friends are used to me not being able to talk directly about what I’m doing!”

“I learnt from my days on EastEnders about keeping secrets,” says James. “My friends knew never to bother asking me what was going to happen because I would never give anything away. So it’s the same on Doctor Who – I just keep my mouth shut. I remember before Peter Capaldi was cast, I was at the Doctor Who Prom event with Matt Smith in 2013 and we were chatting in his dressing room and somehow we got our wires crossed and he was about to tell me who the new Doctor was. I quickly stopped him as I didn’t want to know because I didn’t want to keep something that big a secret!”

“We try to keep as much of it under wraps as possible so that it's a surprise to the audience when they watch the show,” says Adam. “This even includes special confidential waste as people have looked through our bins in the past to get a callsheet!”

Of course, when Doctor Who heads out on location, keeping things secret becomes an awful lot harder.

“During Matt’s first year,” says James, “in Victory of The Daleks, we had Churchill as a character and so we put his name sign up on his trailer door at unit base. Overnight somebody got to our Unit Base and took a photo of the door sign and the next day it was all over the internet that Churchill was in it. And I was a bit gutted and felt responsible that I’d let that secret out. Ever since then we now use numbers instead of names on door signs. Each character has a number so people won’t know who’s featured.”

So, with the long hours, the impossible deadlines and, hell, the fact that you can’t even reveal its secrets to your loved ones, what is the appeal of working in TV?

“Beats me,” laughs Will. “But what other job could I have where I go into work and it makes me laugh or choke up or just entertain me?”

“It has it ups and downs,” says Christina. “Long hours, night shoots in the middle of winter and things having to be done last minute – but it’s extremely rewarding being part of diverse and creative teams, with an end result that you know people are going to watch on TV! But it’s also about getting to create weird and wonderful things. There’s been many a day when I’ve gone home and thought I can’t believe that I got paid to do that today!”

“It’s really not as exciting and glamorous as people think,” says Sandra. “The hours are terrible, work can be hard and you never have time to see your friends and family anymore. Some of my cousins are real doctors. Compared to what they do, working in television seems really pathetic and unimportant. But I’ve been a geek my whole life, so I know how important shows like Doctor Who can be to some viewers and that they can make a real difference to people’s lives. Being part of that is petty special. And seeing your name in the credits is cool, too, even if I have to pause it to find my name.”

And for some working on Doctor Who, they’ve found themselves, to their surprise, at the receiving end of fan attention.

“Myself and the Assistant Directors appeared at the Doctor Who convention at Excel last year,” says James, “and the amount of people who came up to us after our shows for a photo and our autographs (we felt like frauds!). But what was great was the amount of thanks we got from the fans who watch the show. So many people thanking us for all our hard work – that was really, really nice to hear and very much appreciated!”

Despite the unique stresses of working in television, it’s still a job that when they’re asked, “What do you do for a living?” people’s ears prick up at the answer. Getting a job in the media is still a burning ambition for a great many teenagers. So what advice would our team give to a young person with a lust for the TV life?

“Firstly, never give up if that's what you really want to do,” says Paul Smith, who began his career by volunteering at his local theatre. “Whatever job you want, you have to put the effort in. Whether that's writing letters to a production company, doing work experience, finding out about productions starting up in your area. Whatever job you do you will start at the bottom. I think the hardest part is getting your foot in the door. Even if you are offered a job in a different department you want to work in, you will have you foot in the door, and that's where you will get your contacts.”

“Work experience placements are a brilliant way into the industry, but be mindful of exploitation,” adds Sandra. “Two-week work experience placements are great, but if a company you’ve never heard of offers you three months unpaid work with the promise that it might eventually lead to a paid job, think twice or try to get some advice from someone in the industry. Unfortunately there are plenty of people out there who try to take advantage of new starters!”

“It's a great industry to be in and it's also very hard work and challenging so a good sense of humour is a must,” says James. “Also a great deal of tact and patience can sometimes come in handy.”

And, it seems, the key to beginning a career in TV is training.

“There are some good courses and schemes out there to help people into the industry and it's always good to get as much experience as possible,” says Christina. “TV and film can be an extremely varied and rewarding industry to work in, so enjoy what you do!”

WE LOVE ROATH LOCK

“Roath Lock is great for me as I'm from Cardiff, so it’s always good to work near home. There’s a great range of programmes being made at Roath Lock – with Casualty, Pobol y Cwm, and the likes of Class or Wizards vs Aliens, alongside Doctor Who all under one roof. That means the canteen can be an interesting place, with aliens, car crash victims and supporting artistes dressed from the Victorian Era all lined up for lunch!”

Christina Tom

“It’s a great little community. It’s so nice sharing a building with other BBC productions and I

much prefer it to being the only production on site. It can create problems, of course, when

we have to fight for space, but most of the time we’re all able to help each other out. When

we need to borrow a prop or if I need some advice from another coordinator, I can just pop

through to the Casualty or Pobol y Cwm office and ask them.”

Sandra Cosfeld

“The location is perfect. Right in Cardiff Bay so it’s always nice to be near a bit of civilisation. At [previous studio] Upper Boat we were a little cut off. I remember the time when Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane were all being made at the same time there and we could have monsters and guest actors walking around without risk of being photographed or spoilers getting out. At Roath Lock that can be a little more tricky. Pobol and Casualty are also shot here so sometimes we have to keep our guest cast or monsters well away from the canteen in case they’re seen or photographed.

“The Doctor Who Experience is literally right next door. I took 18 months out from 2nding over the anniversary year and was the BBC Wales Event Manager for that time. I was in charge of the Royal visit to the studio and helped set up the TARDIS tours. So it’s nice (and sometimes surreal) when you walk past and see people all dressed up as Doctor Who characters and going in. And they have no idea I work on the show!”

James Dehaviland

“I love Roath Lock because it’s in Cardiff. Cardiff’s a fantastic city and extremely production friendly. Compared to London where you can commute for hours to and from work, Cardiff offers a vast array of landscapes and architecture all within 30 minutes of the studios. And we’re only five minutes from the city centre!”

Adam Knopf

WORKING WITH PETER CAPALDI

“Peter’s great to work with. The other ADs and me do call him the Doctor. I worked with him on Torchwood: Children of Earth and have been with him on all three series now. He’s great. Matt was great as well and David and Chris. And I’ve also worked with Tom, Paul, Sylvester, Colin, John Hurt and Peter Davison (I was the 1st Assistant Director on The Fiveish Doctors). That’s all the surviving Doctors isn’t it?”

James Dehaviland

“He’s such a nice man, great with fans and very funny. I have some emails from him in my inbox that have made me laugh out loud. I’m pretty sure every department loves him, but purely from a production point of view we really couldn’t have found a nicer Doctor. I’m probably spoilt for the rest of my career now.”

Sandra Cosfeld

A brilliant actor. Always looking to bring something new to a scene. We are lucky to have consistently wonderful actors in the part and in the show in general. Oddly I cut a documentary series on British SF a few years back called The Martians and Us. He did the voice-over - this was long before either he or I were on the show.”

Will Oswald

“Peter is great to work with – hes very personable & friendly. He makes a great effort with his fans too - Whilst shooting in Spain recently there were huge crowds lined up to see him, and he spent hours after the days shoot to meet them & sign autographs.”

Christina Tom

Peter is brilliant with the crew in particular anybody new. Whenever we have work experience or additional runners in for a day he takes the time to introduce himself and ask their names etc. I am also always amazed how he remembers all those lines!

Adam Knopf