Modern Series Episode 64:
The Beast Below
Far in the future, the population of Britain has fled an Earth ravaged
by solar flares. But while trying to help a young girl whose classmate
has gone missing, the Doctor and Amy discover that something about the
mammoth Starship UK is very wrong. The vessel moves even though
its engines are idle, holes in the floor divulge enormous tentacles, and
the sinister robotic Smilers punish the disobedient. The Doctor finds
himself assisted by an enigmatic female vigilante called Liz 10, while
Amy learns the truth at the heart of Starship UK... but it's a
truth that she can't bear to remember.
After writing The Time Of Angels / Flesh
And Stone, the fourth and fifth episodes of Season Thirty-One,
Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffat next turned his
attention to the year's second installment. In particular, he wanted
this episode to give Amy the opportunity to save the day, preventing the
Doctor from making an understandable but terrible mistake, and thereby
firmly establish herself as a worthy occupant of the TARDIS. Moffat was
also keen to emphasise a fairytale vision of Doctor Who
throughout the season. It would be this adventure that would embody that
philosophy most fully, landing the Doctor and Amy in the midst of a
fantastical, vaguely distorted and slightly sinister version of the real
world.
The script ultimately gained the title The Beast Below, and it
was paired with the following story, Mark Gatiss' Victory Of The Daleks, as the year's second
production block. Assigned to direct Block Two was Andrew Gunn; like the
other directors recruited for Season Thirty-One, he was new to Doctor
Who, and represented the production team's desire to refresh the
programme's visual presentation. Cast in the role of Liz 10 was Sophie
Okonedo, who had delivered a standout performance in the
critically-acclaimed 2004 film Hotel Rwanda. However, this was
not Okonedo's first brush with Doctor Who. In 2003, she had
provided the voice of companion Alison Cheney in the animated webcast
The Scream Of The Shalka, opposite Richard E Grant as a putative
Ninth Doctor. At the time, it was intended that The Scream Of The
Shalka would represent the official continuation of Doctor
Who -- a plan that was scuppered even before the webcast became
publicly available, as the programme's television revival was announced
that September.
The first scene shot for The Beast
Below was Ian McNeice's cameo as Winston Churchill
The early part of Gunn's recording schedule concentrated on material for
Victory Of The Daleks. Consequently, the
first scene he shot for The Beast Below was Ian McNeice's cameo
appearance as Winston Churchill, which served as a teaser for the
subsequent episode. It was recorded at the bunker of the Joint
Resilience Unit in Swansea on August 24th, 2009. Two weeks later, Gunn
resumed work on The Beast Below. On September 7th, material
involving the Doctor and Amy in the Star Whale's mouth was taped at ITV
Studios in Cardiff, alongside footage of Amy in the work tent and some
green screen shots. Doctor Who's regular studio facilities at
Upper Boat hosted the TARDIS scenes on the 8th. September 9th and 10th
were spent at the ruins of Neath Abbey, a twelfth-century complex in
Neath which posed as the Tower of London.
The key location for The Beast Below was the Johnsey Estates,
part of the Mamhilad Park Industrial Estate in Pontypool. On September
11th and 12th, scenes in the voting booth were recorded there. Material
in the adjacent waiting area was also taped on the first day, along with
footage of Morgan and the Poem Girl which would appear on monitors.
Further filming on the second day included the speech given by the
younger Liz 10, as well as Peter escorting the Doctor along a back
street.
After a day off on the Sunday, it was back to the Johnsey Estates on
September 14th. Work began in Mandy and Timmy's classroom, where two of
the pupils were played by Gunn's children, Iola and Olen. The team moved
on to the waiting area and the Vator, before the day concluded at the
Vator Junction. Cameras continued to roll at the latter on September
15th and 16th, but much of Gunn's focus was now on the mammoth London
Concourse set, which had taken two weeks to erect and was in use through
to the 18th. Nonetheless, some filming was still required in other parts
of Starship UK, including the alley with the tent on the 16th and
17th, and the waiting area on the 17th. A busy September 18th also
involved recording in the corridors where Liz 10 attacked the Smilers
and the Doctor studied the tentacle, in the Vator with Timmy, along the
gantry in the lower levels, and in the back street.
After the weekend, September 21st took cast and crew back to Upper Boat
for sequences in the Tower of London, the observation deck and the
overspill pipe, plus the floor of the Vator opening beneath Timmy. On
the 22nd, Gunn's team moved to the Orangery at Margam Country Park in
Margam, for material in Buckingham Palace. Lastly, a variety of inserts
were shot at Upper Boat on September 23rd. After the end of principal
photography, however, Moffat made a number of amendments to the script
for The Beast Below. Gunn's schedule did not permit him to
participate in the necessary reshoots, and so Doctor Who veteran
Euros Lyn -- who had most recently worked on The End Of Time, the final story to
feature David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor -- agreed to oversee the
additional material, all of which was recorded at Upper Boat.
On November 2nd, Lyn filmed an expanded opening TARDIS scene, with Amy
floating in space. It furthered the parallel between the new companion
and Wendy Darling, the heroine of JM Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan;
or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, who was able to fly to Never Never
Land thanks to an application of fairy dust. Alongside numerous inserts,
November 4th saw the recording of two major new sequences. In the
original script, the Doctor and Liz 10 didn't meet until the monarch
rescued him from the Smilers in the overspill pipe. Moffat had now come
to feel that the characters needed an earlier encounter, and so he added
a scene between them in the Stardrive corridor. Unfortunately, Okonedo
was unavailable, so Liz 10 was played by Pina Harrington on this
occasion. Moffat also wanted the Doctor and Amy to reflect on the
adventure in greater depth during its closing minutes, which inspired a
new sequence at the Starship UK window. More pick-up shots were
recorded on November 5th and 16th. In between, on the 12th, Lyn
remounted the new material in the Stardrive corridor, since Okonedo was
now able to work it into her schedule.
The Beast Below aired on April 10th, 2010. With coverage of
the Grand National horse racing competition dominating the afternoon
schedule on BBC One, Doctor Who was given a 6.15pm start time,
five minutes earlier than The Eleventh
Hour the week before. As it turned out, however, the equestrian
event overran slightly, pushing The Beast Below back to 6.20pm
after all.
- Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #26, 30th December 2010,
“The Beast Below” by Andrew Pixley, Panini Publishing
Ltd.
- Doctor Who: The Complete History #63, 2017, “Story 204:
The Beast Below”, edited by Mark Wright, Hachette Partworks
Ltd.
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Original Transmission
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Date |
10th Apr 2010 |
Time |
6.20pm |
Duration |
41'58" |
· BBC1 |
7.9m |
· BBCHD |
494k |
Appreciation |
86% |
Cast
The Doctor |
Matt Smith (bio) |
Amy Pond |
Karen Gillan (bio) |
Liz 10 |
Sophie Okonedo |
Hawthorne |
Terrence Hardiman |
Mandy |
Hannah Sharp |
Timmy |
Alfie Field |
Morgan |
Christopher Good |
Peter |
David Ajala |
Poem Girl |
Catrin Richards |
Winder |
Jonathan Battersby |
Voice of Smilers / Winder |
Chris Porter |
Churchill |
Ian McNeice (bio) |
Crew
Written by |
Steven Moffat (bio) |
Directed by |
Andrew Gunn (bio) |
Euros Lyn (bio) (uncredited) |
|
Produced by |
Peter Bennett |
1st Asst Director |
Steve Robinson |
2nd Asst Director |
James DeHaviland |
3rd Asst Director |
Heddi-Joy Taylor-Welch |
Runners |
Nicola Eynon Price |
Laura Jenkins |
Location Managers |
Gareth Skelding |
Paul Davies |
Unit Manager |
Rhys Griffiths |
Assistant Unit Manager |
Geraint Williams |
Production Manager |
Steffan Morris |
Production Co-ordinator |
Jess van Niekerk |
Production Management Asst |
Claire Thomas |
Production Runner |
Siân Warrilow |
Asst Production Accountant |
Carole Wakefield |
Script Editor |
Brian Minchin |
Continuity |
Non Eleri Hughes |
Camera Operator |
Martin Stephens |
Focus Pullers |
Steve Rees |
Shirley Schumacher |
Grip |
John Robinson |
Camera Assistants |
Tom Hartley |
Jon Vidgen |
Boom Operator |
Dafydd Parry |
Sound Maintenance Engineer |
Jeff Welch |
Gaffer |
Mark Hutchings |
Best Boy |
Pete Chester |
Electricians |
Ben Griffiths |
Steve Slocombe |
Bob Milton |
Alan Tippetts |
Stunt Co-ordinator |
Crispin Layfield |
Supervising Art Director |
Stephen Nicholas |
Associate Designer |
James North |
Art Dept Co-ordinator |
Amy Pope |
Production Buyer |
Ben Morris |
Set Decorator |
Arwel Wyn Jones |
Props Buyer |
Catherine Samuel |
Standby Art Director |
Dafydd Shurmer |
Set Designer |
Ben Austin |
Storyboard Artist |
Rod Knipping |
Concept Artists |
Richard Shaun Williams |
Peter McKinstry |
Graphic Artist |
Jackson Pope |
Standby Props |
Phill Shellard |
Tom Evans |
Standby Carpenter |
Will Pope |
Standby Rigger |
Keith Freeman |
Standby Painter |
Ellen Woods |
Props Master |
Paul Aitken |
Props Chargehand |
Matt Wild |
Dressing Props |
Martin Broadbent |
Rhys Jones |
Props Makers |
Penny Howarth |
Nicholas Robatto |
Practical Electrician |
Albert James |
Construction Manager |
Matthew Hywel-Davies |
Construction Chargehand |
Scott Fisher |
Graphics |
BBC Wales Graphics |
Title Sequence |
FrameStore |
Costume Supervisor |
Lindsay Bonaccorsi |
Costume Assistants |
Sara Morgan |
Maria Franchi |
Make-Up Supervisor |
Pam Mullins |
Make-Up Artists |
Abi Brotherton |
Morag Smith |
Casting Associates |
Andy Brierley |
Alice Purser |
Assistant Editor |
Cat Gregory |
VFX Editor |
Ceres Doyle |
Post Prod. Supervisors |
Samantha Hall |
Chris Blatchford |
Post Prod. Co-ordinator |
Marie Brown |
Dubbing Mixer |
Tim Ricketts |
Supervising Sound Editor |
Paul McFadden |
Sound Effects Editor |
Paul Jefferies |
Foley Editor |
Helen Dickson |
Colourist |
Mick Vincent |
On-Line Conform |
Matthew Clarke |
Mark Bright |
With thanks to |
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales |
Original Theme Music |
Ron Grainer |
Casting Director |
Andy Pryor CDG |
Production Executive |
Julie Scott |
Production Accountant |
Ceri Tothill |
Sound Recordist |
Bryn Thomas |
Costume Designer |
Ray Holman |
Make-Up Designer |
Barbara Southcott |
Visual Effects |
The Mill |
Special Effects |
Real SFX |
Prosthetics |
Millennium FX |
Music |
Murray Gold |
Editor |
John Richards |
Additional Editing |
Mat Newman |
Production Designer |
Edward Thomas |
Director Of Photography |
Graham Frake |
Line Producer |
Patrick Schweitzer |
Executive Producers |
Steven Moffat (bio) |
Piers Wenger |
Beth Willis |
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