Fans may be sad to see Jodie Whittaker leave Doctor Who, but they can rest assured she’s going out in blockbuster form as The Power of the Doctor has more visual effects shots than any other episode in the long-running sci-fi drama.
The upcoming special, which will also commemorate the 100th anniversary of the BBC, sees the Thirteeenth Doctor go up against three of her most bitter nemeses: The Master (Sacha Dhawan), the Daleks and the Cybermen.
Ahead of the episode’s grand premiere, which was recently confirmed for later this month, showrunner Chris Chibnall has opened up about the enormous scale of his final Doctor Who story.
“Every sequence is massive,” he began. “So even the pre-credits – which is the longest pre-credits we’ve ever done – is like a mini movie in itself. And this episode has more visual effects shots than any episode in Doctor Who history.
“It was a huge demand on the visual effects team. There is a lot of action, there are a lot of locations, there are a lot of monsters, there’s a lot of things exploding!”
Mandip Gill and John Bishop are returning for The Power of the Doctor as companions Yaz Khan and Dan Lewis, along with long absent classic Who characters Ace (Sophie Aldred) and Tegan (Janet Fielding).
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“Really from the get go it had to feel constantly on the move, constantly exciting and I think it does,” continued Chibnall.
“It was a lot of work and a lot of brilliant directing by Jamie Magnus Stone, who really is such an incredible talent and has such an ability to corral both of the emotions and the action and the scares and the humour. I think he’s done an extraordinary job.”
Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer with episodes of the classic series also available on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial here.
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