Outgoing Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker has praised the cast and crew of the sci-fi drama for pulling together as they took on the challenge of filming amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Production on the final full series featuring the 13th Doctor was hit with a substantial delay as the health crisis took hold, making it all the more special when the team was able to reunite many months later.
Of course, things were far from normal on the set of Doctor Who: Flux, as safety measures designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 meant that socialising had to be kept to a minimum.
Nevertheless, in an interview with RadioTimes.com, Whittaker assured us that there was a good atmosphere on set, with everyone feeling “lucky” to be working during that difficult time.
“Being on set was the most precious thing in the world because we started shooting at a time where there wasn’t a lot of productions running, but we were lucky that we hadn’t shut down,” she said. “We just postponed shooting by a few months.
“So by the time we got up and running, we’d all spent a long time apart. We’d not seen each other for nearly a year and in that time a lot of people’s lives were very different because of it.”
The production setback was a contributing factor to Doctor Who series 13 being shorter than usual, clocking in at six episodes rather than the usual 11.
Whittaker added: “So in itself, the whole series felt different… because it was my last but also because of COVID, it felt like this very precious cylinder, that everybody had these vital components to keeping this thing together.
“But you just really went in it with love and care for each other to make sure that this was going to be safe and fun because it had been taken away from us all for so long.”
There’s no word yet on who will be taking over the TARDIS following Whittaker’s final appearances next year, but we do know that Russell T Davies will be back to craft the next era of the sci-fi saga.
Additional reporting by Huw Fullerton.
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