At time of writing, he\u2019s now helmed eight episodes \u2013 including the upcoming centenary special, marking the departure of Jodie Whittaker\u2019s Thirteenth Doctor and showrunner Chris Chibnall \u2013 but it\u2019s safe to say his experiences making the serialised adventure Doctor Who<\/a>: Flux will be what linger longest in his mind.<\/p>\n As series 13 comes to DVD<\/a> we caught up with Jamie to look back on the challenges of Flux, the real Crimean War he battled in the mud and rain and reveal the biggest challenges he faced creating a world of Weeping Angels, Ravagers, Sontarans and multiple timelines.<\/p>\n Plus, we picked his brains for a few tidbits about Jodie Whittaker\u2019s upcoming regeneration episode. Spoiler alert: things get emotional.<\/p> Jamie, obviously you worked fairly extensively on series 12. Was it different coming back for series 13?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was really good coming back having had season 12 under my belt. I always find on any job that I spend ages with this slightly nervous, first-day-at-school feeling. It takes you a while to figure out everybody\u2019s strengths, and how to get decisions made quickly.<\/p>\n So it was really lovely coming back, and hitting the ground running in that respect. But also, it felt different because the plan from the start was to make it serialised, so that gave the whole endeavour a different flavour..<\/p>\n Obviously you also had the COVID of it all, which must have been a challenge. <\/strong><\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t really a party to what the original plan for the series was before it became what it is now. I did have a Zoom call a couple of months before we started with Chris and the producers \u2013 I think it was in that first wave, still, when productions were really figuring out whether they could actually go ahead or not.<\/p>\n We were really feeling our way through, and trying to figure out whether it was possible to do it. We decided that we would definitely throw ourselves in, and make it as best we possibly could, and there would be no overseas filming, but we would take that travel budget, and add a little bit more to the VFX budget and the set builds.<\/p>\n Did the serialisation play into that?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think part of the plan of the serialisation was actually that our set builds could be more ambitious. Quite often for a standard series of Doctor Who, you\u2019ve got the TARDIS as a standing set, but then every other set you\u2019re building, it gets put up, and used for one episode only, and then gets ripped down again.<\/p>\n So the plan was to be a bit more clever with reusing the standing sets like the Temple of Atropos. And that would help on the COVID front, to do more in the studio, because the hardest thing to do with COVID is to shoot interior locations.<\/p>\n It\u2019s one of these things where once we started filming, we had to learn some new rhythms. We shot it single-camera as opposed to multi-camera, which we usually do. There were a few things to get used to.<\/p>\n I think overall, as a production, we were quite lucky on the COVID front, in that we didn\u2019t get shut down. Which was fortuitous.<\/p>\n What was the hardest challenge that came with it?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think the hardest day, weirdly, was shooting in the Arctic Circle house in episode one, because I think that was the only sort of small interior location that we had to shoot in. And you had to do this human Tetris, because you couldn\u2019t have any more than four people or five people per room. And it\u2019s quite a small house full of small rooms.<\/p>\n In order to get a lens from outside \u2013 so, the camera \u2013 you had to do this weird Jenga of shuffling people around, to make sure that you never had more than however many people it was per room. It was all a bit of a headache. After that, we decided to build our interiors as much possible.<\/p>\n My absolute personal highlight of the series was Village of the Angels<\/a>, obviously an episode you directed. There are so many great sequences in that \u2013 what was your favourite to pull off?<\/strong><\/p>\n Ooh, I don\u2019t know. I really enjoyed doing the episode as a whole, because the script came in a little bit later than the other two, so we actually shot it on its own. Ordinarily we shoot multiple episodes at the same time, so you\u2019re keeping a lot of different plates spinning. But that one was really lovely, because it was self-contained, and we shot it all at the end of my shooting block, kind of as one piece, so you could really focus on it.<\/p>\n A personal favourite for me was this trick shot we did in the mirror with Claire. I\u2019d always wanted to do a shot with a fake hole in the wall instead of a mirror, and I really enjoyed the orchestration of that, and the little details. I\u2019m a big fan of old-school camera tricks when we have the time to plan them out. There was something really satisfying about getting that all choreographed, and it had a really spooky atmosphere to it.<\/p>\n The end sequence with Jodie turning to an angel was great as well. I mean, a huge credit to the VFX team at DNEG for pulling it off. It was a fiddly move to shoot, and it took lots and lots of takes to get. But we got there in the end.<\/p>\n What is the shot or scene you\u2019re most proud of from series 13?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think probably the stuff in the Crimea, because it was really difficult to shoot. I think we shot that in the November of 2020, and the elements were really against us. It was really difficult filming conditions. All of our equipment was soaked.<\/p>\n We have these E-Z UPs, that are basically like tents that are meant to keep your equipment dry. There were such high winds that we lost seven or eight of these tents. They just blew away, and ripped off our equipment. The stuff got soaked. A lot of technical problems.<\/p>\n It was really hard for the cast, because they were just getting soaked through the whole time. It was really difficult for hair and makeup to keep on top of the weather, and the winds. It felt like it was such a battle to get any shot in the can, across the Crimea.<\/p>\n And we did have a few little COVID curveballs as well, with people testing inconclusively, or a couple of positive cases. Which meant we had to shuffle things around, quite often at the last minute. So it was a bit like being in a battle, shooting all that stuff.<\/p>\n But I think, in the end, it worked well for the episode. I think there\u2019s a real kind of truth to the grit, and the mud, and the smoke, and the rain, and the sleet, and the texture that is there on screen. I think it served the tone of that story really well. And I guess I\u2019m proud of it because it was so miserable, and so difficult to shoot.<\/p>\n Were there any moments in series 13 where you planned to do things one way, and then had to do it another? Or did everything just kind of progress to plan?<\/strong><\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t say \u201cprogress to plan\u201d, because the plan had to be, as ever on Doctor Who, a sort of evolving, nebulous concept. We don\u2019t get all the scripts all at once, and sometimes we even get an individual script in pieces as we go. It\u2019s something that you have to get used to, building up a very malleable plan in stages, that you can execute bits of. You always have to be aware that it\u2019s probably going to change as you go.<\/p>\n That was even more true than usual this year because of COVID. There was a huge chunk that was meant to have filmed in Liverpool, and then Liverpool was hit really hard early on in the pandemic. And all those locations got pulled out. Some of them we relocated and we found Cardiff equivalents, and some of them had to be rewritten because they were around Liverpool landmarks.<\/p>\n But that kind of makes it exciting. I sometimes find that if there\u2019s a scene that\u2019s existed in the script for a very, very long time, and everyone really knows what they\u2019re doing with it, and I\u2019ve got it storyboarded and everything, sometimes it come out a bit flatter than some of the ones where you\u2019ve had to improvise. You know, the script has changed two days before, and you\u2019re in a location that you haven\u2019t recced. Sometimes those scenes are the most lively, and the most sparky when you get to the edit.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a kind of crackle and an electricity to making these discoveries as you go on the day, while you\u2019re rehearsing or while you\u2019re blocking where you have to kind of invent your way through things.<\/p>\n Whereas the stuff that I\u2019ve meticulously planned, sometimes it doesn\u2019t have the same kind of fizz that the more improvised can do.<\/p>\n Was there anything that surprised you by being either easier or harder than you expected?<\/strong><\/p>\n Ooh, that\u2019s a tricky one. I think early on, I found the prosthetics quite hard. There was Karvanista, and the Sontarans, and there\u2019s the Swarm, and the Ood.<\/p>\n I thought, \u201cOK, this is going to be nice and easy, because it\u2019s all there. You don\u2019t have to imagine that much. You can sort of see it.\u201d But there\u2019s definitely a knack to lighting prosthetics, and making them look real and fleshy. And practicality-wise as well, it\u2019s really tough on the performers underneath them. With the studio lights especially they start to sweat, and the prosthetics can slip off and fall, and then it gets harder and harder throughout the day to keep them on their faces.<\/p>\n It was a bit of a learning curve for me. I had to learn the hard way that I always need to shoot the prosthetics first, because if I don\u2019t they\u2019ll sweat and fall off. And then I\u2019ll end up having to reshoot it again months later, which happened a few times where I had to go back and reshoot the close-ups after the fact. So they were a bit harder than I thought. Although the team did an absolutely marvellous job, and they looked terrific.<\/p>\n Something that\u2019s easier? I don\u2019t know. It was quite hard [laughs<\/u><\/em>]. It was quite a hard shoot in a lot of ways.<\/p>\n It\u2019s fine if there isn\u2019t anything easier.<\/strong><\/p>\n [laughs<\/u><\/em>] There was nothing that was easier than I thought it was going to be! I\u2019m a bit too optimistic on how easy I think things are going to be, often, and the reality is usually harder than I think it\u2019s going to be.<\/p>\n Also, there must have been a certain pressure in the fact that this was Jodie Whitaker\u2019s last series. Did you feel like \u201cOh, right, we\u2019ve really got to nail this\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n The whole series had this kind of extra weight, and extra significance to it, and extra poignancy. We knew there were going to be these specials. I\u2019m very fortunate in that I\u2019m directing the last one of them. So I\u2019m actually doing her regeneration.<\/p>\n But even so, it felt like, specials aside, this was Jodie\u2019s last complete story. So it definitely felt like an extra responsibility, to do it justice.<\/p>\n I was actually going to ask about the centenary special that\u2019s coming up. I know you can\u2019t say much, but was it quite an emotional shoot for everyone?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, it was, especially Jodie\u2019s last day of filming, because we scheduled it so that our last full day \u2014 well, we did do a couple of extra pickups afterwards. But basically her last day of filming was most of the crew\u2019s last day of filming as well. So it was all orchestrated to have this big, final last day. And we shot that last day for Jodie in story order. So we ended up on her last scene.<\/p>\n But before that, there were so many tears. Everybody clapped her \u2013 and Mandip, actually. Everybody clapped them into the TARDIS for their last time, and then there were some tears. And we shot the last-ever scene in the TARDIS, and said goodbye to the TARDIS, and then there were some tears.<\/p>\n And then we went out to film, basically, her regeneration. And the last shot that we did, I think, will be the last shot in the episode as well. So it was really nice to do things in sequence. And it was mostly Jodie and Mandip\u2019s scenes on that last day. So it was just super-emotional.<\/p>\n And then at the end, Jodie gives this wonderful speech. It felt really \u2013 I don\u2019t know \u2013 like the end of an era, and very important, but very lovely. And there was like 100 extra people on set that day. Everyone came down to watch the last slate go up.<\/p>\n So, yeah. I felt very lucky to be a part of it.<\/p>\n That sounds emotional!<\/strong><\/p>\n [laughs<\/u><\/em>] Yeah, it was. At the same time, it\u2019s really hard to move people along when it\u2019s a big, emotional, significant scene, but you\u2019re like, \u201cGuys, we\u2019ve got like half an hour to get this last scene in. Can we hurry up?\u201d<\/p>\n But it all worked out really nicely. I think everything we shot that day is going to be absolutely lovely. Yeah, I can\u2019t wait to show you guys.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t wait to see. I guess you\u2019ve got another few months of working on it as well, before it actually comes out?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah. We\u2019ve been editing it over the last few months. We\u2019ve got a little bit more to do in the edit, and then lots of work, and lots of things. But it\u2019s nice to know that it\u2019s not on TV until the autumn. That\u2019s a nice load off.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve done Jodie Whitaker\u2019s last series and her regeneration \u2013 if you don\u2019t do more would that be a nice way to cap off your Doctor Who career?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, definitely. With a show as historical and with such a legacy behind it as Doctor Who, it\u2019s an honour to do any episode. So I feel extra lucky and extra grateful.<\/p>\n To get to do the last one of the era, and to do a regeneration, and also, on top of that, for it to be feature length, and for the BBC\u2019s centenary, it was a huge honour. I\u2019m very grateful for the guys giving that to me.<\/p>\n A portion of this conversation previously featured in the Radio Times Doctor Who podcast<\/a>. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n Doctor Who: Flux is available on DVD now<\/a>, and<\/strong> Legend of the Sea Devils comes to BBC One this Spring. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi<\/a> page or our full TV Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Huw Fullerton Published: Saturday, 29 January 2022 at 12:00 am As Doctor Who directors go, Jamie Magnus Stone has had quite an introduction. First arriving in the series\u2019 orbit for an online short starring Jenna Coleman in 2013, he properly made his debut by bringing Sacha Dhawan\u2019s Master to the screen in 2020 episode […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":10503,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/doctor-who-director-opens-up-on-flux-filming-struggles-and-jodie-whittakers-final-episode.jpg",1917,1277,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/doctor-who-director-opens-up-on-flux-filming-struggles-and-jodie-whittakers-final-episode-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/doctor-who-director-opens-up-on-flux-filming-struggles-and-jodie-whittakers-final-episode-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/doctor-who-director-opens-up-on-flux-filming-struggles-and-jodie-whittakers-final-episode-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/doctor-who-director-opens-up-on-flux-filming-struggles-and-jodie-whittakers-final-episode-1024x682.jpg",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/doctor-who-director-opens-up-on-flux-filming-struggles-and-jodie-whittakers-final-episode-1536x1023.jpg",1536,1023,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/01\/doctor-who-director-opens-up-on-flux-filming-struggles-and-jodie-whittakers-final-episode.jpg",1917,1277,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Huw Fullerton Published: Saturday, 29 January 2022 at 12:00 am As Doctor Who directors go, Jamie Magnus Stone has had quite an introduction. First arriving in the series\u2019 orbit for an online short starring Jenna Coleman in 2013, he properly made his debut by bringing Sacha Dhawan\u2019s Master to the screen in 2020 episode…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/10502"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""Doctor\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/11\/Jodie-Whittaker-Temple-0ea8395.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"Doctor\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n![\""Doctor\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/11\/Annabel-Scholey-Claire-b34032a.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"Doctor\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""Doctor\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/11\/Sontarans-horse-a9ad46c.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C412"\" "\\"\"Sontarans\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""Doctor\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/10\/Karvanista-45836c2.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"Doctor\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""Doctor\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/12\/Doctor-Who-series-13-TARDIS-team-314ea00.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C412"\" "\\"\"Doctor\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>![\""Mandip\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/01\/doctor-yaz-4a7c914.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"doctor-yaz\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"