{"id":40768,"date":"2023-11-29T11:48:36","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T10:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1935821"},"modified":"2023-11-29T14:17:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T13:17:00","slug":"how-doctor-whos-epic-wrarth-warriors-were-brought-to-life","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/how-doctor-whos-epic-wrarth-warriors-were-brought-to-life\/","title":{"rendered":"How Doctor Who\u2019s epic Wrarth Warriors were brought to life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting into character was no easy feat. <\/p>

By Louise Griffin\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 29 November 2023 at 10:48 AM<\/p>

\n\n

As Doctor Who<\/a> returns with its 60th anniversary specials<\/a>, we\u2019ve seen more alien creatures crash-land onto our screens, including the epic Wrarth Warriors.<\/p>\n

The creatures, originally created by Dave Gibbons and Pat Mills for a Doctor Who Weekly comic strip, were officially brought to life on screen by various dedicated creature actors for The Star Beast<\/a>, including Robert Strange, who played the lead Wrarth Warrior, Sergeant Zogroth.<\/p>\n

Getting into character was no easy feat though \u2013 it took hours of rehearsal time to perfect the tiny details of the movement, plus squeezing into a heavy costume \u2013 and balancing on stilts the whole time.<\/p>\n

Exclusively speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a>, Strange explains: \u201cI think it was such a clever idea to have a storyline that was from one of the original classic comics from 1980 as the storyline, because it has that sense of honouring the old while bringing in this new era. So I think it was a really exciting place to start.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know the comic before. But as soon as I found out what I was doing and read the script, I went and tracked it down and ordered it, and it\u2019s just so magical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strange particularly loved how the episode plays with perception \u2013 while The Meep<\/a> (voiced by Miriam Margolyes) initially seems innocent, its true menacing nature is later revealed. The Wrarth Warriors, on the other hand, look a little terrifying \u2013 but end up being respectful and regimented creatures.<\/p>\n

\"Four\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
The Wrarth Warriors in Doctor Who.<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC Studios\/Bad Wolf\/Disney<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

He adds: \u201cI wanted to bring that up, that these quite fearsome military-based beings, they attack this house and destroy it in quite a regimented manner. I think the voice as well, it\u2019s very kind of gruff and aggressive. But then when you hear them speak later, they actually then suddenly have this quite refined classic military lead commander style of speaking that\u2019s actually very polite and very respectful.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so to have that, alongside the physicality of them, which we worked on a lot with Paul Kasey, who is the resident Doctor Who creature movement director. So we workshopped with Paul a lot \u2013 A: how to just walk in stilts without falling over, but what kind of physicality we wanted to bring to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe settled on, I think the phrase we used was \u2018predatory flamingo with an insectoid twitch.\u2019 That was the descriptor we came up with. So we have these stalking legs like flamingos, and these twitches, like a praying mantis style.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Robert\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Robert Strange<\/span><\/figcaption> Hector Maclean<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

As with everything on Doctor Who, showrunner Russell T Davies<\/a> had crucial input.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a visionary so he has eyes everywhere and a dealing in every part of his creations. So I know he was very involved in the design, because I think originally there were plans to maybe change the design of the Wrarth and the Meep<\/a> from what was drawn in the comic, but I think Russell brought it right back to what Pat and Dave wrote and drew in the original comic, which I think is kind of magical.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then a lot of the development of the movement was done with Paul\u2026 so he\u2019s in our ear all the time. On set, in rehearsal, and then live in front of the camera, he is relaying information from Russell, from Rachel [Talalay], the director, from all sorts of people, right to our ear to say, \u2018Bring back a bit more of that twitch, turn yourself this way, keep the gun up, keep moving the right direction,\u2019 and things like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he\u2019s kind of a port of call middle person for relaying all the information from all the powers that be right to us to keep it looking exactly how they wanted it to look.\u201d<\/p>

The Wrarth are important throughout the episode \u2013 but perhaps their most memorable scene is the \u2018court\u2019 scene in the carpark with David Tennant\u2019s Doctor and Catherine Tate\u2019s Donna Noble.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat scene is one of my favourites, it\u2019s so brilliant. It was so much fun to do. It was probably one of the most challenging scenes to film ever, in terms of all the stuff I\u2019ve done, because creature suits are always quite full-on physically, of course.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re on the stilts, you can\u2019t really stand still in these stilts, because they\u2019re curved at the bottom but obviously, for close-ups, you need to stay on your marks and it\u2019s a lot of work to stay still. We can\u2019t see, it\u2019s very heavy, you\u2019ve got no hands, you\u2019re physically doing all of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then at the same time, we have Paul in our ear giving us guidance so that we\u2019re hitting the marks and looking in the right direction. And then we\u2019re also doing the dialogue with David Tennant and Catherine Tate, which is kind of iconic to be working with them and doing this incredible scene with them, and watching them bring these characters back to life, and they\u2019re just so brilliant to watch. And everything that they do with these characters, it was fascinating to watch for myself personally \u2013 they\u2019re such refined comedy actors and they\u2019re such physical actors as well.\u201d<\/p>