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A great Dr Who blogger contacted and interviewed me about the show - Whovians are trully everywhere, this blog is based in New Zealand. Check out the interview & the blog, plenty to read; click here.

Block 2, Episode 5 - Cardiff and Beddau 11am-6pm This is a difficult shoot to write about, for a number of reasons. We filmed some incredibly affecting scenes during the day which took cast and crew to some very emotional places. Also, we filmed several scenes which contain major spoilers for Episode 5. First off, we started in Rhys' garden to film a small scene that was held over from Saturday's shoot due to Rhys' neighbours having a barbeque. Then we were on location up in Beddau as Sian very kindly agreed for the Whovians crew to invade to film in her house, so a massive thank you goes to her for her help and her patience. The old adage says 'never work with children or animals'. This weekend, we worked with both, Today, we were working with Georgie (Craig's dog) who was doubling as The Doctor's canine companion. Georgie had a beautiful temperament and was lots of fun to be around and is responsible for one of the funniest moments of the day as he scarpered into the house away from James who was trying to call Georgie to him! We started filming in the garden and then moved into the kitchen and the lounge before finally filming at the front of the house. Rob standing in the garden improvising dealing a fatal blow using a small porcelain frog will be one of my highlights of filming. It was very difficult to stifle a giggle as he went through some moves. We started the day with the high energy, more fun scenes but the mood turned more sombre as the day wore on as we shot the scenes involving Helen Hughes, whose character Alwen is instrumental in providing the episode with its emotional core. It must have been very difficult for all our actors, James especially, to go from high and happy to serious but they all acquitted themselves brilliantly. There is a particular scene between Alwen and Bradley which we knew was always going to be heavy-going due to the subject matter but Helen and Rob were just spectacular in this scene. Helen's performance was full of emotion and heartache and I defy anyone not to be moved when they see it. These are words that the writers have been living with for the best part of two years but to hear them being spoken so powerfully was just amazing and I was very glad when we were able to call 'cut' so I could go and dry my eyes. There's a line in Matt and Rhys' script where the Doctor says 'there's usually a lot of running while I'm around' so it's entirely appropriate that the last few set-ups of the day involved running- characters running to and from the front of the house. We were then able to call it a day and a series wrap for both Helen and James who were both so brilliant with some very heavy material.

Block 2, Episode 5 - Bute Park, Cardiff Centre, All Day. I’ve loved helping behind-the-scenes and being there when we’ve filmed Whovians, but this weekend was one I was really looking forward to. This is when we would be getting three of our cast together – Rob D. Mealins (during filming so far, he’s shown just how talented he can be with physical and off-the-cuff comedy), Helen Cuthbert (who impressed all of us at the auditions with how good she is at drama: she’s convincing, emotional, and knows just how to get across what you want from a scene), and AJ King (he’s our Doctor. There’s no other way of putting it, he’s Whovians’ Doctor) – for episode 5: Bradley’s episode. Two years ago, when me, Rhys and Tez were brainstorming for Whovians, Rhys and I came up with two totally different ideas. Rhys wanted to write an episode about a young man who was stuck in a rut, who had a thankless, demeaning job, where every day was just like the next: monotonous. Me, I wanted to write an episode about a man who genuinely believed he was the Doctor. It was Tez who suggested that the two of us co-wrote an episode, combining the two ideas. After much creative discussions (usually with alcohol involved) and bashing of keyboards, I like to think that the series’ director and myself came up with one of the strongest of the six episodes (sorry to boast!). We got off to a brilliant start with the weather, which hasn’t always been kind to us during filming (we’ve had to cancel a shoot and re-cast one of our guest stars due to Cardiff’s notorious sideways rain): a virtually cloudless sky and twenty-two degree heat. Back when we were writing Whovians, Rhys gave clear instructions: we have no budget for this thing, so let’s make the episodes as easy to film as possible. So far we’ve filmed a queue in the middle of the Welsh capital, faked a comic-con, and today our shoot all took place in Bute Park. It’s bizarre, because the day’s filming should have been burst a blood vessel stressful, with cyclists, dogs, seagulls, car engines, helicopters, vuvuzelas, small children and drunk people all managing to ruin our shots. I think it’s down to our cast – Rob and AJ – and how much fun we were having watching them perform, that we never felt hassled or pressured. AJ must be practicing some form of witchcraft; it’s the only thing that explains why someone in black trousers, suit tie, and a long heavy jacket can have so much energy on a swelteringly hot day. You could do a hundred different takes with AJ, each one would have that same unwavering energy, and every one of them would be different. Rob is a natural at subtle, well-timed comedy. Pair AJ and Rob up and you get footage that funded productions (or productions with a budget, full stop!) would struggle to come up with. Today also featured our youngest guest-star, Megan Lloyd. Rhys’ mum has already had a cameo in Whovians – her performance as a pensioner who repeatedly smacks one of our main cast, Ben Wilson, with her handbag a little too good – now it’s his niece’s turn. Expect an appearance from Rhys’ maths teacher in another episode… They say never work with children or animals, but Megan was a pro, doing exactly what cast and crew asked of her, and was so patient. Thanks to Megan, we’ve got another scene in Bradley’s episode that will have viewers chuckling at what’s going on. The highlight for me was Rob climbing up a tree. Poor Rob has had to put up with a lot whilst filming Whovians: we’ve stuck a camera in his face, demanding he do some unscripted, improvised comedy; we’ve also filmed him in just his boxers. Today we got him to clamber up a tree (a drunk koala bear is the best way to sum it up…). Rob is a trained acrobat, but it was tense watching him take directions from Rhys whilst clinging to a branch. What was virtually a whole day’s filming ended just in time for us to dodge the crowds leaving the stadium (it was the Wales v Ireland friendly), the only damage being one drunk woman who threatened that, if we need her, we’ll find her behind a tree (none of us went looking for her, or went behind said tree). I reckon I speak for everyone involved in the day’s filming when I say it was everything we were expecting and hoped for. That was all the fun, madcap scenes from episode 5 wrapped, tomorrow will be totally different; this is the intense, poignant moments. We’ve seen one side of AJ and Rob’s acting, a day later and we’ll see something totally different. There’s no doubt they will be just as outstanding.

Block 2, Episode 4 - Cardiff Bay, 12pm The shoot on 26th July was an unusual one as it was the first (and likely to be the only) shoot that didn't involve any of our main cast. We were filming scenes for Episode 4 (Liam's episode) but the scenes focused on his parents instead. Scott Dolan had his second day on set as Liam's dad Lloyd whilst we were joined for the day by Linda Bailey who is playing Liam's mum Jackie. The set-ups were relatively straightforward - firstly, Lloyd getting ready for the day (getting up, getting dressed etc). We were using my flat as Lloyd and Jackie's house - specifically the master bedroom and the bathroom. As Lloyd is a massive Cardiff City fan, the bedroom underwent a little bit of set-dressing to reflect Lloyd's passion. For these first scenes, Linda was able to take it easy and stay wrapped up underneath the bedclothes. After a few takes to ensure enough coverage, Scott was released for the day. The second set-up was again in the bedroom where Jackie takes a telephone call from Liam (who is at the Cardiff Comic Expo, which we filmed on 11th July). We filmed Jackie's side of the conversation. Linda's performance was absolutely pitched perfectly, full of warmth, humour and pathos. It's difficult to talk in greater detail about the scene without there being some massive spoilers, so it'll suffice to say that this scene is Episode 4 in microcosm: it's geeky, it's funny, it's moving and it's truthful. We were able to wrap Linda pretty quickly and then de-rig. As a re-introduction to filming, this weekend was the best way to get back into the swing of things with bigger things to come in the upcoming weeks.

Block 2, Episode 2 – Grangetown Cardiff, 12pm Coming back after two weeks off is just great – relaxed and refreshed and ready for the final push on the production. We did the sensible thing and set up two shoots over two days that are not taxing! However, a tip from your director: the larger the props, the larger the problems! In Episode 2 Andrew cycles a lot around the city. Before we even pressed record on the camera for the first time with our prop bike... the chain snapped! So, after a quick trip to Halfords (other bike shops are available) and a bit of elbow grease, we were all set for the day! We filmed a small scene, on screen time – probably a minute at the most! Ben (who plays Andrew) leaves his home and ends up in an altercation with a senior citizen, which ends with Andrew cycling away very quickly! I won't say any more in detail about it, you'll have to wait and see! A fun scene to write and a fun scene to film, namely because the guest actress we had for the day was none other than my mother! Pamela Jones made her acting debut, having never done anything like this before and to be honest I knew she could do it – but she made me smile. Working with my Mum was interesting – my mother is not shy by any means, but nor is she a naturally outgoing person – she literally hates having her picture taken. So for her to get in front of the camera and act for me is a bit amazing! Take after take, giving me a different version, which will make editing the scene a joy. while at all times checking with me if I had what I needed, because she was worried I would have to re-shoot with "a real actress"! No way – my Mum rocked her small cameo. While filming, I knew it was going to be “funny” in the episode as Andy our sound-man had the tough task of not laughing too hard or he would spoil his own sound and Ben our actor was trying not to break a smile all the time.. Always a good sign! We filmed for about an hour, various angles and takes – poor Ben being hit by a handbag in different styles and my Mum giving her best versions of a classy line, which she re-wrote. I've learnt throughout my life – Mum is always right! To be honest, it was ideal first shoot back after a break, it was fun and great to show mum what we get up to in our spare time! We wrapped and Mum made us all a cup of tea! Bless her!

Block 1, Episode 3 - 1pm After a busy day filming Episode 4, the following day we completed principal photography for Episode 3 (the shoot rescheduled from June 28th due to poor weather). To be honest, the weather wasn't great. In fact, it was raining (but thankfully not torrential; it was that misty fine rain which somehow gets you more wet than actual rain does). Considering that it was all external location shooting, this was a bit of a worry. But, with a very game cast and crew (and several large umbrellas), we got what we needed. The first set-up of the day was the exterior of the National Museum of Wales, a location that has been used in Doctor Who several times. We filmed some wides and establishing shots and then moved around the corner to another building in Cardiff's impressive civic centre to film the dialogue. Due to the rescheduling of the shoot, we unfortunately had to lose a cast member which was a real shame but we wish Liam all the best with his production of Twelfth Night. However, we found a very able replacement in Craig Harper who was great as security guard Jake and who formed a very sweet and very real relationship with Victoria. The second set-up was in the Gorsedd Gardens, just in front of the Museum, to film the scene where Steph first meets Ross (Matthew Doman). Both Victoria and Matt are consummate professionals so the scene only took a handful of takes to get what we needed. We were then able to wrap Matt for the series. The final set-up of the day took place in Cathays Park by the National War Monument. Originally this scene was due to take place in Cardiff Bay, by the Ianto Jones memorial shrine. However, when we originally planned to shoot the scenes, there was a triathlon taking place in the Bay so we had to come up with an alternative. Cathays Park has also been used in Doctor Who and is very close to the Museum, so it made sense. When we remounted the shoot, we decided to keep the alternative location (a good job as it was the Cardiff International Food Festival weekend so the Bay was unusable). The other big advantage of the park is it's quiet (well, apart from the chimes of the City Hall clock every 15 minutes) and there weren't a lot of people around. The park is the setting for the final scene of the episode and, luckily, the weather held for us to get the final shots. We were then able to wrap both Craig and Victoria. Victoria is the first of the four main cast to be wrapped for the entire series and it was quite emotional. She has been an absolute joy to work with, always professional, always up for a laugh and has truly made the character her own. We are so grateful to Victoria for her time, her patience and her enthusiasm.

We were at the event on the weekend, we had a great time meeting people and sharing what we are up to. Take a watch of the video of us at the event.

Block 2, Episode 4 - Glo Works, Cardiff bay, 8am - 6pm We've had a couple of big shoots throughout the production so far but this has been one of the major ones. Episode 4 is mostly set within a comic con. So, what do you do if you can't get to one to film in situ? You fake it. The con is on, indeed. We have to give huge thanks to Gorilla Media and the GloWorks building in Cardiff Bay who have been supporters of our project from the very beginning and who allowed us to use their location as our convention centre. One scene was set in a market hall, and so required a lot of props. I packed up my entire Doctor Who DVD collection (classic and new) and another box of associated props and T-shirts which were used in the background of one shot, and Matt brought down a lot of props to use in another. We were also very lucky to have Deadstar Publishing who came along and set up their stall in the background to really sell the market hall, so a huge thank you to them for that. So we had the props. Next we needed the attendees. We had a wide variety of background artists and some amazing cosplays- we had anime and video game characters, comic book heroes and villains, denizens of Middle Earth and even a Time Lord- so a huge thank you to our background artists: Zoe, Tony, Isabelle, Alaska, Kevin, Sarah, Claudia, Freya, Rosa, Carwyn, Connor, Philip, Dionne, Tyron, Alveena, Sasha, Summer-Rose, Dominique and David. A special mention must go to executive producer and episode writer Matt for making a cameo as Superman. Episode 4 is heavily focused around Liam and his relationship with his family. Liam is attending the con and he's got a very special costume. We want to keep this under wraps until the episode airs, but to give you some idea, this is our director's reaction when he saw Andrew in costume for the first time: For all the humour in the episode (and there is a lot), it's also a deeply emotional and at times very poignant story and Andrew managed to convey all that even in a slightly ridiculous costume. During one take, I had to excuse myself as I found myself becoming very emotional. Shooting his first scenes for Whovians was Scott Dolan, who is playing Liam's dad Lloyd. Lloyd is a very different character to Liam and the father-son relationship between Andrew and Scott was really good to see and it will be great to see this relationship develop over the other shoots. Another member of the guest cast was Hannah Celyn Griffiths, who is playing Jen, another con attendee who meets Liam there. Hannah was just brilliant throughout the day and is responsible for one of my favourite moments of the day- a very simple two word line that just made me grin. She was also excellent in the more serious scenes. It was a wrap for Hannah as cast at the end of the day, but she will continue to work on the series as part of the team. We started with the bigger shoots that required most background actors and then pared down to more intimate scenes requiring less cast and crew as the day went on, with the final scene shot being between Andrew and Hannah in a corridor. Who would have thought the final shot of the Episode 4 shoot would be of a door handle? It was a long and tiring day with a lot to organise and manage. However, we weren't quite finished. We also needed to sneak in a very short scene for Episode 3 involving Ben's character Andrew and his workmate- Matt wasn't the only executive producer making a cameo that day... We must sound like a broken record, but there aren't words to express how much we appreciate the hard work, effort and patience that our cast and crew put in, especially on large shoots like this. We do want to give a special vote of thanks to Ellen Thomas, who plays Olivia in Episode 2, for acting as a camera operator throughout the day and also getting some brilliant behind-the-scenes footage. The two-week shut-down was one day closer, but there was still one more afternoon of shooting to go before the break.

Block 2. Episode 5 - 7pm, Gangetown, Cardiff So, we start another busy weekend - but this weekend is the final push towards our shooting shut-down, a two week break for all cast and crew. So do we have an easy weekend? No. That would be sensible. We start off on Friday evening at my house in Grangetown with Ben Wilson and Lisa Grace and a scene showing Andrew and Anna Harper at their home. But this is not for Episode 2. This is in fact for Episode 5! Before anyone arrived, Andy and I set up the lighting- lights set up outside a house shining into the rooms (an old fiming technique). On this occasion, the scene is set at sunset so we set up the lights to give us fake sunset inside the home. To pat ourselves on the back, it paid off well. It is a quick scene. We got the angles done quickly and the two of them as ever knocked it out of the park. Not surprising when we had one-take Lisa on set! We wrapped the scene, then we quickly set up camera and lights on Lisa for a few lines for Episode 2. With a few takes, Lisa was done and series wrapped. A big thank you to Lisa - a star and our one-take wonder.

Block 1, Episode 3, 6:30pm, Cardiff City Centre This evening shoot was for Episode 3, filming Steph's office scenes. Now, you would think that finding an office to film in would be quite easy. However, trying to find an office that we could film in proved to be one of the more tricky logistical issues we've had to deal with in the shoot so far. Luckily, my employers were happy for us to use my office space so a huge thanks to Catherine Collins and all at The Open University in Wales for this. In all honesty, the office scenes are not the most dynamic scenes we'll ever film. They are designed to enhance the real world feel of the episode and the truth is real life can often be mundane. However, with some imaginative camera angles and some montage work, these scenes will look anything but mundane. Although, one of the longest shots to set up was to get a clear shot of the office clock! We were working with Victoria and Jennifer Higgins, who plays Steph's workmate Amanda. Both Victoria and Jen were on form, bringing an extra dimension to what is quite functional dialogue. We even got our sound engineer Andy and our second camera operator Craig (who joined us on the Episode 6 shoot and has been invaluable ever since) to make cameos as Steph's workmates in wide shots. We were filming scenes set on different days, so this meant that both Victoria and Jen needed multiple costume changes. We filmed the scenes in sequence (starting from Day 1 and going to Day 5) and, by the end of the shoot, we had covered everything we needed and even had a bit of time to record additional cutaways and wide shots, giving the editor more material to work with. By 8.50pm, we were ready to wrap for the evening and declare a series wrap for Jen. A massive thank you to her.

Block 2, Episode 5, 10am-10pm - Various Locations, Cardiff So, sun burned, tired and ready to roll! After the insane day before, this shoot was a welcome difference in pace. Episode 5 is a Bradley-centred episode: we spent the day filming all of Rob's interior scenes. After coffee and going through wardrobe choices for Rob, we popped over to Gabalfa, Lydstep Flats, the location for the exterior of Bradley’s block of flats. The location might be recognisable to Whovians; the flats are used as Clara Oswald’s home and Rose Tyler’s! We filmed Rob running and walking to-and-from the exterior and experimented with some good old slapstick movement, which got the attention of the residents on a Sunday morning! We left and travelled back to my house in Grangetown, where all Interiors of Bradley’s flat were filmed. Without giving too much away, the episode begins with Bradley bored, home alone. We scripted the various scenes with descriptive guides to what happens when he's home alone. When we cast Rob in the role we straight away knew we would have fun on this shoot, knowing we were going to experiment and improvise a large portion of the interior flat scenes. With this in mind we scheduled ourselves a lot more time than we normally would for a few interiors – we gave ourselves a whole day. We also, for a few reasons, kept the crew at a minimum that day: myself, Matt, and Andy on sound. This allowed Rob free reign to flow and talk, see what we got (plus the occasional take we can't possibly ever show!!). It was sometimes challenging for the crew; Bradley is home alone, so hearing a room of people laugh uncontrollably just doesn’t work. This was incredibly hard sometimes when Rob was coming up with strange and surreal moments of improvised dialogue as Bradley cold calls random strangers. We moved to a bedroom set up where Bradley is getting up one morning. This was probably the weirdest thing we have shot so far, having Rob in just his pants and us filming. It just felt wrong! Which will add nicely to the overall impression of Bradley! After a day of experimenting, coffee, chocolate Hob Nobs and cheese puffs, we have got some laugh out loud funny moments.

Block 2, Episode 2 - Various Locations So, myself and Matt set off to Cardiff Bay at 6:25am. We met our cast at 6:30am, ready to start our shoot. Today we were filming what is best described without spoilers, as a… No, can't describe what we were doing without spoilers. Scenes from episode 2 – leave it at that! We arrived at Roald Dahl Plass and again, the Bay has failed us. We had checked the events calendar for the city and that weekend: nothing going on. However, when we arrived we were greeted with fences, half-built stalls and placards. Cardiff Food & Drink Festival does not kick off until Friday 10th July, but construction for this event has already begun, making the Plass look like a worksite, making the area unfilmable! With a page of dialogue still to film we moved onto the next set up in Grangetown. We had two scenes to film that day, one of these scenes being split across various locations, so I decided we would have to film what we planned to do at the Plass another time and move on. The irony that Cardiff Bay has yet to make it into a shoot has not been overlooked by us, Torchwood of course being heavily filmed in the area makes it an ideal location for our series. I’m sure we will get it in! The park in Grangetown is a location that has featured in Doctor Who episode ‘Silence in the Library’. We filmed a good page of dialogue with our first two actors of the day, Ben Wilson playing Andrew, who was joined by John Hutch, his first day with the production playing the Man in Black. The scene was good fun to film, great to work with John, who we let loose, like a wild animal, to be as villainous and enigmatic as possible. We had our usual fun filming on location in Cardiff: 7:00/7:30 in the morning we still had a number of people walking their dogs. Making this series has put me off wanting a dog – they’re more demanding and noisy than children! We wrapped up the scene at about 7:30am and moved on, for the first time, out of Cardiff. The road trips of the day began: Whovians on Tour! We headed off in a convoy of two cars towards Beddau, where we met Craig, our B Cam Operator, at Cwm Coke Works. Cwm Coke Works was closed in 1987 and has been abandoned ever since; it is an amazing place to go and see if you live locally. There is a public footpath around the site. It is private property and dangerous to go onto the site, looking ready to collapse any minute. The abandoned car park outside the site gave us an amazing view/backdrop for the scene and was perfectly legal and safe to film there. Ben and John played around with the backdrop, Ben giving a dramatic, heartfelt performance: not bad considering it was 9-10am! After a quick coffee break, we carried on with our road trip to Dunraven Bay. Dunraven has been used in Doctor Who various times, most famously as Bad Wolf Bay. We arrived, took a walk to figure out the best way to approach the afternoon ahead. We had a beautiful sunny day, which of course was filling the beach with people wanting to enjoy their day. What we discovered was an old mansion house garden surrounded by stone walls and a medieval-looking tower. All public access, so we filmed the scene we had to abandon in the Bay earlier that morning. Between holiday makers wondering what we were doing and children being children, we got the scene filmed. We relocated after a picnic lunch to the beach. Ben and John filmed the final piece of their scene puzzle against the rocks – recognisable to any Whovian! John gave a full pelt performance as our Man in Black. Pleasure to work with him, always full of energy and a real laugh to be around. The rest of the day. Lisa Grace had arrived with a couple of extras in tow. We spent the rest of the afternoon filming the opening sequence to Episode 2, a scene… No! Spoilers! The scene involved three extras, with Ben and Lisa running all over the beach, giving their best action poses as the Doctor and Billie Piper. Saying no more! The extras were fantastic, Steven, Harry and our very own Matthew Ford! They were dressed in black costumes, wearing masks on a very hot day – they seemed to love it, never complained, pretending to shoot each other in the face with their guns. Give someone a water pistol made to look like a ray gun and they’re happy! Diary of an Extra – by Matthew Ford Filmmaking on a budget is a tricky business. Thankfully (and without putting a curse on us), we’ve been incredibly lucky with the filming of Whovians so far. Sadly, one of our extras dropped out and with only a day-or-two before filming, I was asked to step in. Wasn’t sure what to expect; will Rhys do his best Stanley Kubrick impression, shouting at us and making us do a hundred plus takes? I got given a mask to wear, which meant I could only see straight ahead, no peripheral vision (I managed to mess up a shot by barging right into a tripod) as well as a massive cape, that swirled all over the place in the wind, looking very moody (who doesn’t love a big swirly cape?). When it came to filming, it was like being a child again, having to walk menacingly and fire on command. I’m no De Niro, but I like to think my evil, menacing side was on show. Without giving anything away, this scene is going to look amazing once it’s been tinkered with in post-production: very fifties/sixties Dan Dare sci-fi. A massively enjoyable few hours, with Rhys doing his best George Lucas impression. After much running around and Rhys screaming “WALK… FIRE!” We wrapped after a long but enjoyable day. On the drive back, myself and Rhys both noticed we had managed to burn ourselves after we had told the cast and crew to be careful in the sun!