Principal photography: Difference between revisions

An episode of ''Doctor Who'' during the [[Russell T Davies]] era of the program typically had a long principal photography schedule with greater commonality to the TV movie than the original series. However, it is difficult for those not on the production to speak intelligently about what the actual schedule was, since individual episodes were almost invariably described to the press as "behind schedule". Nevertheless, "[[Rose (TV story)|Rose]]" was likely fairly close to meeting its schedule; it took about two months of almost around-the-clock principal photography. Principal phtography was achieved in the RTD era through the use of recording blocks, typically comprised of three to four episodes, with photography from one episode sometimes overlapping with that of another. In the case of the [[Cyberman]] arc from [[Season 2]], for instance, action from all four episodes was filmed jointly over the course of about three months, although material from ''[[Rise of the Cybermen]]/[[The Age of Steel]]'' generally took up the first six weeks, while ''[[Army of Ghosts]]/[[Doomsday]]'' was mostly recorded in the latter six weeks.<ref>[http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/2006lm.html Shannon Sullivan's guide] to ''Army of Ghosts/Doomsday''</ref> At the other end of the scale, an episode like ''[[Fear Her]]'', with limited sets and location work, had only about three weeks of principal photography.<ref>[http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/2006k.html Shannon Sullivan's guide] to ''Fear Her''</ref>