Doctor Who ‘Can You Hear Me?’: behind the scenes

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The BBC released two behind-the-scenes videos from the making of the seventh episode of Doctor Who Series 12, Can You Hear Me?

A fan in Cardiff snapped a photo with Mandip Gill as she filmed the scene of Yaz reuniting with PC Patel on Pomeroy Street in the Butetown section of Cardiff on July 23.

 

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A Quick photo I got with Mandip Gill who is always so lovey! Last July during filming of Last night’s Episode from The scene where Yaz meets the Police officer Who helped her years later and gives her 50p from their bet! It brought up a lot of interesting topics about Mental Health,Running Away from home and Bullying, which I thought was great and always needs more awareness! 😊 ———————————————————————-#Doctorwho #Drwho #Doctorwhoseries12 #Series12 #Filming #TVfilming #DWSR #Doctorwhocompanion #Doctorwhocanyouhearme #Canyouhearme #Doctorwhofilming #BBCDoctorwho #BBC #BBCAmerica #ThirteenthDoctor #13thDoctor #Jodiewhittaker #Campanion #MandipGill #Yasminkahn #Actor #Actress #Cardiff #Wales

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The director, Emma Sullivan shared some photos from her filming block. Most are from Can you Hear Me? but some are from filming The Haunting of Villa Diodati at Merthyr Mawr Estate.

Ian Gelder’s Zellin makeup:

The detached fingers effect for Zellin was achieved with a combination of a finger-less prosthetic hand, prop fingers and digital effects.

 

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So, here’s this weird fingerless glove we made for @bbcdoctorwho episode 7 ‘Can You Hear Me?’ After chatting with Costume & Creature Designer @rayholman12 the idea here was to build a wearable prosthetic that didn’t need gluing down for ease onset so that we could create the effect of his fingers magically detaching from his hand and floating through the air to wreak havoc! Being able to pop the glove on and off easily meant that the VFX team could get the shots they needed with the glove and with Ian’s actual hand, and then merge the two seamlessly together. The glove was sculpted to fit over Ian’s clenched fist, so it was a gag that required a lot of collaboration between departments to get the angle just right, Ian did a wonderful job of helping the effect work on the day, as did everyone involved onset. Sculpted, moulded and painted by @suzbat Silicone work and labwork by @jenkewleymua and @lori_macgregor Fabrication by @leannekinniepracticalfx #bbc #doctorwho #prosthetics #cgi #zelin #iangelder #specialeffects

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More BTS Doctor Who spam 😂, this time it’s all about them fingers! SPOILER ALERT ‼️ So, for those of you who have seen the episode, Zelin’s fingers detach and fly through the air to then latch onto people’s ears (pics of that to come soon…) and steal their nightmares. The fingers then transform into vials containing their nightmares. So we made realistic fingers for VFX to scan and animate digitally as well as some hollow clear and filled finger vials for various scenes. The epoxy we used worked like a dream, although we had a number of attempts to get through to manage to get them totally bubble free. R&D and sculpting by @jenkewleymua for these babies. Additional sculpting and silicone work by @lori_macgregor Paintwork by @suzbat #doctorwho #prosthetics #practicaleffects #epoxy #researchanddevelopment #cgi

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The hair and makeup on Clare Hope-Ashity for Rakaya:

Rakaya’s costume and corset:

Filming inside the deep space control center:

Some extras (some of which are crew members) shared their photos from the filming of the ancient Aleppo scenes:

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Playing dress up so we can star in Dr Who 😂

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Adam Pescott’s storyboards for the Chagaska sequence:

Illustrator Nina Chakrabarti shared her original drawings for the animated sequence. The storyboards for the sequence can be found here.

The writer, Charlene James, worked closely with Mind to make sure the portrayals of mental health were accurate, sensitive and actively helped break down stigma.

We will continue to bring you behind-the-scenes content as each episode of Doctor Who Series 12 airs.