Doctor Who BBC Centenary Special: visual effects “spectacular”

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Though principal photography on Jodie Whittaker’s final episodes as the Doctor wrapped on 13 October 2021, the Doctor Who post-production teams remain busy.

It’s the Job of visual effects editor Emily Lawrence to choose and coordinate digital effects from various special effects companies and from visual effects expert Ben Pickles.

“We’re in the thick of the Doctor Who [BBC] Centenary Special at the moment,” Lawrence explained in Doctor Who Magazine 573. “I can’t give anything away, but I can tell you that it’s going to be an absolutely spectacular episode with a lot of visual effects…”

Beyond the two remaining specials, Lawrence suggests what may be in the future of Doctor Who’s digital effects when showrunner Russell T Davies takes over.

“The 360 screens in The Mandalorian and how they used gaming software to create those amazing landscapes is something I’d love to see in Doctor Who,The actors walk in front of the screen and the environment moves with them,” Lawrence explained to DWM. “That means we wouldn’t need green screen anymore and that would really help our VFX vendors, because they wouldn’t have to spend hours rotoscoping out the green screen.”

Disney’s The Mandalorian uses virtual sets created using Unreal Engine, a powerful video-game-creation tool that gives the director complete control over the set and surrounding digitally generated environment. This would mean the digital effects would need to be created before principal photography begins instead of being added afterward.

Written by Chris Chibnall and directed by Jamie Magnus Stone, The Doctor Who BBC Centenary Special will air in autumn of 2022.

Doctor Who Magazine 573 is available on newsstands and by digital subscription now.