Original subtitles

Action!

In this episode... Doctor!

..we head to the big screen for some big screams...

Ahhh! ..as the Doctor and Belinda

battle a creepy cartoon character.

What a fine and dandy day!

I get to play around with some sound effects on my work experience.

I think that was too subtle. I think I need to be bigger again.

We're on the waterfront in a stormy South Wales

as the set is gone with the wind.

It's not very Miami weather.

And - spoiler alert - we've got an exclusive clip

from the next Doctor Who episode. But first...

Oh, hello there. You must be Mr Ring-a-Ding.

And what's your name, sweetie pie?

Hi there, I'm Steffan. Lovely to meet you.

What are you up to today? Oh, it's such a beautiful day,

I think I'll go to town. Yes, siree!

Oh, very nice.

And so, what made you take on this job, then, on Doctor Who?

Dagnabbit, I've got no choice!

Oh, what? Nobody else would have you?

What do you say? I'm looking at you, with the glasses.

Unleashed.

Settle into your seats, as Unleashed goes box office.

Action!

Now showing, a behind the scenes look at the Doctor

and his new companion, Belinda Chandra...

No!

..in a 1950s cinema adventure.

Whatever the genre, romance or horror...

Ahhhh!

..not to mention drama and, of course, science fiction.

This blockbuster has got a bit of everything, including nostalgia.

Can you remember going to the cinema for the first time? Yes.

What did you go and see?

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets.

Was that your first one? Yeah, yeah. My mum took me.

I remember I was very scared to ask her to take us to the cinema,

and she was like, "Yes, I will!"

Yeah, she didn't have a lot of money.

And she saved up and she took us all to the cinema.

And that was the first film we watched.

And you can't ask me more about it because I will cry.

Ah. OK, I'll stop there. Mm-hm.

So grab some tasty treats,

sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

Oh, gosh. There's so much in the episode, it's so rich.

Like, they land in 1950s Miami in the middle of the night.

And they know there's something dark happening in the cinema.

But they would rather be in a cinema

than facing the evils of outside, of 1950s Miami.

We've always been asked,

"What are you going to do taking Ncuti's Doctor into the past,

"into what forms of racism is going to exist?"

And it's very interesting. I think people imagine that

in terms of 1800, 1900, 1700.

But actually this is 1950s Miami.

The diner is segregated. No blacks, which includes you.

We're breaking the law just by being in here.

But that's... Oh, my God!

I've said, "Yeah, we're in the 1950s, which is really fun."

But obviously it wasn't fun.

You know, people of colour, women, everyone had a really rough time.

We've done nothing wrong.

You're inside a space reserved for white folk.

I don't know how things are done in the Caribbean,

but they're different here. I'm not Caribbean!

I don't want it to become this Doctor's keynote

because, historically, the Doctor owns the room wherever he is,

whether by subversion, or character, or charisma, or style,

or genuine authority and power.

So it'd be a very great shame to change that for Ncuti's Doctor.

So it's there. I never want it to be dominant.

We've got to address those issues. I think it's good to address them.

Just the reality of the situation of which we are in, in the world.

At the centre of this episode is one of the most unusual foes

the Doctor has ever faced - a cartoon character.

Get ready, cos here I come!

Episode two is another one of our Mad God stories.

It's the God of Light.

Ta-da!

You're a cartoon. Don't make me laugh!

It was a continuation of the pantheon

that Russell is creating with the Toymaker, Sutekh, Maestro.

So Lux is the next instalment in that pantheon of gods.

Welcome to the pantheon, Lux Imperator, aka Mr Ring-a-Ding.

What did you make of Mr Ring-a-Ding when you first saw him?

Oh, my God. I mean, he looks like he stepped right out of a cartoon.

This sort of weird man-pig.

Why are you blue? Don't make me laugh!

The singing, dancing killer gods are really stacking up.

The one thing that makes Mr Ring-a-Ding

stand out from the crowd, he is the only two-dimensional

cartoon character among them.

In fact, he's the first 2D cartoon character

to appear in the main show of Doctor Who,

something that came with a unique set of challenges.

Firstly, we saw Mr Ring-a-Ding like this.

But what the actors and the Who crew had to work with

was a two-foot acrylic cut-out, or this thin green pole.

Mr Ring-a-Ding was a... I don't know how many feet this is,

but like up to your waist, just below your waist tall

cut-out of a man with a pig snout

and wisps of hair.

We've just had this cut-out that we've just had as an eyeline,

and as a, as a reference for, you know, what he's going to look like.

We face the greatest monsters of all time quite regularly,

and they appear to us as tennis balls.

But then, after they've been through the magic of the edit,

they're very scary creatures.

But before they go through the magic of the edit,

the team have got to get the magic right on set.

So what's happening down there is we have the brain trust,

if you will, for this episode.

The clever people, the camera teams and the producers

trying to figure out how they're going to film Mr Ring-a-Ding.

They've been here for about 15 minutes.

I think they have the answer, but they're not quite sure just yet.

While they sort all that out,

let's go and meet the fella who designed Mr Ring-a-Ding.

Was the characterisation just sitting there in his head?

I did about 30. 30?

A lot of them were just heads.

But, yeah, we did. We did quite a few variations.

We tried little ones, fat ones, tall ones,

but the kind of bendy, rubber arms kind of guy,

you know, that kind of sums up the style a lot.

But the real work on Mr Ring-a-Ding didn't start

until shooting had finished.

It was then that Ian and his team began

the painstaking task of bringing

the 2D cut-out to fully animated life.

I'm a two-dimensional character, you can't expect backstory!

One of the first steps is to film themselves,

mapping out the scenes as a reference for

Mr Ring-a-Ding's movements.

I...

I am...

..real!

Then the artists can begin animating him into each shot.

So, we've been animating Mr Ring-a-Ding

for quite a few months now,

but we've had some really, really good animators in.

They've just really kind of knocked it out of the park

and they've been, they've been super great.

We've used traditional techniques on this episode

in terms of the 2D animations, that involves us...

Not actually pencil and paper, but a pencil and a Cintiq,

like this, so we can draw directly on the screen.

So it's essentially the same as what they would have done

back in the '20s, '30s and '40s.

Except obviously we're on a screen and not on paper,

but it's still exactly the same principle.

For this, it's 25 frames a second. So that's 25 drawings every second.

Sometimes slightly less if you're kind of holding a pose,

but often that's about it.

So for a ten-second clip, that would be 250 drawings,

just for a ten-second clip of film.

The real magic, still to me, after like decades of doing it,

if you've done a good job, when you hit the play button,

these drawings come to life. It's extraordinary.

It's like the ultimate magic act.

And it still gets me, even when I've drawn the thing,

I sit back and I go, "There's Mr Ring-a-Ding.

"It's nothing to do with me. He's alive."

So it's such a blast.

3,500 miles away in New York, the final element

of Mr Ring-a-Ding's transformation is being laid down.

Providing his sinister voice is multi-award winning actor

Alan Cumming.

Well, a happy hello to you too.

That was a great process with Alan Cumming,

because he's so perfect and so obvious,

but he has done Doctor Who before, very recently, in The Witchfinders.

Madam, I have come to your rescue.

King James!

Your Majesty!

God's chosen ruler and Satan's greatest foe

come to vanquish the scourge of witchcraft.

We kind of had a momentary pause over it for that,

but then we just thought, he's so perfect

and he's not actually in vision for this.

I think if it was Alan Cumming standing there being

a creature, that's a bit too soon.

But because it's just voice, I mean, he's so skilled.

Take a good gander, folks. Ain't got no surprises!

That's the thing about Alan, is that he knows what a villain is.

He knows how to pitch things.

He knows what's funny, he knows what's serious.

He knows what's sinister. And that's a skill you just want on your side.

So it's brilliant. I'm so happy.

Don't make me laugh!

Working with Alan Cumming was fabulous.

We had video footage of him performing against the microphone,

just in his regular clothes, you know, and we could look at

that and sometimes get inspiration from it.

So we would just watch his face.

Sometimes he'd do something with his eyebrows or his eyes,

or the way that his lips would form a word,

and we can just look at the screen there and do a few sketches.

So we kind of have essence of Alan Cumming in there,

mixed with Mr Ring-a-Ding.

So you end up with this creature that's somehow

a mix of the two of them, and that's fabulous fun.

When you have an actor that good,

they really feed into how you perform as an animator.

So, have the cross-continent collaborations,

the intricate illustrations,

and the tens of thousands of hours to turn this...

..into this all been worth it?

Don't make me laugh! Of course they have.

It's intermission time, folks.

Still to come on Unleashed...

Varada gets to love the look...

I believe it is inspired by Anita from the West Side Story.

..a location shoot turns out to be a real whirlwind...

Storm Jocelyn has arrived,

bringing another dose of strong to gale force winds.

..and - spoiler alert - we've got an exclusive clip

from the next episode of Doctor Who.

But first...

Now, here on Unleashed

we like to ask deep and insightful questions,

so we thought this was the perfect opportunity

to ask people in the cast and crew what cartoon character would you be?

Probably...

..probably Bugs Bunny.

He likes to just burrow around.

He enjoys eating carrots, much like me. You love a carrot?

I love a carrot. Yeah. Love digging in the ground.

Bugs Bunny? Yeah. Bugs Bunny. I can think of you as Bugs Bunny.

Well, now I will. Thank you, Devante.

Or Bugs Bunny, as you'd like to be known. Yeah, yeah, if that's OK.

I always liked... You know Megara in Hercules?

I don't, but tell me more.

Oh, my God. How do you describe her? She's just very, I think,

sarcastic. Yeah. So I like that a lot.

Sounds like a winner.

Or I always wanted to be Blossom from Powerpuff Girls as well.

Powerpuff Girls were cute.

We've had a Powerpuff Girl mentioned already. Oh, my God! OK.

Who did they go for? They went for... I can't remember which one.

There was, there were three of them, Bubbles, Blossom, Buttercup.

Blossom. Blossom? OK, good. Because she's weird.

I don't like her. I'm Buttercup. OK.

I'd say Horrid Henry. Horrid Henry? Yeah, yeah.

Why not? Not painting yourself in a very nice light there, Cassius.

I know, but I'm not very...

I thought you were going to say, "I'm not a very nice person."

Yeah. No, I'm not a very nice person.

Don't book Cassius for any future show, he's not a nice person.

I'm a horrible person. Don't. Actually do book him, he's great.

Oh, I was a big Pokemon, Digimon, Cardcaptors boy. Were you?

Yeah! I loved Charmander.

I loved the fire. Yeah? The fire ones.

Yeah. I was Bulbasaur. Oh, Bulbasaur!

But Bulbasaur was so cute!

"Bulba! Bulba!" LAUGHS

Oh, I loved Bulbasaur. Yeah, that was pretty good.

He had these vines that came out. He did, he did.

I've got a little Bulbasaur... Not for me!

I bought it for my son. I bought it for my son.

Yes.

It's that moment in the episode where some poor unfortunate

tries to teach me their job.

This time I've come to Bang Post Production in Cardiff

for my next work experience.

Today I'm going to be learning all about the work of Louise and Jamie,

who are both Foley artists.

Hey. Hey, Louise. You all right? Yeah, not too bad, not too bad.

Look at how cool this room is.

Named after a 1920s American sound effects guy,

Foley artists are responsible

for creating and recording bespoke sound effects.

Like, for instance, assembling a Vindicator...

METAL CLANKS

..that are then added to TV programmes or films.

We're not talking about car sirens or,

you know, telephone ringing and so on.

They're more just normal sound effects.

But footstep, clothing sounds, this is my domain.

Yeah. So people stuff, basically? Yeah, people and animals as well.

And animals? And monsters. People, animals, monsters.

The list is getting longer. Aliens, I imagine, as well.

People, animals, monsters, aliens.

Not even human, but things.

Things. Things that exist.

Things that move, we make their sounds.

Every surface is covered

in a vast array of props and gadgets to make noises with.

Oh, there's a car door.

We have used it for hitting a Dalek before with a baseball bat.

We've utilised this.

I thought that was a door to next door.

It's just the door. It's the TARDIS Door.

That's the TARDIS door?! That's the TARDIS door.

That's the TARDIS door? That's the TARDIS door.

HOLLOW KNOCKING

TARDIS.

How do you know what would make...

Because you're saying that car door and a baseball bat was a Dalek.

How do you figure that out?

We just go for, "OK, is it metal? Is it big? Is it wooden?

"Does it creak? Does it squeak? Does it rattle?"

And I think a lot of these things come from practice.

I got told it takes ten years to get good at this job.

And I would agree with that, actually.

It just takes a lot of experience and learning.

How did you end up smashing a car door with a baseball bat

as a Dalek sound? You know, as a career?

Well, I did really want to be a music producer.

I went to university and whilst I was there,

I realised I wasn't interested in music

because I'm not very good at it.

But I really, really love making sounds.

I like performing, so I know it sounds a bit silly,

but all these props in this room and my feet,

they feel like instruments to me,

be it drums with my feet, or...

I wouldn't say guitars with some of the props on here,

but you know, I can produce sounds.

And to me, that kind of was how I found out about it.

And then, yeah, I managed to see some studios like this

and get a chance to do it myself. I was really lucky. Yeah.

Talk about getting a chance - here's mine.

Today, apparently, I'm going to be doing the Foley

for some food and the projector,

starting with a shot where Tommy Lee puts his hand into

a box of popcorn and takes a mouthful. Easy, right?

So, using this one. Yeah, yeah.

We're going to put the popcorn in here

and just really just do that.

Just that rummaging sound. Won't eat any just yet,

but just get that rummage.

It doesn't sound it until you get some popcorn.

Do you want to stick some in? OK. Yes, please.

That's the rummaging bag. This is the eating bag. OK.

So how close do you have to be to the microphone?

When we're doing outside recordings,

we get relatively close.

I like to have a good bit of distance.

Have air. I call it air, but essentially it's distance.

Are you ready to go? Yes. I'm ready.

Oh, there's no sound, is there?

So he's sort of... He's picking. He's picked up one.

RUSTLING AND RUMMAGING

I feel like I need to point out... I was too late there, was I?

The microphone can hear your voice. Of course it can.

You know what? Good start. Louise, I'm learning, I'm learning.

You know, this is not... You know.

RUSTLING AND RUMMAGING

That's perfect. Too much? No, that's perfect.

See that? I think I might have found it.

Yeah, all right. Just needs a bit of practice, that's all.

Because I've been doing these work experience segments for a long time

now and I don't necessarily get them all right.

That was really good.

Next up, the same shot, but this time I'm eating some instead.

Yeah. So concentration more on the crunch.

I recommend two at a time.

Go big. Double? Go big or go home. OK. Go big or go home.

So I've got to get the crunch right on time. OK.

CRUNCH

I think that was too subtle. I think I need to be bigger again.

You want a sugary bit of popcorn, because they're the ones

with the more crunchy bit. A bit more of a crack to it, yeah.

I'm getting well into this. Right.

It's salt and sweet, what can you do?

OK, here we go.

CRUNCH

I got the timing wrong! Sorry!

I went too slow.

Did I say three strikes and you're out? Yeah. Sorry.

CRUNCH

That felt good. That one felt good.

I love how you turned away from the mic

as the camera panned away from him as well, so...

I did it instinctively, Louise. I don't know what...

I don't know what's overcoming me,

but I just feel very natural in this place.

I'm impressed. But at the same time, I think anyone can do Foley,

you've just got to have a go. Do you think?

Yeah, absolutely.

The next shot is slightly more challenging.

It shows Mr Pye winding up a film reel,

but with no authentic reel to hand,

Louise has got a slightly unorthodox solution.

We did recently make some projector sound,

and it gave us an unusual idea for something

that we could use to make that projector film sound.

OK, which was? A toaster. Classic.

You know, you see a film projector, you think, toaster.

I just thought I'd try it out and just shoved it in.

TINNY, METALLIC WHIRRING

That's genius. Well, that's a toaster.

OK, here we go.

TINNY, METALLIC WHIRRING

It's more of a rounded loop than a back and forth.

Cool.

Perfecto.

Et voila! Perfecto. Louise's words, not mine.

Time to hear how it all sounds.

This is your popcorn. So, this is the popcorn.

CRUNCH

STEFFAN LAUGHS

I'm happy with that crunch, though. I'm not going to lie to you.

It sounds real. I enjoyed that crunch.

It feels real. Yeah, this was the one I'm not sure.

TINNY, METALLIC WHIRRING

I'm quite pleased with that, actually.

Pull the end of that sound back.

I can't believe that's a toaster.

Wrap it around.

TINNY, METALLIC WHIRRING

That's mad, isn't it? It actually sounds like it.

Actually sounds like it. Well, that's been brilliant.

Thank you very much for your time.

I'm going to quit while I'm ahead because I've done one thing...

Well, two things. I'm going to claim two things well.

So I'm going to walk out now, but thank you very much.

You've got the whole rest of the episode to go, right?

Yeah, unless you fancy subbing?

I tell you what. Look at that. Just look at the time.

Thanks, guys!

Now, I know I'm always banging on about how fantastic the sets are

on Doctor Who, and that's, well,

because they are fantastic, actually.

This 1950s cinema wasn't found by the brilliant locations team

in a sleepy Welsh valleys town.

It was built from scratch on Stage Four at Wolf Studios.

I say scratch, but actually it's been recycled from the set

used on last season's 1960s episode, The Devil's Chord.

Wow.

It's cool, isn't it?

Where'd you buy that? You know, like a wooden, golden statue

that you can paint for film and TV sets. Or have they carved it?

They probably carved it, knowing this show.

Ncuti, how cool is this set? Very. This is fun, isn't it?

Very, very cool.

It does just feel like you're stepping into another world.

Yeah. Doesn't it?

I will say that there's one thing that makes it.

Because it feels like a like a real cinema, doesn't it?

But there's one thing that I think makes it really unrealistic.

What's that? Too much legroom. You'd never get this much legroom.

No, you wouldn't. You'd be way crammed up here, wouldn't you?

No, you would be. Look at this. I mean, this is luxurious.

It is, it is. But, I mean, we are in a different time,

so maybe that's how they had it back then.

Yeah, maybe. Maybe.

I love all the tiny details and stuff like that, that they do.

It's cool. The attention to detail is mad. Yeah.

Leg quibbles aside, I'm not the only one impressed.

This is like walking onto the set of a big movie.

It's fantastic.

The sets are amazing and the detail

in everything, and from every department.

You know, the set decoration, and then costume and make-up.

It's been an amazing week of filming.

And it's not just the sets that are dressed to impress.

Those 1950s costumes are classy, too.

This was my favourite episode so far,

cos I love that I get to dress in this beautiful costume.

I believe it is inspired

by West Side Story, Anita from the West Side Story.

Oh, wow.

This episode is all about cinema and the old days of cinema,

and so to see them look like movie stars of that era,

it just adds so much value.

1950s Miami. What a, what a world to step into.

I love, I love wearing a wig. Yeah? Yeah, yeah.

I love the costumes. Such a helpful, like,

vessel to transport you into that time and place. Mm-hm.

And I love an outfit.

As we've discovered, yeah. I love an outfit.

It's such a glamorous look.

And I've not had a chance very much in my career to be able to do that.

And that's really exciting.

Add in some nostalgic prop snacks...

Butterfingers.

Um, peppermint kisses.

Some doughnuts,

as well as these popcorn boxes.

..and this immersive set is a picture-perfect experience

that gives you kicks at the flicks.

I've eaten at least two full, like, tubs.

I'm being paid to eat popcorn and scream.

AHH! AHHHH!

Cut. Thank you.

Get off him!

When it came to filming this episode, the trials and tribulations

of making the baddie a cartoon character

and then turning the Doctor and Belinda into cartoons as well,

were nothing compared to finding a location

that could pass as the exterior of a 1950s American movie theatre.

But what do you know? Having scoured the country,

just four miles up the road from Wolf Studios,

the Who crew found the perfect spot at Penarth Pier.

Because nothing says tropical Miami quite like

a wet winter's day in South Wales.

Storm Jocelyn has arrived, bringing yet more rain

and another dose of strong to gale force winds.

That's right. The scene was shot in the face of a full-on storm.

It was freezing cold and I had to pretend it was like

a balmy summer night in Miami.

It was quite comical, if anything.

Just in between takes, just having to be all wrapped up in,

like, a hot water bottle and all the blankets and everything.

But then, as soon as it's off, like,

pretend that I'm somewhere warm when it's freezing.

The best acting you'll ever see me do.

The magic of television. It wasn't like the blazing heat of the South,

it was a rainstorm in South Wales, but we kept on going.

HE LAUGHS

Action!

With the wind howling and it raining cats and dogs,

there were more umbrellas, hot water bottles

and towel coats than you could shake a Vindicator at.

But that didn't dampen our spirits.

Now, the weather is not very Miami weather at the moment.

But here, if you come this way, that's the TARDIS there,

and this is where they're setting up to film.

So this is it. We're set up for a big day's filming,

because this is the end of the episode.

For a take now. Very exciting. Thank you very much.

I've been down here a lot. My mate got married, actually,

in that building. Wow. And it didn't look like this.

But I'm trying to remember what it used to look like.

So what's the art department done to change it?

I think exterior-wise there's a decking structure

that was in place. Yeah. That was obviously too modern.

That had to be ripped out.

You ripped it out? Yeah, we took it out.

We were looking to put it straight back in.

Yeah? But we came across a lot of rotted wood.

Oh, right. So you're replacing it?

And the cost of that has landed with us, unfortunately.

It was an unforeseen cost. Your spreadsheet must be a nightmare.

It's just gone....

A lot of this wasn't painted, the front.

We've changed the doors as well. Just changed loads then.

Yeah, yeah, we've added a lot of elements to it.

It looks cool. Yeah.

And then you've got to get it back to what it looked like before,

once you're done filming? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

So it's quite a difference, but it'll be good.

It'll be good.

But before they get it back to what it looked like before,

they have to get the shots in the bag.

And the man in charge of controlling the cast, the crew,

the general public and the weather is producer Chris May.

So, there's a lot going on today. There is. There's tons.

Yeah. There's absolutely tons. There's absolutely tons.

All that weight sort of sits on you a little bit,

because you're the producer. Yeah, yeah.

So your sort of main role today when it's all happening...

Just making sure we finish. Right.

So just getting it all done?

Yeah, I have to do, like,

around the corner, just over there, do little rain dances,

anti-rain dances. That's an important part of my job.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think...

Which you're going to demonstrate to us... Another time.

Yeah, you know, it's just... I don't know what I do.

What do producers do? Now, you've asked me, I'm not quite sure.

Keep the show on the road.

Keep the show on the road. Does anyone else know?

Yeah, are we going with that? Produce.

Yeah. Yeah, just keep producing.

I think what it is actually, is I have to keep on saying,

I just have to keep on saying, "It's going to be fine."

Yeah. And it probably will. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

The last shot of the day involves the wonderful Anita Dobson

playing the mysterious Mrs Flood.

I've spent the last year trying to get her

to give us some insight into what her character is up to,

but all I get is a tight-lipped nothing.

Still, persistence is my middle name.

Right. I know you can't answer this,

but surely by now there must be something?

Because we keep doing this,

round and round in circles about Mrs Flood.

I know you say you don't know,

but we don't believe you. You don't believe me?

No. I think you probably know something, you see?

I actually had someone who tried to blackmail me into telling them.

You didn't? About Mrs Flood. Yeah.

And I have to tell you, I know nothing.

It's the same. I just, uh...

I'm just... You know what? My father used to say to me,

"If we were meant to know things, then we would know."

And I think if I was meant to know about Mrs Flood, I would know.

So I'm just going to love playing all these characters

and just roll with it.

Yeah. How have you found the reaction to your character?

Because now people are starting to clock on that,

"Oh, hang about. What's going on here?

"Who is she? What's all this about?"

Have they been chatting to you about it?

Well, it kind of went a bit viral. It did, yeah.

And we went to the cinema and they had two stormtroopers,

you know, standing there, you know, looking fabulous.

And I said, "Oh, I covet them hugely.

"Do you want to sell them?" And he went, "No."

I said, "OK, if you change your mind, call me."

And he went, "Tell me what's happening to Mrs Flood

"and they're yours."

Fantastic. And I said, "No."

Trick of the light.

Next time on Doctor Who...

SIRENS

The airlock only takes six. Doctor and Belinda with me,

plus troopers one to three.

Troopers four to nine, follow us in.