Guest Stars Bring ‘Comedy Gold Dust’ to Doctor Who Set
Guest stars Aisling Bea and Adjani Salmon brought “comedy gold dust” to the set of Doctor Who while filming the New Year’s Eve special.
Following the Doctor Who: Flux finale, the Timelord and friends will kick off 2022 with a special time-looped action adventure, set on New Years Eve.
Eve Of The Dalek’s will feature the 13th Doctor, played by Jodie Whittaker, Yasmin Khan played by Mandip Gill alongside Dan Lewis, who is played by comedian John Bishop, pursued by their greatest enemy, the Daleks.
Comedian Bea and actor Salmon join the festive episode, which will air on BBC One on New Years Day.
Lead actress Whittaker, the first female doctor, said, âI had met Aisling before – and had never met Adjani – so I knew how adorable Aisling was going to be and how hilarious she is.
âMy first introduction to Adjani was when we read about Zoom and he was absolutely hilarious and I couldn’t wait to see his energy and Aisling’s, they are so different and complement each other so well.
“Because they both come from a comedy world that I’m not from or Mandip isn’t (but obviously John is), it was like comedy gold dust right on the set with them, they made us laugh all the time. “
The 39-year-old announced in July that she would be leaving the BBC sci-fi drama after the upcoming series and a trio of specials next year.
Bishop, 55, added: âThe relationship between Aisling and Adjani is great – there are some ad libs they let go that they kept because they’re great comedic actors and both very funny.
“Aisling can reverse her voices and her characters and all that, so there was a lot of messing around and laughing.”
Gill, 33, said they all had “fun” working together on the single episode. She said: âIt was really fun working with Aisling and Adjani. They are very funny people.
âAisling created these characters in my life and played them for me, just for me, it was like having a one woman show every time we cut the camera.
âThere was a time when Jodie, Aisling and I really thought it would be a good idea to do a music video because there was a big silver door and it reminded us of Girls Aloud’s Sound Of The Underground.
“We practiced it, then we had to go on set, then we rehearsed it and in my head I really thought Ajani was actually our tour director.”
This is the first of three Doctor Who Specials to air in 2022. The second Special to air in Spring and Whittaker’s final feature film Special will air in the fall, as part of the BBC’s centenary celebration.
Dreaming While Black star Salmon added, âThe whole Doctor Who clique is like a family and a unit.
âIt’s like a family is working together and when we were in a high pressure environment it was always this synergy of everyone working, moving and getting things done.
âAs a filmmaker, I watch it thinking ‘I want that energy when I’m on set’.â
Doctor Who Eve Of The Daleks will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 7 p.m. on New Years Day 2022.