So, Yesterday...

I got to have a private, backstage tour of the Doctor Who studio thingie in Cardiff, Wales, where they have the actual new Tardis.

I am pretty much in heaven.

First, as you go through the studio office doors, there’s a big Dalek staring at you.  That’s pretty funny.  Then as you walk backstage, you pass another Dalek and a Weeping Angel, and you walk up regular wooden stairs to a door that looks like the regular outside wall of the Tardis, with green all around it so they can greenscreen in details.

Then we got to go in, courtesy the wonderful Edward and Richard, Brand Manager and Script Supervisor to the show (thank you guys, SO MUCH!), and we were allowed to take as many photos as we wanted. The prop guys turned on all the lights for us, which made it even more thrilling.

This new Tardis is the first one that is 360 degrees. Usually, it is an open set, incomplete, missing sections of wall so they can film. But this one goes all the way around and is completely immersive. The level of detail is fantastic…with the lights going round, it’s really quite stunning and I couldn’t help fangirling all over the place.

It actually DID feel a little bit magical.

You can actually go down the stairs in the set and there’s a green pulsing engine underneath the main set, making it feel even more real, somehow.

Then they arranged for complimentary passes to the Doctor Who Experience, just a block away, which was ALSO wonderful, but perhaps a story for another post.

Thank you so much, Edward and Richard, it was lovely to meet you, and Gareth, and we won’t soon forget getting to drive the Tardis!

(Note that we actually didn’t drive the Tardis anywhere because we would probably just crash into the era of the Black Plague).