The Doctor (Jodie), Yaz (Mandip Gill), and Dan (John Bishop) stormed back onto our screens to battle the legendary Sea Devils in a full-on pirate extravaganza.
One scene quite literally saw them hitting the deck as they fought with swords on a pirate ship – and it turns out Jodie was an absolute pro the moment she held a sword. Who knew?
Chatting to Metro.co.uk, stunt coordinator Crispin Layfield revealed: ‘I mean, Jodie – she’s a seasoned pro. She’s been there, done it now. She’s very capable, very physical. Whenever her stunt double turns up, she’s always saying, “Why is she here?! Why am I not allowed to do it?”
‘Generally she wants to do everything and certainly the sword-fighting. I was very impressed – she picked that up so quickly and she was straight into it.
‘She was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.’
Despite the actors smashing it, Crispin admitted the sword-fighting sequence was one of the most challenging he’s filmed for Doctor Who: Flux and the three specials.
‘That was quite challenging because we were doing bits of wire stuff, bits of physical action, bits of gymnastics action, there were weapons, obviously they were specialist weapons, they weren’t just everyday swords – they were the character’s swords so a lot of different props with the swords,’ he recalled.
However, lots of rehearsal time meant the actors could have one-to-one coaching with sword-work.
Crispin, who’s been working on Doctor Who since it was rebooted in 2005, also revealed that, despite being the newest cast member, John had to be ‘reigned in’ as he was so keen to take on stunts.
‘He’s very physical, he loves it,’ the stunt coordinator explained. ‘He runs around all over the place. He’s climbing up cranes and, and all sorts, throwing himself on the ground. He was very good!’
Joking that John could have been a ‘frustrated stuntman’ in another life, Crispin added: ‘He was involved in a lot of wires and we had a few bits where he had to fall through the ceiling onto the floor.
‘It’s quite hard – I will always want a stuntman to do that. He’s on a wire but we’re dropping him all the way to the floor and stopping him just before the floor, I mean, we’re talking an inch or so.
‘John’s constantly, “Can I do it? Can I do it?” I said “Okay, we’ll test it with a stuntman” and then we did a slow run with John and he had a great big grin on his face, “I want to go faster!” And he was fantastic, honestly.’
‘I had a job to reign him in a little bit!’ Crispin laughed. ‘He wanted to do everything.
‘The odd time, I said “No John, we can’t do this. I can’t slam you into that wall too hard. If you get injured, then we’re stuffed for a little while! We can’t carry on filming. Certain elements we can use a stunt double for but obviously I want you to do as much as we possible can because it’s all about you!”‘
However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing, as Mandip previously revealed she suffered an injury onboard the pirate ship.
In the middle of filming Mandip nearly had to pause production to nurse her finger, which she hurt while filming the explosive showdown alongside Jodie and John.
Speaking to the RadioTimes.com, Mandip joked: ‘It didn’t go down very well. I was like, “This sword is really heavy. And I’ve hurt my finger now. Shall we stop?”‘
But despite the pain, the actress described the fight as an ‘amazing stunt’ and has said she ‘can’t stop thinking about it’.
‘I was like, I actually hurt my finger because of a Sea Devil. Not many people get to say that,’ she added.
Crispin has been working in the stunt industry since 1996. Aside from his incredible work on Doctor Who, he’s also worked on the action for countless series including Sex Education, Black Mirror, Luther, and Jonathan Creek.
Legend of the Sea Devils is Jodie’s penultimate episode as the 13th Doctor, with the next special, set to air this autumn, due to show her regeneration into the 14th Doctor.
At the same time, Chris Chibnall will step down as showrunner, with Russell T Davies about to return for his second stint on the sci-fi.
Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils is available on BBC iPlayer.
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