JAILHOUSE DOC

Jodie Whittaker is the Doctor

Arrested by the Judoon at the end of the last series, where does this episode find the Doctor?

The Doctor is in prison, with time passed. And obviously time plays out for the Doctor in a certain way. What’s interesting about the start of this is that the discoveries and the journeys that we all go on aren’t necessarily Doctor-led. That makes it really exciting as well, because it’s definitely a team effort throughout.

What was it like having John Barrowman on set?

He’s incredibly energetic and passionate as a person, and as Captain Jack. Those are the things that have really bonded us as a fam and a family, going at things a million miles an hour. To have a character that can keep up is really exciting, and kind of keeps everyone going.

Rumours have been flying about departures from the series…

Well, as the Doctor I will say that the fam as a four is no more.

How do you feel about Bradley and Tosin leaving the show?

On a personal note, I’m absolutely devastated. Without going into any specifics about anything to do with what happens, just purely knowing it was the last scenes for myself with those actors. Both of them carried me to my trailer. I’ve not cried like that for such a long time. Brad couldn’t cope with it at all. Tosin was like, “I really can’t cope with you getting that upset”. I think that sums up how I feel. Then I was like [feigns crying] “Don’t leave me with her!”

Chris Noth is back as amoral businessman Jack Robertson…

He’s brilliant. I feel like we’ve been so lucky with all the guest people that have come in. They’ve brought so much, but then I feel like they’ve had a really good time as well, which I think you can always tell. Chris is a comedy genius. I think he’s hilarious.

What’s it like facing off against Daleks once more?

As the Doctor, to have scenes where you are dealing with – or at times, failing to deal with – such an iconic monster, it just feels as if it really puts our stamp on our time in the series. It’s so brilliant when it’s new monsters and we get to build those brand new relationships with things that potentially might go on for decades. But to know that during our time we’ve had our butting heads with them is really great. It’s interesting how scary they are, because they’re not very fast. They’re so ominous. They’re really creepy – you know, the tone of voice, everything about it. You know you’re gonna be upstaged. You’re like, “I didn’t need an hour in make-up, I’m getting well upstaged there by that”.

Have revelations for the Doctor in the last series changed her?

Every event can have a profound effect on you. I don’t know if that needs to be apparent in every scenario, but you can’t discover things as big as the Doctor did without it leaving some questions and some fundamental, changes, I suppose. What this feels like is: it’s huge, but also it feels well within what we explore every episode anyway. How will this challenge the Doctor? What will be the things you take from it? What will be the things that really rock you? And I think that because those questions have been asked, or answered, or shaped, or however you want to interpret it, it leaves it for this season to be very exciting.

Can you describe the episode in one word?

Rollercoaster. Is that one word?