Look Who’s been spotted in the desert
A TV sci-fi hero has had more than just monsters to deal with in Dubai, reports Sean O’Driscoll

Out of control cranes. Storms in the desert. What next for intrepid Time Lord Doctor Who as he battles to film an episode in Dubai?
The cast and crew of the hit BBC show were in Dubai this week to shoot parts of the special episode. But David Tennant and his co-stars had to return for an extra day of filming after this week’s sandstorm delayed production. The cast ended up spending an extra two nights in their hotel and were expected to finish yesterday.

The special, entitled ‘Planet of the Dead’, stars Tennant as the Doctor, along with actress Michelle Ryan, who were in Margham, off the Hatta Road, for filming over the last few days. The episode also features popular British comedian Lee Evans. The Margham area is popular with off-road drivers and is famed for its huge sand dunes and barren landscape. But the area wasn’t quite barren enough for the BBC, the United Kingdom’s public-funded broadcaster. The production crew had to pull up more than 20 trees and bushes in the desert to make it look even more sparse. However, they said they had permission and would replant the trees when production ends.

And even though 7DAYS was refused the chance to go on the set, we can still reveal new plotlines that will explain damage to Dr Who’s double decker bus. The vehicle was badly damaged when dropped by a crane as it was being unloaded at Dubai port. The bus is identical to one being used at studios in Cardiff, in the UK, where the rest of the episode is being shot.An insider told 7DAYS that the BBC rewrote the script after the accident so that Dr Who’s bus collides with another craft while travelling through space and then crash-lands on an uninhabited planet - in real life, the desert around Dubai.  

Last month, 7DAYS published exclusive photos of the damaged bus (left). It was thought that a replacement might be shipped out but this appears not to have been the case.  In the Dubai special, Bionic Woman and Merlin star Michelle Ryan plays Christina de Souza who joins the Doctor on a bus-trip, which takes “a very unexpected detour into danger”.  British comic Lee Evans plays a character called Malcolm, whose life becomes connected to the Doctor’s “under extraordinary circumstances”, the BBC said.

Producer Tracie Simpson said that the locations in Dubai “are a perfect match for writer Russell T Davies’s vision of the episode and we expect to film some incredible scenes while we are here”. ‘Planet of the Dead’ is the first of four Doctor Who specials this year and will air in the spring.
sean.odriscoll@7days.ae