We're shooting in Wales but Unit Base is about an hour's drive from Cardiff, meaning it's a 5.30am start from the BBC offices. But in a sense the journey to where we are now has been a longer one. It's taken us from the Valley of the Gods to the Vale of Glamorgan; from the icy waters of Cornwall to Caerphilly Castle and, of course, Cardiff, the home of Doctor Who. And this ends today. On a beautiful Monday in the middle of July, with the cast and crew looking as enthusiastic and excited as they did back in September, 2010 when shooting got underway on the Eleventh Doctor's second season.
Whilst the TARDIS is being assembled, Matt Smith, Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan arrive. 'It's a great day for it!' Karen declares. 'This is amazing! We're here, the TARDIS is here and it all looks amazing! It's a brilliant way to spend the day!'
Director Richard Senior and producer Marcus Wilson discuss the day's shoot with the stars of the show. Matt checks out one of the specially created props and laughs. 'I love this!' he declares.
There's a slightly celebratory atmosphere. It's been many months since the team began production on the most ambitious series of Doctor Who ever but when the cameras start turning, everyone's focus returns to the task in hand. And what a task. The scenes shot today will form one of the most memorable sequences of the current series and typically for Doctor Who, it's a mixture of drama, humour and action.
Matt finishes filming at precisely 10.36am and before he's whisked off to his next appointment (his day isn't over by a long chalk!) he finds time to shake hands with crew members, thanking them and bidding them a brief farewell.
A couple of hours later, Karen is grabbing a glass of water. She looks back on the morning's shoot, reflecting, 'It was really exciting when we all got together here this morning... We had so much energy! We were bouncing around like children!' But today is the last day of shooting for the series. She nods, admitting, 'I'm quite sad about that actually.'
After lunch, everyone is up for one last push. Richard and Marcus are geeing up the crew, a stunt man is having make-up applied and Karen and Arthur are discussing their next scene.
'Action!'
Arthur Darvill's filming wraps at precisely 18.20 and less than ten minutes later, the final moment is captured. That's it! Marcus gives a broad grin. 'Thank you ladies and gents! That is a wrap on series 6! Thank you very much indeed!'
And then the celebratory atmosphere is back! Everyone trudges away but typical of this team, there's already excited talk about the episodes that lie ahead.
It's summed up by Karen Gillan who pauses to take one last look at the incredible location we've used today. 'It's quite sad to be saying goodbye to the boys,' she comments, before adding with a smile, 'But we'll be re-united again very soon!'
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