BBCA Channel
Doctor Who
Newsletter
An episode of Doctor Who so big that only Utah’s vast Monument Valley could contain it? That’s what writer/exec producer Steven Moffat imagined when he set his new two-part season opener in the U.S.
Executive producer Beth Willis reveals, “We really wanted to come back with Series 6 with a bang. Steven came to Piers [Wenger] and I and asked, ‘Could we shoot this in America?’”
Thankfully, Beth and Piers gave Steven the go-ahead, shooting the long-running British show on-location in the States for the very first time. Not only are the rocky vistas in the premiere incredible, but Moffat really embraced the U.S. as a mythic land of Stetsons, pistols, all-night diners, and sody-pop. He chats about it in the latest installment of the Doctor Who Insider.
Moffat says, “I wanted to take all that tremendous Britishness of Amy, Rory, and the Doctor and really frame them with Americana.”
Toby Haynes, who directed the two-part episode, says, “This is America. This is the home of John Ford. This is the West, we’re doing Westerns. It’s fantastic, it’s epic, the scale is like nothing else Doctor Who has ever seen.”
Stars Matt Smith, Arthur Darvill, and Karen Gillan also chime in about Doctor Who in America. Guess which iconic Oscar-winning film was filmed in the same location in Utah?
5 Comments
I’m such a dummy, I always thought that “Daleks in Manhattan” was partially filmed in NY. No laughing at me, I really thought the scenes with the Empire State building in the background were really there! Duh on me!
I love that Dr. Who was filmed in America.
Steven Moffet is my idol, Doctor Who is my fave tv show since Jon Pertwee, and Utah’s my favorite state to camp in. What could be better than the premiere of Series 6? Is it the 23rd yet? Ok, so I get phone calls from my students’ parents wanting to know how I have turned their kids into Citizens of Who-ville?
I am determined to cure them of MTV-SHORT-ATTENTION-SPAN-ITIS and cure them with the best show this side of the pond. One parent actually admitted that the finale of Series 5 was the first two hours of tv his daughter had ever watched, including movies, without channel surfing looking for something else. Take THAT, Star Trek! Keep those complex plots coming, Mr. M. You make my teaching job easier! 
AWESOME! They can’t film fast enough for me!
@Melody, TREK lost it’s soul years ago, but I sorta liked the last movie, “sorta”.
If he held back the Daleks with a single Jammie Dodger, I wonder what’s so serious that he needs twelve?