03x04 - A New York Story

Episode transcripts for the TV show, "Doctor Who: Confidential". Aired: 26 March 2005 – 1 October 2011.*
Watch/Buy Amazon  Merchandise  Collectibles



Series is described as focusing on the human element of the series, Confidential features behind-the-scenes footage on the making of Doctor Who through clips and interviews with the cast, production crew and other people, including those who have participated in the television series over the years of its existence.
Post Reply

03x04 - A New York Story

Post by bunniefuu »

He's travelled the galaxy
through space and time.
But start spreading the news,

because the Doctor has landed
in old New York, New York.

Confidential crosses the Atlantic

to the city that never sleeps
and spends every waking hour in the
company of writer Helen Raynor.

Join us as we go Stateside to find
out the real-life inspirations
behind Daleks In Manhattan.

We've had the Daleks in
the far future, we've had them
in the present day,

so a new setting to
sort of revitalise them is the past.

The challenge of the series is
to keep coming up with new ideas and
keep taking it to different places.

I think it's kind of the ultimate -
to take the Daleks into Manhattan.

Just over there
is the Empire State Building.

Martha doesn't know
that she's coming to New York,

and they're just taking one final
detour before she's due to go home...

Where are we? Ah!

Smell that Atlantic breeze!

..realise we're at the Statue of
Liberty... Have you met my friend?

..and then look out to Manhattan,
which is even further round that way.

The Empire State Building's notWork in progress.

Martha sees the unfinished Empire
State Building and they work out that
they must be in the early s.

A couple of floors to go,
and if I know my history, that
makes the date somewhere around...

November st .You're getting good at this!

They would have a clear perspective
all the way up Manhattan towards the
Empire State Building,

which would have been the tallest
thing on the skyline at that point.

I love the history.

I love the kind of back story that
we're telling in these episodes.

Initially I was casting round -
"Which great New York iconic building
or event am I interested in?"

Because it's always nice to tie
the stories into something
real and identifiable.

In , they were building
the Empire State Building.

It's THE iconic building of New York.

And I got obsessed
by the mast at the top.

"What would you build the
tallest building in the world for?"

Then, all of a sudden, it made
complete sense to use that building.

I love the way she's made
the building of it so
integral to the whole thing.

MUSIC: "Rhapsody In Blue"
by George Gershwin

So the stage is set,
the venue's ready...

it's time to bring
on the dancing girls!

Girls, it's show time!

♪ Ooh, get it on

♪ Oh, yeah, baby
Cos it's show time

♪ Ooh, yeah... ♪

Once they've done Miranda circlingTo the lines...

Then nip in.
That's your cue to nip in.

It's our Diamonds Are
A Girl's Best Friend equivalent.

It's one of those moments where you
want to show off what we can do.

It's set in a theatre.
Tallulah's vital to the plot.

It would be very easy to have the
theatre stuff going on off stage,
just noises in the background.

But we've got the the space to say,
"They really are in a Broadway
theatre,

"we can get a chorus line,
we can dress them, we can do that."

It's all about showing the audience
different worlds, and I think

to show them the theatre is a world
that we've never really gone into.

And we've got showgirls.
How marvellous is that?

RAUNCHY MUSIC PLAYS

The moment we said we had showgirls,
Murray said, "Can I write a song?"
And we said, "Off you go."

♪ You lured me in
with your cold, grey eyes

♪ Your simple smile
your bewitching lies... ♪

So you use glamour and a bit of fun
and a bit of colour like that,

so long as there's still a story
ticking way underneath it all.

Ever been on stage?

It's not a story about a theatre,
but it's been nice to get
that in there as a texture.

You spoil my sashay tonight,
I'm gonna punch you.

Because I've worked a lot in theatre,
I know the backstage
feel of it very well

and the whole kind of rhythm of being
in a theatre before a performance.

That's very crucial.

Before a performance, the clock is
ticking so you can count down.

It's two minutes till curtain up and
the girls have got to get ready

and so you've got a bit
of movement and a clock ticking
to kind of get things rolling on.

♪ Don't feel like dancing, dancing

♪ Even if I find nothing better to do

♪ Don't feel like dancing, dancing

♪ Why'd you break it down
when I'm not in the mood?

♪ Don't feel like dancing, dancing

♪ I'd rather be home
with the one in the bed till dawn

♪ With you-hoo-hoo... ♪

♪ ..Don't feel like dancing, dancing

♪ Even if I find nothing better to do

♪ Don't feel like dancing, dancing

♪ Why'd you break it down
when I'm not in the mood?

♪ Don't feel like dancing, dancing

♪ I'd rather be home
with the one in the bed... ♪

Looking glamorous. That's the point.

It's those little pockets of glamour
in a very brown and sad world.

Brilliant. Musical numbers aren't
that common in Doctor Who, so this
is a kind of rare occasion.

But it's great to work with a
choreographer and get a dance
routine that kind of works...

not just looks nice, but
it also all has to come back to the
story, it has to fit into the story.

It's going to be amazing
to see them doing it.

You'll believe what's going on
on the stage and on the screen and,
ultimately, in the story.

D camera, C camera.

And...curtains.

And playback.

HEAVY BEATS

ORCHESTRA PLAYS
AND AUDIENCE WHISTLES AND CHEERS

♪ You lured me in
with your cold, grey eyes

♪ Your simple smile
your bewitching lies

♪ One and one and one is three

♪ My bad, bad angel

♪ Put the devil in me

♪ You put the devil in me

♪ You put the devil in me

♪ You put the devil in me

♪ My bad, bad angel

♪ You put the devil in me... ♪

APPLAUSE

The whole script came alive when
she came up with Hooverville,

the fact that people were living in
such poverty actually in the city -
they built a city within the city.

The notion that they would be
surrounded by all this wealth

and yet be starving
was quite shocking.

All the people in
Hooverville are vulnerable

and therefore easily exploited
and easily taken by the Daleks.

At the end, maybe...

If, like, once they say yes,
they come to my side, so you can see
clearly who's volunteered.

Well, I think it's only
those that do, isn't it?

In the tunnel, it's only them.

He wants to make a lot of money
and he'll do anything.

I'm gonna run this city, whatever
it takes. ..It's his ambition.

YOU HAVE RARE AMBITION.

The Daleks find in him
what they want to use.

YOU THINK LIKE A DALEK.

I did initially write him as
much more of a black-and-white,
moustache-twirling villain.

I'll take that as a compliment.There's an interesting parallel
between Mr Diagoras and Solomon.

Another thing haunting this is that
World w*r I was very recent.

I've been a soldier myself.

I swore then I'd survive.

They both have similar speeches
about having been in the w*r.

I fought in the Great w*r.

A lot of us did.

And the only reason we got through
was because we stuck together.

I like the fact they're both haunted
by WWI, they're both changed by it,
and they've both gone opposite ways.

Both of them have been through
potentially similar experiences.

Solomon has become a leader of men,
which is why he's so
compassionate and helpful.

Diagoras is absolutely selfish as a
result. He's very damaged, I think.
He's a w*r-damaged man.

And having seen that devastation,
he's simply out for number one.

That's progress.

You gotta move with the
times or you get left behind.

Diagoras has come out
having learned the lesson that
you look after number one

and that actually people are weak
and you can exploit them.

They're a nice
parallel throughout the story.

What's the work?A little trip down the sewers.

MEN MURMUR
Got a tunnel collapsed,

There were so many people out
of work, it was a buyers' market.

They could be paid as little as
the employers wanted to pay them.

You don't need the work?
That's fine.

And that's something that Diagoras
knows absolutely when he turns up
to recruit in Hooverville.

A dollar a day is a sl*ve wage.

Men don't always come back up,
do they?

Accidents happen. What do you mean?
What sort of accidents?

SQUEALING
Run!

♪ I'm going missing for a while

♪ I've got nothing left to lose

♪ Oh, I'll listen to anything... ♪

No! Frank! No!

It's a great episode.
Post Reply