Fear Her | A Brief History Of Time (Travel) (original) (raw)

Modern Series Episode 26:
Fear Her

In 2012, London is gearing up to host the Summer Olympic Games. But in Dame Kelly Holmes Close, a residential neighbourhood along the route of the Olympic torch, children are vanishing in broad daylight. The Doctor and Rose investigate, and the trail leads them to a young girl named Chloe Webber. Her mother worries because Chloe has become withdrawn following the recent death of her abusive father. But the Doctor discovers that Chloe has bonded with a powerful interstellar entity called an Isolus. Now she has the ability to trap people inside her crayon drawings -- and anyone could be her next target.

The script originally intended to be the eleventh episode of Season Twenty-Eight came from the pen of Stephen Fry, and was known by the placeholder title “The 1920s”. Eventually, however, budget issues prompted the postponement of Fry's adventure to the following year; it would ultimately be abandoned altogether. Fortunately, executive producer Russell T Davies had an additional story in development, with the idea that it could be slotted into Season Twenty-Eight if necessary, and would otherwise be available for use during Season Twenty-Nine. The writer was Matthew Graham; this would be his first _Doctor Who_script, but he had previously discussed the programme's revival with the BBC prior to the announcement that Davies would be its new showrunner.

Davies initially asked Graham for a budget-conscious narrative, largely set in a single location such as a bunker. Graham was worried that the result would be dull and, at a meeting with Davies and executive producer Julie Gardner in late August 2005, he instead proposed a high-concept idea about an entity draining an alien planet of its beauty. Davies was cool to this notion, preferring an Earth setting and a less abstract storyline. Aware that Graham had gotten his start working in children's television, Davies asked him to consider scenarios which would appeal to his young son. This led to a conversation about the eerie nature of old portraits, whose eyes could seem to follow an observer. Contemplating an adventure involving living paintings, Graham suggested that it would be even more effective if the artwork was instead children's drawings, which often had a surreal and disproportionate quality. He was duly commissioned on August 31st.

The gag about the TARDIS landing the wrong way reflected Matthew Graham's own struggles with parallel parking

Graham and Davies were both keen for the narrative to take place in a regular neighbourhood, since they were aware that many young fans dreamt of the TARDIS materialising on their street. The setting would be made slightly unusual by its near-future timeframe, taking advantage of the growing excitement for the forthcoming 2012 London Olympics. Graham named the cul de sac after Olympic runner Dame Kelly Holmes, who held multiple British records and won two gold medals at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece. For the Isolus, Graham was inspired by the spore-like realisation of the titular monsters in the 1978 version of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. The gag about the TARDIS landing with its door facing the wrong way reflected Graham's own struggles with parallel parking. The adventure was originally called “Chloe Webber Destroys The Earth” and then “You're A Bad Girl, Chloe Webber”, but both were rejected by Davies as being too lengthy. Ultimately, it was decided to deviate from standard Doctor Who convention and call the episode Fear Her.

With the development of Graham's story already well under way by the time that “The 1920s” was dropped from Season Twenty-Eight in November, Fear Her was an obvious choice to replace it. Although it was intended that Fry's script would be part of the year's sixth recording block, its loss -- and difficulties with the planned Block Four, consisting of The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit -- resulted in a rearrangement of the production schedule. Fear Her now joined The Idiot's Lantern as the revised Block Four, directed by Euros Lyn. However, this presented a problem because it meant that events intended to take place in late July would be recorded during the chilly days of Winter 2006. With the production team keen to limit the story's visual effects requirements, it wasn't practical to digitally remove such giveaways as the actors' steaming breath. Instead, dialogue was added to the script which explained that the Isolus was absorbing heat in its vicinity.

The principal location for Fear Her was Page Drive, in the Tremorfa area of Cardiff. It posed as Dame Kelly Holmes Close, while many scenes in the Webber home were filmed at a residence there. Cast and crew worked on Page Drive from January 24th to 27th, and then returned after the weekend on the 30th and 31st. Part of January 27th was spent elsewhere in Cardiff. At the Millennium Stadium, Lyn recorded the Doctor's run up the steps of the Olympic Stadium, as well as shots of its empty interior. Furthermore, footage of the torchbearer jogging through the streets of London was recorded on Gorsedd Gardens Road. Originally, Lyn had hoped to cast Holmes herself in this role -- taking his cue from Graham's script -- but she was unavailable due to her commitments to the reality series Dancing On Ice.

January 31st also saw the episode's TARDISode recorded on Page Drive. Writer Gareth Roberts imagined a _Crimewatch_-style report on the children's disappearances -- but done in a more sensationalistic, American style which he imagined would have become increasingly common on British television by 2012. Great difficulty was encountered in finding a suitable name for the faux programme which would avoid any trademark issues. Ultimately, Roberts opted for _CrimeCrackers_because its rights were already owned by the BBC, and permission could be obtained for its use. The fifty-four-second _TARDISode_concluded with a shot of the drawing of Chloe's father.

Four days at the regular Doctor Who studio space of Unit Q2 in Newport then followed, from February 1st to 4th. Material in Chloe's bedroom was recorded throughout, while the two middle days also saw cameras rolling on the standing TARDIS set, and Lyn additionally captured footage of the stairs and landing in the Webber house on the 3rd. For Chloe's drawings, some of the images were developed with the assistance of production buyer Joelle Rumbelow's eleven-year-old sister, Indigo.

Lyn's team was at work in several Cardiff locations on February 6th. Alongside further sequences on Page Drive, the TARDIS materialised at Chapman's Removals & Storage Yard, while the Doctor lit the Olympic flame at St Albans Rugby Club. This left only various pick-up shots to be completed, the first of which was the pod landing in the Olympic torch, filmed on Blenheim Road in Cardiff on February 10th. The remaining inserts were taped at Unit Q2: Chloe drawing her pictures on February 15th, with art student Tinate Bilal standing in for Abisola Agbaje; the cat entering the box on the 22nd; and finally the TARDIS scanner on the 23rd.

The corresponding TARDISode was made available on June 17th. A week later, with the World Cup continuing to disrupt the BBC's schedules, Fear Her was preceded by Just For Laughs and a news update. Doctor Who led directly into Match Of The Day Live, featuring a knockout stage contest between Argentina and Mexico.

• Doctor Who Magazine Special Edition #14, 9th November 2006, “Episode 11: Fear Her” by Andrew Pixley, Panini Publishing Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Complete History #53, 2016, “Story 176: Fear Her”, edited by Mark Wright, Hachette Partworks Ltd.
• Doctor Who: The Inside Story by Gary Russell (2006), BBC Books.

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