The 12th Doctor: A Blue Peter Special Blue Peter

-Are you excited about the new series of Doctor Who?

-We are.

It's almost time to see Peter Capaldi start as the new Doctor.

-We're celebrating with this action-packed show.

-One question.

What's he doing here?

Exterminate! Exterminate!

Hello! Now, if you absolutely love Doctor Who, don't go anywhere,

cos we have such a big show planned today

to celebrate the return of the Doctor to our screens. You'll love it.

For lots of reasons. One of them is this guy -

in real life Dan Starkey, a legend -

but in Doctor Who, he plays Commander Strax.

Dan'll be talking us through what it's like to play this funny alien.

Plus, we're joined by this lovely bunch

who will help me show you how to make one of these -

your very own Doctor Who T-shirt.

So make sure you don't go anywhere.

Last year, we launched the Doctor Who competition

to design a sonic device for Strax, Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint.

Loads of you got in touch - nearly 4,000 of you entered.

These are the top 45 entries

that all earned themselves an orange competition badge.

From there, three very lucky winners were chosen

and this is what happened when they got to see their creations in action.

'When we asked you to come up with designs for sonic devices

'for Strax, Madame Vastra

'and Jenny, you entered in your thousands.

'Each and every one of the 3,500 entries was looked at...'

-It's an invisibility button.

-I can see that being of great use.

-'..analysed...'

-It's a sonic walkie-talkie, basically.

-'..and debated.'

-I thought three.

-Cute.

-Very good.

Outstanding, yeah.

'The quality of the entries was high,

'but a team of judges from Blue Peter and Doctor Who

'eventually selected the top 45.'

I've got one last vote.

'There was huge creativity shown in the designs sent to us.

'This sonic magnifying glass turns into a shield.

'But the job of picking a winning 3 from the final 45

'meant heading to the home of Steven Moffat, the big boss of Doctor Who.'

I was absolutely thrilled to see all the entries.

It was like seeing the prop cupboard for the future.

It's a risk, but just cos it's a lovely idea,

I'm going to stick on there...

'Steven wasn't just judging the quality of the designs

'but also how the gadget might

'fit into a brand-new episode of Doctor Who.'

You've got to think simple and visual.

We have to keep in mind that it actually gets used

and doesn't give too much power. There are some brilliant ideas.

The sonic yo-yo, which does EVERYTHING!

OK, good.

Light flashes when an enemy is sensed nearby.

-I think that's cool.

-That's usable.

That is too big for a story.

-It's a very clever idea.

-Hmm.

We can get that in quite easily. That fits quite nicely.

I'm going to vote for that one.

'Choosing was incredibly tough

'but there could only be three winners.

'And it's these three!

'Amber, Arthur and Connor.

'They haven't just won the chance to have their designs in an episode,

'they're going, with me, behind the scenes

'on the filming of the first episode of the new series.

'The first winning design is the sonic lorgnette.

'It's a gadget for Strax

'and was designed by Arthur, who won the age 10 to 12 category.'

A sonic lorgnette, which is a beautiful design.

You want to pick it up and hold it.

I think it'll be funny seeing Strax's big, clumsy hands

holding that.

-Is this Arthur?

-Yeah.

-How do you do?

-How do you do?

-I'm Commander Strax.

Say "ah".

Ahh...

It's got three glasses.

There's a green X-ray lens...

Enviable spleen! Well done!

..a yellow diagnostic lens, to see people's illnesses...

Deflected narcissism.

Traces of passive-aggressive.

..and a thermal lens, so you're ready for action.

Excellent. It's always good to be ready for action.

How does it feel to see Strax using your device?

Very cool. It's amazing.

'The next winning design is the sonic gauntlet.

'It's for Jenny Flint and was designed by Connor,

'who won the age 12 to 15 category.'

We love this because it looks really cool.

It looks Victorian but it looks technological at the same time.

I can just imagine Jenny Flint, when she goes out,

needs something like that on her arm.

Here's jenny Flint with the gauntlet! What do you think?

That's so cool.

I think this has got a lot of different uses.

It's mainly for breaking locks.

And also, the other day, I used it to scan things

-for a scene.

-It's a good, sneaky device. It's very Jenny.

It is very Jenny. Cheeky.

'The final winning design is

the sonic hatpin for Madame Vastra,

'as designed by Amber, who won the age 6 to 10 category.'

It can actually summon her carriage.

It's funny, it makes absolute sense

and it's got a dinosaur feather in it, which sells it to me.

-That's the dinosaur feather.

-Yes.

That's just a bit of fashion.

Have you used the device yet?

I haven't used it yet. We haven't got to that bit of filming,

but I've had my hat on and it's always in my hat!

-Brilliant.

-I think you guys should be really pleased with your designs.

-They look incredible in real life, don't they?

-Yeah.

'But the prize doesn't end there.

'We're getting the chance to see

'the filming of one of the very first scenes

'to feature the new Doctor.'

And...action!

'Although it looks like Peter Capaldi has it easy in this scene!

'He's asleep.'

-You saw him change.

-I know.

I know that.

Cut there! >

How's that? Good. >

'And shortly after filming, we managed to wake Peter up,

'ready to find out a bit more about the new Doctor.'

What was your first reaction when you found out you were the Doctor?

I just laughed, cos I couldn't believe it.

I couldn't really believe that someone would give me this job,

because I'd been such a fan of the show for so long.

It was very, very exciting.

-How are you going to play the Doctor?

-I'm going to play him

as well as I can,

but if you mean what style, in terms of what kind of a Doctor

he's going to be, we're just starting on this journey ourselves.

We don't really know who he is,

but I think he'll be quite... He's fun.

He's funny. But he likes people to get on with their work,

he's quite impatient with people, but he's fun.

But he is mysterious.

Kidneys! I've got new kidneys! I don't like the colour.

-How old are you?

-Do you mean me, really, or Doctor Who?

-Doctor Who.

-Doctor Who's over 2,000 years old.

That's official. So I'm way too young to be playing this part.

Stay calm.

Just one question.

Do you happen to know how to fly this thing?

This series of Doctor Who looks set to be more captivating than ever,

with a brand-new Doctor leading the way.

Thanks to these guys, the Paternoster Gang are ready to save the planet

and fight off aliens using their new sonic devices.

DEEP THRUMMING Oh-oh!

Keep your eyes peeled,

because all of the gadgets are going to appear in the first episode

and if you can't wait that long, fear not,

because we have them in the studio.

Filming's finished now but they're looking pretty intact.

Have a look at this one.

This is Connor's gauntlet. It looks the same as the original design.

Of course, there's Amber's hatpin, which looks beautiful.

I can't wait to see that in use.

And then last but not least, this is Arthur's lorgnette.

We didn't see the finished version of it, but here it is.

You can see all the different colours that he wanted,

and that yellow one, the diagnostic lens, is looking very dirty,

like it's been used a lot by Strax. I can't wait to see that.

A massive well done and congratulations

-to all of our winners. What do you make of those, Barn?

-Amazing.

Amber, Arthur and Connor get the orange competition winner's badge

because they're not just geniuses designing toys for the Doctor

and various aliens, but they're also very creative.

Look at the big badge wall.

Let's start with quite possibly THE best picture ever designed

by anybody in the world since the dawn of time.

There's me as the Doctor, Lindsey as the Assistant

-and Radzi as the bad guy.

-I want to be the Doctor, though.

-I think we should swap. You can be the Assistant.

-It's not happening.

Take a look at this.

This is a Dalek made out of chocolate. Marion made this.

I'm guessing she ate it in one go afterwards.

I love the white chocolate buttons.

Maybe that's a new safety feature - there's a cherry on there!

Mary's drawn this. I'm the Doctor, which I'm delighted about,

Lindsey's the Assistant.

Why do you keep getting the Doctor?

I don't know, and I don't know why

I'm sucking a lollipop, but I am. Mary, who's ten, designed this.

-This is Peter Capaldi.

-He doesn't look impressed.

-He's saying, "Huh!"

He knows he's the new Doctor and isn't happy I'm there.

-I love this stuff!

-This is Thomas, who's nine.

He's gone all around the country

because he is a Doctor Who super-fan

and he's gone to all the different locations where they film Doctor Who

and he's written a blog about it and put it online.

We think it's an incredible effort, Thomas.

Blue Peter badges on the way

to all of you people who are lovely and creative.

There are lots of Blue Peter badges you can apply for,

including the Blue Peter sport badge 2014.

-It's dead easy to get one, isn't it, Lindsey?

-It is.

All you have to do is inspire a family member or friend

to get involved with a new sport. All the details are on the website.

If you applied last year, you can apply again if you want to.

Just introduce a new friend to your sport

or why not actually go and try a new sport together?

-I want two sport badges.

-Get involved. Radzi!

Thank you. Hello, my fantastic four.

-What are your names?

-Tom!

-Maddie!

-Jack!

-Naomi!

-And welcome to Blue Peter.

You guys are going to help me show you how to make

your very own Doctor Who T-shirt,

like one of these.

That one's got a TARDIS

and it looks like the middle of outer space.

But before we get to the making, I have to ask you guys,

you are all Doctor Who fans, but, Tom, what do you love so much?

It's been on for so many years, and that means when you watch it

with your family, like I watch it with my mum and dad,

you compare what the differences were from then till now.

There's lots of puzzles in Doctor Who

so you can find out, if you solve them, what's going to happen.

That is a fantastic answer.

Naomi, not all the Blue Peter viewers will have seen Doctor Who,

so why do you think they should watch it?

The costumes and make-up and how they act, and the movement

and the sound effects are just really good

and it makes you feel like you really want to watch it again.

You've definitely sold it to me.

-Shall we start making the T-shirt?

-Yes.

-Absolutely.

All the details you will need are on the Blue Peter website.

So sit back, relax and watch us make this.

-So, what will we need? Maddie?

-A template off the Blue Peter website.

-Yes.

-An old toothbrush and a pair of scissors.

-Perfect.

-Jack.

-A piece of card, fabric pen and a paintbrush.

Perfect. And a plain-coloured T-shirt as well.

So the very first thing that you do is go on to the Blue Peter website,

you print out a Doctor Who template and you cut it out, like this.

Before we stick that onto our T-shirt,

we need to make sure that any paint does not seep through

the material and ruin our T-shirt.

So we put it inside the T-shirt. I'm going to make sure

this is absolutely flat, because that'll become our canvas.

Then we take our template

and we stick it down, and you'll notice we have tack on the back

and that'll help secure this in place.

Now, this is the part where you guys can join in,

the messy part, the fun part.

We take our old toothbrush

and dip it into our paint.

Now, it's worth taking off the excess there.

This is what's going to give us our space effect

so the less paint you have on the toothbrush, the better.

Then we take our paintbrush, hold it at the other side

and then flick the paint back towards you,

and this is what's going to give us our space effect.

Some of these, you can see, are slightly bigger than others.

Ideally, we want as small globules as possible,

as that what really gives it that out-of-this-world look.

Now, the small amount of paint actually means it's going to take

quite a while to do it but it really is worth it, believe me.

Another top tip is to focus your flicking on the edge

of the template.

Although it takes longer, it's the perfect time to ask Maddie

what it means to be a Doctor Who super-fan.

You never miss any episodes because you love it that much.

Outside of school, we've got a Doctor Who TARDIS.

-You've got your very own Doctor Who TARDIS?

-Yes.

-Wow.

-Do you get to play in that?

-Sometimes.

That is unbelievable. Jack, Doctor Who is the Time Lord

and he can travel through space and time,

so if you could travel through space and time, where would you go?

I'd go to the '66 World Cup final.

When England won? It was the golden era of English football.

Tom, what would you do if you could go absolutely anywhere?

I'd go back in time

-to the Cavern Club to watch the Beatles.

-Would you really?

-Yeah.

You are a cultured man, Tom.

Now, if we had longer we would carry on with this

cos, actually, when you start off, the effect really takes shape

once you've been flicking for quite a while, but we don't

have much time, so we're going to start the peel-off of our template.

And I would normally leave it to dry, as well,

but just to show you the effect of this,

you can see I've made a start.

Guys, let's have a look at how you've got on.

And, by the way, if you want to see what it looks like

when there aren't big globules, take a look at what these guys have done.

this is absolutely fantastic.

In fact, Jack, that is absolutely perfect, my friend.

And if you want to take the T-shirt to the next level,

if we go back to the original T-shirts that we showed you,

you can see that actually we've got two different

coloured paints there and we've just added some detail

from the template, really to just give it that added effect.

Well, guys, you've been fantastic,

I've been below average,

so thank you.

-They're amazing, I want one.

-Nice one, Radz.

Now, if you just cannot get enough of our favourite Time Lord,

you're going to love what's coming up next.

Yes, it's time to get the Doctor Who lowdown

in song form with Brett Domino.

If you're wondering what TARDIS really stands for,

it's Totally Awesome Rhythm in this...Song.

-Stop it!

-OK, fine.

MUSIC STARTS

# Who are you?

Who is the Doctor, Who is the Doctor

# Doctor Who

Will the real Doctor please stand up?

HE RAPS: Well, people talk about the Doctor

-Who?

-It's the Doctor

-Who?

-The Doctor.

-Who?

-Stop it now.

-Sorry.

He's been on TV since 1963

And in that time he has regenerated frequently

The guy never visibly ages, he's had 12 different faces

But that's just normal for a Time Lord, apparently.

His first incarnation was as William Hartnell

A crotchety chap with a wizardly sparkle

It was so long ago it was in black-and-white

You've probably never heard of him, but your grandparents might

Next up, he was known as a cosmic hobo

A bit of rough around the edges as you'll see from this photo

Played by Patrick Troughton, this version was a bit nicer

He was the first Doctor to use the sonic screwdriver

Then Jon Pertwee became the third Doctor

dressing like a kind of vampire prog rock star

His TARDIS was disabled by the Time Lord people

And he had to drive around in a bright yellow motor vehicle

One of the best known Doctors, number four, Tom Baker,

The longest-running Doctor, he was a scarf crusader

Obsessed with jelly sweets, he had a robot dog, K-9

For him the TARDIS was fixed so he's back travelling through time

The fifth Doctor had a quite unique accessory

He sported on his left lapel a single stick of celery

This turned purple in Praxis gas-related jeopardy

but it didn't help him much in the Caves of Androzani

where he succumbed to spectrox toxaemia

and was forced to regenerate...

Actually, that doesn't really work, does it, that line?

# Who are you?

Who is the Doctor, Who is the Doctor

# Doctor Who

Doctor Who, Doctor, Doctor Who

# Who are you?

Who is the Doctor, Who is the Doctor

# Doctor Who

Will the real Doctor please stand up?

Next was Colin Baker, no relation to Tom

Famous for wearing a jacket that looked like it had gone wrong

He fixed the chameleon circuit so the TARDIS could blend in

with its surroundings instead of being stuck as the police box thing

Sylvester McCoy came next, he was Doctor number seven

Look at his umbrella handle, it looks like a question mark

In '89 the show got cancelled, which was pretty gloomy

But it was brought back seven years later as a TV movie

Paul McGann was the man to bring the Doctor back to life

In a plot based in San Francisco 1999

It was another nine years, though, before we saw the Doc again

But when we did it was the start of Doctor Who - the next gen

Christopher Ecclestone, a proper northern Doctor

Wore a black leather jacket and spoke like a bloke from Salford

He travelled with Billie Piper, or as her character was called, Rose

He regenerated after just one series and 13 episodes

Doctor number 10 - nearly there - David Tennant

Now we're getting to the ones you'll most likely remember

He battled all the big names - Cybermen, Daleks, the Master

Wore a pretty sharp suit that made him look like a hipster headmaster

David then regenerated into Matt Smith

Another young Doctor who liked to dress swish

All tweed jackets and bowties, not unlike Doctor number two

Three years he was the Doctor,

Which then brings us up to present day

Over 50 years later

The longest running television series of its nature

What will the 12th Doctor be like? Garibaldi?

All we know is that he'll look a lot like Peter Capaldi

# Who are you?

Who is the Doctor, Who is the Doctor

# Doctor Who

Will the real Doctor please stand up?

Obviously, there's tonnes of stuff we don't have time to mention

Like how exactly the Doctor is able to travel through time dimensions

And the fact he's travelled with numerous companions -

Susan, Perry, Clara, Jack, to name a few at random

There's also all the stuff about there being a War Doctor

Who was between the eighth and ninth but wasn't a Doctor proper

It's all very complex, can't really explain it through song

There's over 50 years of storyline so it would take far too long

# Who are you?

Who is the Doctor, Who is the Doctor

# Doctor Who

Doctor Who, Doctor, Doctor Who

# Who are you?

Who is the Doctor, Who is the Doctor

# Doctor Who. #

Will the real Doctor please stand up?

MUSIC STOPS

Thanks very much, boys.

Have you ever heard a song they've written that you don't love?

I don't know anybody on planet Earth that can do what they do.

Maybe they're aliens. Speaking of which,

my favourite thing about Doctor Who has to be the aliens.

So many different characters from so many planets

and it gives me the chance to say Raxacoricofallapatorius -

one of my favourite words, because it's Doctor Who -

everyone loves it, and my favourite character is here to talk to us.

Please give a huge...

-TARDIS WHOOSHING

-Oh, I can hear him arriving.

Yes, that familiar sound - a round of applause for Dan Starkey!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Hello, sir.

-Hello.

Welcome to the studio, it's good to see you.

Of course, I want to call you Dan, cos that's your real name,

but you are Commander Strax to me.

Let's take a look at you in the actual show.

He's a very familiar character.

He's a bit like a grumpy kid, really, isn't he?

Yes, he's an angry potato.

Brilliant!

Luckily, in real life you don't look that much like a potato.

You have to wear prosthetics to achieve that effect,

so let's talk about your head that's on the table.

Yes, well, we've got Commander Strax's head here -

that gets glued onto mine, which is quite an involved process.

It's got two pieces to it

so, as you can see here, there's a join that you can see

that usually gets blended up, cos you can't see it on Strax there.

So there's a head part and a mask part,

and so first of all this head part goes onto mine

and it takes about three people to wrench it out,

cos it's quite a snug fit.

As you can see, it's quite solid on the inside.

Yeah, it is like a foam, as well, it's quite soft.

Yes, sort of a silicon foam,

and either side of my ears, it's about three inches or so,

so once it's on I'm a little bit hard of hearing.

So it always makes it a bit interesting!

Of course, other actors have lines and you have to listen to your cue

-and if you can't hear it that makes it quite tough.

-Yeah.

Then this part gets glued onto my face

and it all gets blended together.

It's brilliant. So that takes how long?

-It takes about three hours or so.

-That is a long time, isn't it?

It's a little while, but usually it's very early in the morning

so I have a doze and then I wake up and Strax is there in the mirror.

-That's a bit like a nightmare, really, isn't it?

-Yes!

So once you're into character you then have to play Strax on set.

What do you do to get yourself into that mindset to play him?

-Cos he's such fun to play.

-He's fantastic.

I mean, it's very lucky in that the lines are very good,

so it always comes from the script,

so I can see what Strax is doing in this episode,

and also, because I can't hear that much,

I have to do all of my homework before I get on set

and make sure I know what I'm doing and why I'm saying things.

Did the next character we're going to talk about come from you

not being able to hear anything? Obviously Strax has got

quite small ears, but Randal Moon over there from Wizards vs Aliens

-has got enormous ears.

-Considerably larger.

Can you hear more through those?

Yes, well, if we have a look at this one,

in Randal, it's a slightly different material it's made out of, this one.

-There he is.

-In full flow there.

-Pointy pointy.

It's a thinner material in the first place,

so it doesn't block my ears quite as much,

but this is a very different sort of...

It's a different design so it's got more pieces to it.

There's a back part which has got the ears on

and goes round the back of my head,

and two bits that are the mask of it,

one of which goes down to my lip, just around there,

and you can see it down there, and then there's the actual chin,

which is the strange kind of pink shark fin down there,

and that goes on to mine,

and then, also, around the back there's a bit that glues on

to the back of my neck, to give me Randal Moon's neck.

-It's like a face jigsaw isn't it?

-Yes, absolutely.

Does that take much longer cos it's more involved?

No, with Strax there's more painting up,

cos once it's on it needs to be painted to look nice.

This is all pre-painted, but it takes about the same time -

there's more bits to it,

so it still takes about two and a half, three hours or so.

What's it like when you're in the costumes?

Obviously they look very different,

but when you're in the costume do you feel like different characters?

How do you find who you're going to play and how you do it?

Yes, it does change your physicality, as well.

Strax's costume, it's big and bulky, as you can see there,

and it makes me stand in a certain way.

With Randal, he's got a pointy head, pointy ears, a pointy nose,

and he's got pointy fingers, as well.

-AS RANDAL MOON:

-He gets very excited all the time, as well,

he'll be talking very, very high-pitched, like this.

-AS STRAX:

-And Strax is much more down there.

-He's just always having a bad day.

-He's a proper grump, isn't he?

I love Strax, he's quite funny, as well.

Do you get a chance to ad-lib on set and add funny lines?

I haven't done that in the episodes,

but all surrounding it there's lots of fun that we have.

-Well, I'm about to have the same amount of fun.

-OK.

Apparently, the people here at Blue Peter, in charge,

have turned me into an alien.

Now, I genuinely haven't seen this, so can we see me as an alien?

-Oh-ho-ho!

-Oh, lovely!

Right! Well, what do you say about that?

-It's a bit of a space donkey.

-Yeah.

Oh, thanks.

Yes, he's got a big nose, big ears...

OK, So...

It's like Elvis that's gone wrong.

So what do I sound like then, Dan?

Well, I think you've got quite a broad mouth

-and I can just hear, like a donkey...

-HE BRAYS

-LOUD BRAYING VOICE:

-So perhaps a voice that's down like that!

And is very excited! See how excited he is with his eyes?

That sounds a bit like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo, doesn't it?

-Shall I give that a go?

-Yes, go on.

What's my name? What will I be called?

Donko!

Donko. Donko, the new Doctor Who alien.

Ready for this?

-DEEP BRAYING:

-Hi, I'm Donko!

Does that work? No? OK, not coming to a screen near you very soon.

But the new series of Doctor Who is.

Let's get off this as quick as we can and talk about that.

What can we expect from Strax in the new series?

Without giving too much away.

Yeah, Strax, as ever, is helping out the Doctor,

especially Clara, in this forthcoming episode,

and he does his best, he gets the wrong end of the stick, as usual.

About right for him.

And he has a new device designed by a Blue Peter viewer called Arthur.

Yes, a new sonic device, and it's a lovely device.

It's quite delicate, and obviously Strax has got three big fingers,

so you can see the fun he has in trying to use

quite a delicate device with his big Sontaran hands.

Love it. So that's coming soon.

Of course, Wizards Vs Aliens is out in the autumn, the new series.

Yeah, and again I can't give much away but we'll find out a lot more about Randal Moon's background,

-and it's all rather mysterious.

-Fantastic.

Even when you talk about Randal, you do the fingers.

-Oh, yes, I'll be doing the fingers.

-A proper actor.

Always a pleasure, Dan, thank you very much.

I should say thank you to Randall, Strax and Dan Starkey.

-A round of applause, please.

-APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Can you imagine how much fun that would be, really

getting into the character, method acting whilst wearing prosthetics?

Really intricate make-up and then finding...

-Yeah, it is.

-Linds?

-Yeah?

You said you were going to wear a mask for this bit of the show.

Oh, good one, Radzi(!) It looks good, doesn't it?

-Awkward.

-Wow, look at the special effects! They're amazing!

-Thanks(!)

-You're scary in real life.

That's all we have time for.

That's our Doctor Who special. We hope you enjoyed yourselves.

Make sure you join us next week cos I'll be bringing you

a very special episode from the Youth Olympic Games in China.

And make sure you're watching the very first episode

of the brand-new series of Doctor Who on BBC One.

This is Clara, not my Assistant - she's...some other word.

-I'm his carer.

-Yeah, my carer. She cares so I don't have to.

Doctor...

Hello again.

Will you...help me?

Will you?

A Dalek so damaged it's turned good?

Morality is malfunction.

How do I resist?

-We'll see you next week.

-ALL: Bye!

Oh, it's flying like a TARDIS, look!