0:00:02 > 0:00:07- I'm kind of done with running down corridors. What do you think, Rory? - How about somewhere romantic?
0:00:08 > 0:00:12- Venezia!- This week, Confidential packs its bags and goes abroad.
0:00:12 > 0:00:19The best place you could possibly go for a romantic weekend would be Venice.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21And gets to meet up with a Venetian count...
0:00:23 > 0:00:26Looking for vampires in Venice?
0:00:26 > 0:00:28- Aaargh!- What was that?
0:00:28 > 0:00:31It's Venice, but not as you know it.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34I think it's alliteration, really. Vampires.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37In fact, a few things aren't what they seem to be.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44They find out that they're not actually vampires, they're something else.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50What there are actually there is...
0:00:50 > 0:00:52you know, fish from space.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54OK. Move!
0:00:54 > 0:00:55What is going on?
0:00:55 > 0:00:58And action!
0:00:58 > 0:01:01And are the Doctor Who team really in Venice?
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Confidential finds out.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30Turn over, please.
0:01:30 > 0:01:3370, take two, A camera. And action!
0:01:36 > 0:01:40The TARDIS touches down and the Doctor sort of bounds out
0:01:40 > 0:01:45and starts describing La Serenissima, this impossible, mad city.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50Venice! Venezia! La Serenissima!
0:01:50 > 0:01:53It really felt like stepping back in time, stepping out into that.
0:01:53 > 0:01:59One of the most powerful cities in the world. Constantly being invaded.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03And I think there's a real sense of vibrancy and colour to that scene.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05Ah, you've got to love Venice.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07And so many people did.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09It sets the romp off, as it were.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Byron, Napoleon, Casanova...
0:02:15 > 0:02:18It's the perfect start to a Venetian romp,
0:02:18 > 0:02:24but it's shot hundreds of miles across the sea in Croatia.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27We thought from the beginning we would like a foreign shoot,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29somewhere exotic and really mix it up a bit.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33The trouble with real Venice is you'd have to spend an awful lot of time
0:02:33 > 0:02:36covering up the pizza parlours and the shops and all that.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Doubling up as Venice was a small town on the Mediterranean coast
0:02:41 > 0:02:43called Trogir.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50And it looks so beautifully like Venice.
0:02:50 > 0:02:55The Venetians colonised there, so it's a great double.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01METALLIC THRUMMING
0:03:04 > 0:03:10Venice! Venezia! La Serenissima!
0:03:19 > 0:03:23Confidential took the chance to visit modern-day Venice to check out the actual events
0:03:23 > 0:03:29behind the Doctor Who story, particularly the great plague of the 16th century.
0:03:33 > 0:03:39So writer Toby Whithouse went to meet a man whose ancestors lived through it all.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44Architect, historian and TV personality, Francesco da Mosto.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46Hello, Toby. How are you?
0:03:46 > 0:03:49- Lovely to meet you. - Looking for vampires in Venice?
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Vampires of Venice, of course!
0:03:53 > 0:03:58'Francesco tells me of a Venetian vampire story, but that's for later.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01'First, I get a tour of the da Mosto mansion.'
0:04:01 > 0:04:03How old is the actual building itself?
0:04:03 > 0:04:10It's from the end of the 15th century, 16th century.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12The period of your plague.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Absolutely perfect. It's beautiful.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19'This amazing building has been in the da Mosto family for over a century.'
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Oh, my goodness. Look at this.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Here I learnt to ride a bicycle.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29It's the perfect space.
0:04:29 > 0:04:30Look at this! This is incredible.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33Yeah, nice shape.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44And your Doctor Who, during the plague, he was a doctor of plague, or...?
0:04:44 > 0:04:51No, no, our Doctor is not a medical doctor. He's a time-traveller.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56But my episode is set just after the outbreak of the plague
0:04:56 > 0:05:02in the late 16th century, and a race of aliens
0:05:02 > 0:05:06have arrived in the city and are using the fear
0:05:06 > 0:05:08of the return of the plague
0:05:08 > 0:05:10as an excuse to close down the city.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14'Francesco had something for me which was an absolute goldmine -
0:05:14 > 0:05:18'a collection of documents relating to the period in which I set my episode.'
0:05:18 > 0:05:22Yeah, it was quite terrible, and here I found also
0:05:22 > 0:05:26a lot of the people of my family, like this one, they died of plague.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29As you see, "Death by plague."
0:05:29 > 0:05:30We say "peste".
0:05:30 > 0:05:35Obviously, the Venice of today looks very different to the Venice of 1580.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Too many new shops!
0:05:37 > 0:05:39Too many new shops,
0:05:39 > 0:05:43so we filmed in Trogir in Croatia.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47There is quite a funny coincidence.
0:05:47 > 0:05:53During the period of the plague, there was one of my family,
0:05:53 > 0:05:55he was a Count in Trogir.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00It's quite interesting. This guy was called Francesco da Mosto, like me. Can you imagine?!
0:06:00 > 0:06:07There was always a person of a noble family of Venice controlling the different town...
0:06:07 > 0:06:14- Oh, all the little...- Just at that moment of the plague that was in Venice, he was Count in Trogir.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19- Where we filmed the episode. - Yes, strange. I found that out yesterday. Quite strange.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24I never looked at all the things. It was quite funny.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30Trogir town square.
0:06:32 > 0:06:38The cast and crew are preparing to meet a bunch of bloodsuckers.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42# Now, baby
0:06:42 > 0:06:47# I've got a lot of love to give
0:06:47 > 0:06:52# And I've been over, oversubscribed with relationships... #
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Ah, the look of the vampire girls.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58Where do I begin?
0:06:58 > 0:06:59It brightened up our day.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03The crew, I tell you what, I have never, ever seen them so occupied
0:07:03 > 0:07:06and satisfied and work hungry. Everyone was happy.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10The composer was joking with me,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13saying, I bet there was only one vampire girl in the script,
0:07:13 > 0:07:18and by the time we'd got to the shoot, there were like 12 vampire girls.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23# You've got a little thing I haven't seen before... #
0:07:23 > 0:07:28They looked like 80s glam rock stars, I think. Sort of bonkers hair.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34There's something weird and gothic
0:07:34 > 0:07:39and brilliant about them. I think they'll be a real hit. Come back, you're always welcome!
0:07:39 > 0:07:44# Maybe I can learn to settle down one day... #
0:07:44 > 0:07:46How are you doing that?
0:07:52 > 0:07:54I'm thrilled. Oh, this is Christmas!
0:07:54 > 0:07:57# I get all the girls, I get all the girls
0:07:57 > 0:08:01# I get all the girls, I get all the girls
0:08:01 > 0:08:05# I get all the girls, I get all the girls
0:08:05 > 0:08:09# I get all the girls, I get all the girls
0:08:09 > 0:08:12# I get all the girls, I get all the girls
0:08:12 > 0:08:17# I get all the girls, I get all the girls
0:08:17 > 0:08:20# I get all the girls, I get all the girls
0:08:20 > 0:08:24# I get all the girls, I get all the girls... #
0:08:24 > 0:08:27We are Venetians!
0:08:32 > 0:08:36'I've invited a friend to come and join me in Venice.'
0:08:36 > 0:08:39- Matt.- Toby!- How are you?
0:08:39 > 0:08:41- Hello.- Welcome to Venice.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44- Thank you. - Come and meet my new friend.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48- Do you get seasick, by the way? - Uh, no.- Good.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51Matt, this is Francesco. Francesco, this is Matt.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54- How do you do?- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you, sir.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58We're going to come on your boat, are we? Thank you.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Marvellous.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Venezia! La Serenissima!
0:09:18 > 0:09:23- It's so nice that it's sunny. - We're in luck.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27'With Matt on board, Francesco gave us his Venetian vampire story.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31'A tale that came to life when archaeologists found the remains of a plague victim
0:09:31 > 0:09:35'whose burial bore all the hallmarks of something even darker.'
0:09:35 > 0:09:41They found a skull of a woman that has a brick inside the mouth.
0:09:41 > 0:09:48Because when they died, what was happening, they also, when they were dead,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51they found blood coming out.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55- And the veil a little eaten.- Right.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58But, blood comes out as a result of the plague?
0:09:58 > 0:10:00Yeah, but after the death.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02So that was strange.
0:10:02 > 0:10:09So they were thinking that the body, this person, could pass this thing to other dead.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11And then the plague was going around more.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16And so they were putting this brick so she could not move the mouth.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18Strange!
0:10:21 > 0:10:24'Tales of deadly creatures sucking the blood of the living.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29'It looks like I was closer to the truth than I suspected.'
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Perhaps there really were vampires in Venice.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:11:03 > 0:11:06E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk