Filming for the second of the 2009 Doctor Who specials took place in Newport on Friday night. Lindsay Duncan (recently seen as Thatcher in BBC 2's Margaret), who'll be the one-off companion this time round, joined David Tennant and a robot that looks not unlike WALL-E for the action. Also spotted was director Graeme Harper (who has called the shots on "Rise of the Cybermen", "The Age of Steel", Army of Ghosts", "Doomsday", "42", "Utopia" and "Journey's End" among others) and (highlight for real spoiler) Ood Sigma . There was also a lot of fake snow (oh, the irony – if only they'd filmed a fortnight earlier) which some pundits have taken to mean that this special may not be shown until Christmas. But that's just supposition at the moment.
Also, The Mirror is reporting that the TARDIS will be redesigned inside and out for the first full Matt Smith season. This seems likely, as Doctor Who is now being filmed in HD, and it has often been suggested that the current TARDIS set would not withstand the close scrutiny of HD shooting. But as the specials are also being filmed in HD, does this mean we won’t be seeing inside the TARDIS at all until Smith takes over? Seems unlikely. Surely there must be some TARDIS interior scenes in at least the final Tennant special. Or will we have our first New Who regeneration that doesn't take place inside the time machine?
