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171) THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE

6 May 2006

Viewing Figure: 7.9M

Plot

On a spaceship, in the 51st century various gateways led to 18th century France as Androids stock a woman called Reinette

Cast

David Tennant (The Doctor), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Sophia Myles (Reinette), Ben Turner (King Louis),

Jessica Atkins (Young Reinette), Angel Coulby (Katherine), Gareth Wyn Griffiths (Manservant), Paul Kasey (Clockwork Man)

Ellen Thomas (Clockwork Woman), Jonathan Hart, Emily Joyce (Alien Voices)

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Uncredited Cast

Sean Palmer, Marc Rees, Neil Davies (Male Droids), Aga Bloska, Caroline Sabin, Marega Palsar (Female Droids), Gayle Anne Felton (Queen)

Crew

Steven Moffat (Writer), Phil Collinson (Producer), Euros Lyn (Director), Peter Bennett (1st Assistant Director), Lynsey Muir (2nd Assistant Director)

Adam Hill (3rd Assistant Director), Gareth Lloyd (Location Manager), Rhys Griffiths (Unit Manager), Jess van Niekerk (Production Co-ordinator)

Claire Roberts (Production/Script Secretary), Sarah Davies (Production Runner)

Debi Griffiths, Kath Blackman, Bonnie Clissold (A/Production Accountants), Non Eleri Hughes (Continuity), Helen Raynor (Script Editor)

Steve Rees, Terry Bartlett (Focus Pullers), John Robinson (Grip), Penny Shipton (Camera Assistant)

Jeff Welch, Rhydian Yeoman (Boom Operators), Mark Hutchings (Gaffer), Peter Chester (Best Boy), Alisa Berk (Choreographer)

Peter Miles (Stunt Performer), Stephen Nicholas (Supervising Art Director), Jonathan Marquand Allison (Art Dept Production Manager)

Lee Gammon (Standby Art Director), James North (A/Supervising Art Director)

Ben Austin, Peter McKinstry, Rob Dicks, Al Roberts (Design Assistants), Phill Shellard, Trystan Howell (Standby Props)

Silas Williams (Standby Carpenter), Louise Bohling (Standby Scenic Artist), Adrian Anscombe (Property Master)

Joelle Rumbelow (Production Buyer), Stuart Woddisse (Props Storeman), Paul Aitken (Props Chargehand), Matthew North (Forward Dresser)

Albert James (Practical Electrician), Martin Griffiths (Art Department Driver), Shaun Williams (Storyboard Artist)

Mark Cordory (Specialist Prop Maker), Penny Howarth (Prop Maker), Matthew Hywel-Davies (Construction Manager)

Allen Jones (Constrction Chargehand), BBC Wales Graphics (Graphics), Anna Lau (Costume Supervisor)

Lindsay Bonaccorsi, Barbara Harrington (Costume Assistants), Anwen Davies, Steve Smith, Moria Thompson (Make-Up Artists)

Rob Mayor (Prosthetics Supervisor), Jo Glover, Martin Rezard (Prosphetics Technicians), Ben Ashmore (Special Effects Co-ordinator)

Paul Kelly, Mike Crowley (Special Effects Supervisor), Danny Hargreaves, Richard Magrin (Special Effects Technicians)

Andy Brierley (Casting Associate), Ceres Doyles (Assistant Editor), Samantha Hall, Chris Blatchford (Post Production Supervisors)

Marie Brown (Post Production Co-ordinator), Matthew Clarke (On Line Editor), Mick Vincent (Colourist)

Chris Petts, Jean Yves Audouard, Mark Wallman (3D Artists), Simon C Holden, Joseph Courtis, Russell North (2D Artists) 

Kim Phelan (Visual Effects Co-ordinator), Alex Fort (Digital Matte Painter), Tim Ricketts (Dubbing Mixer)

Paul McFadden, Doug Sinclair (Sound Editors), Paul Jefferies (Sound FX Editor), Richard Pugsley (Finance Manager)

with thanks to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ron Grainer (Original Theme Music), Andy Pryor CDG (Casting Director)

Endaf Emyr Williams (Production Accountant), Simon Fraser (Sound Recordist), Louise Page (Costume Designer)

Sheelagh Wells (Make-Up Designer), Murray Gold (Music), The Mill (Visual Effects), Will Cohen (Visual FX Producer)

Dave Houghton (Visual FX Supervisor), Any Effects (Special Effects), Neill Gorton and Millennium FX (Porspethics)

Crispin Green (Editor), Edward Thomas (Production Designer), Rory Taylor (Director of Photography)

Marcus Prince (Production Manager), Helen Vallis (Associate Producer), Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner (Executive Producers)  

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Uncredited Crew

Gareth Skelding (3rd Assistant Director), Mari Yamanura, Penny Shipton (Focus Puller), Paul O'Neal (Grip)

Mari Yamanura, Mani Blaxter Paliwala (Camera Assistants), Angela Jones, Gemma Evans, Mark Foster

Laurie Anne Major (Costume Assistants), Sara Griffiths, Neil Batt, Vicki Owen (Make-Up Arists), Phil Edward (Sound Recordist)

Broadcast

Filming Locations

  • HTV Studios: Studio 1, Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff

  • Tredegar House and Park, Newport

  • UNIT Q2, Imperial Way, Newport

  • Dyffryn Gardens, St Nicholas, Vale of Glamorgan

  • Ragley Hall, Alcester, Warwickshire

  • Mount Ballan Manor, Crick, Monmouthshire

Deaths

  • Reinette [dies of illness in 1764]

  • Male Droids [deactivate when all spaceship portals close]

  • Female Droids [deactivate when all spaceship portals close]

Production Days

  • 14 Days between Thursday 6 - Thursday 27 October 2005

Production Errors

  1. When reading Reinette's memories, The Doctor's left ring finger moves about and below her ear 

  2. When 'spying' on Reinette in the Palace Garden, The Doctor ducks behind a pillar, but still holds onto it. In the following shot, he's not longer holding onto it. This happens a few times

  3. During The Doctor's second visit to Reinette, Reinette claims that she has known The Doctor since she was 7 years old. This is incorrect, historically Reinette was born on 29 December 1721, The Doctor first meets Reinette in 1727, sometimes before August. This means that Reinette was 5 when she first meet her 'imaginary friend'. When The Doctor first goes into Reinette's bedroom, there is snow outside, reinforcing that Reinette was indeed 5 years old when she first met The Doctor

  4. King Louis XV states that Reinette was 43 years old when she died, she was not. She was 42 â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹

76) THE ARK IN SPACE

Working Titles

  • Madame de Pompadour

Verdict

Moffat shows his skills as a writer with another brilliantly written script combining history and science-fiction. Moffat’s script is humorous, dark, beautiful and heartbreaking.  Moffat’s scripts combines original ideas with a historical setting and creates a wonderfully told tale with shows a much gentler side to The Doctor. The spaceship sets have tremendous effort put into them where there is never a dull moment – the Robot Eye, the beating heart are only a couple of examples of the flashes of brilliance in the scripts. Murray Gold excels as a musician with some of the most beautifully orchestrated tracks of the Tennant era. The Clockwork Robots are strokes of genius and are examples of how far the show has progressed in terms of resources and production values. The cast are on top form with Tennant giving one of his most all around put together performances. A few historical inconsistencies will probably annoy die hard history fans but even they cannot distract from this great episode. ****​

Number of Production Days: 5

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