Doctor Who Live: The Afterparty

 was a BBC Events Production that went out live from the BFI on BBC Three following the BBC One premiere of The Day of the Doctor. It involved cast members from the whole history of Doctor Who, from William Russell to John Hurt.

Infamously featuring a disastrously flawed live satellite hookup with the boy band One Direction in Los Angeles, the programme was widely derided by fans.

The press were no less disapproving. Radio Times panned the show as "that embarrassing BBC3 interlude", saying "the treatment of the former companions was unforgivable" and noting that the 15-second delay on the interview with One Direction created a situation in which "the Moff had his head in hands in horror". called it a "debacle" and said "it could only be downhill" after the failure of the live link to Los Angeles.

Main subject
The main reason for the gathering was to celebrate The Day of the Doctor. Accordingly cast and crew of that episode were given pride of place on the interview couch.

The people receiving the longest interviews were therefore Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, John Hurt and Steven Moffat.

Also, the presenters made an effort to solicit opinions about the 50th anniversary special from "ordinary fans" who were gathered in what was described as a "social media zone". In reality, just a part of the BFI reception area that was physically separate from the area where the former companions and Doctors were mustered. Most questions to ex-companions were also skewed toward getting some comment about the story just aired, and how it compared to stories in their era of the programme.

Former companions
For the programme many actors who were companions in the classic series were gathered, however their treatment by Ball and Edwards was widely criticised. Many of the returning actors were simply seen and weren't given the chance to speak during the show, Katy Manning was essentially shoved out of the way by Edwards as he moved to interview Louise Jameson and some actors were referred to only by their character's names. Mark Gatiss eventually asked Ball and Edwards to stop the questioning, as it became clear their main objective was to make fun of the classic series.

One Direction failure
The boy band One Direction had chosen to declare 23rd November 1D Day (supposedly at random, but the choice angered many Doctor Who fans who saw the band trying to steal the show's thunder... and many One Direction fans accused Doctor Who of doing the same, despite the fact it was a 50th Anniversary) and were hosting a 15-hour streaming concert from Los Angeles. The BBC, for some unfathomable reason, decided that the band should be included in the festivities and arranged a live satellite link-up where they would ask questions about the show. Unfortunately, the band members hadn't actually seen The Day of the Doctor so their questions — what was heard of them – were fairly inappropriate to the occasion. But the real problem with the segment was that the sound was inexplicably delayed by about 15 seconds, which created a massive sound loop as the two sides of the conversation tried to figure out what was going on. At one point, the loop became a wall of noise that was excruciating to hear.

Steven Moffat, who was on camera during the failure, was clearly seen to put his head in his hands as the event proceeded. Once the linkup derailed into a farce, Moffat woefully shouted over the incoherent babble, "In the name of God, we can't do this!" When the plug was finally forcibly pulled on the event, he was heard to comment, "I think we've redefined live linkup."

This incident was recounted by Zoe Ball in a live Q&A with Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, and Steven Moffat, screened after theatrical showings of the Series 8 premiere, Deep Breath, on 23 August 2014, where she jokingly announced that the live link to One Direction in Los Angeles was up. Moffat laughed, saying that the fandom would never let that one go.

Additional topics covered
Another key focus for the episode was in promoting The Fiveish Doctors Reboot, allowing Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy some greater interview time.

People interviewed
In credit order — which, oddly, was alphabetised in order of first names — the guests who attended were:

People appearing by video
A number of Doctor Who alum specially recorded segments that were played into the live event, including: In addition some British celebrities not directly associated with Doctor Who taped special inserts as well. Perhaps the highest profile ones were Graham Norton and the judges from Strictly Come Dancing.

Crew notes
The credits are ambiguous as to the producer and director. While it appears that Victoria Simpson is the piece's director, and Russell Minton its producer, the credits additionally have the following, mysterious entry:
 * Producer/Director
 * Chris Chapman
 * Paul De Freitas

Other notes

 * The show implied that Jake Simmonds was a companion of the Doctor, something that is not usually asserted by fans or by reference works. This was the second time in 2013 that actor Andrew Hayden-Smith appeared on television because of his 2006 Doctor Who role. Earlier, he had appeared as Nicola Bryant's partner on Pointless Celebrities.
 * Matt Smith can be seen "flicking the V" at One Direction as soon as the live linkup starts. Though this can be interpreted as "V for victory", it can also be seen as a vulgar action.

Home video releases
Home video from this event is unlikely, due to the sheer volume of the "cast" and its major technical flaws. Certainly, not even digital releases have been announced.

External link

 * Official page at bbc.co.uk