Backstage at Christmas was a special mini-episode of Doctor Who Confidential included on the series 1 DVD box set. It served as a preview for The Christmas Invasion. It was the only behind-the-scenes material about that episode made by the Confidential production team.
It did not go out under the Doctor Who Confidential banner, ostensibly because it was a preview of an upcoming episode rather than a review of an episode that had already been broadcast. However, the episode had enough commonality with Confidential — including theme music, narrator and production team — for most to consider it a part of the Confidential series. It was Simon Pegg's final act of narration for the series. David Tennant, having previously narrated the Confidential team's "preview" episode, Doctor Who: A New Dimension, made his first appearance in front of the cameras for the DWC team.
Aspects of production covered
This short episode was limited in what it could reveal about the episode, as it was made available to the public before The Christmas Invasion. It focused on three minor scenes in the accompanying episode:
- Jackie and Rose Tyler trying to nurse the Doctor back to health in their apartment
- The Roboform attack on Mickey and Rose in an open-air market, with particular emphasis on the felling of a large Christmas tree
- The choreography of blood controlled extras in a suburban Cardiff street
The entire episode was bound together by the general theme of the differing time pressures that a production crew faces on night shoots versus day shoots. It also contrasted the problems of working with large numbers of extras versus the difficulties of setting up shots involving large numbers of potentially dangerous practical effects.
Additional topics covered
This episode focused exclusively on the production of The Christmas Invasion.
People interviewed
Home video releases
This episode was a special feature exclusive to the series 1 DVD boxset.
Additional info
Though this episode goes to great lengths to suggest that the production team had only one opportunity to fell the Christmas tree in the open-air market, the later in-vision commentary to The Christmas Invasion contradicts this. Phil Collinson states there that they actually did reset the scene and film it again.
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