The Jodie Whittaker Era
Series Eleven, Series Twelve, Flux, 2022 Specials (2018–2022)
Series Eleven
Doctor Who’s Eleventh Series, broadcast in 2018, marked the largest reinvention of the programme since its revival in 2005. With Chris Chibnall taking over as Executive Producer and Lead Writer, and Jodie Whittaker becoming the first female incarnation of the Doctor, the programme burst back onto screen with fresh energy and new ideas.
A stylish new logo spearheaded a revamped look for the brand, and this continued through to the on-screen visuals, including the TARDIS itself.
While the seven ‘hero’ props used by the programme between Rose and Twice Upon a Time had all all retained similar dimensions, with only minor cosmetic differences or slight alterations to the corner posts and roof to set them apart, the two brand new props created for Series Eleven — TARDIS H and TARDIS I — were a vast departure.
Speaking at the Royal Television Society’s Making Doctor Who event in Cardiff on October 17th, Series Eleven Production Designer Arwel Wyn Jones said of changing the exterior prop;
“It’s just fun to be able to have a little tweak, and also I went back to look at all the previous ‘Tardii’, and the original police boxes, and read up about them.”
These new props differed from their recent predecessors in almost every way.
They were smaller in size, with other dimensions scaled to suit, and featured a redesigned roof section; the first TARDIS props for television to ever replicate the correct number of roof ‘stacks’ on a real Metropolitan Police Box.
The corner posts of the props also feature extra detailing at the top and bottom; small grooves carved in around the sides of the box.
Even the windows have been given an overhaul, replacing the white frames of the previous few boxes with cast metal, and adding fluted glass for the panes. These windows, like those on the original prop first used in 1963, can be opened (though this feature is yet to be seen on screen).
As the result of Jones’ research into the police boxes, for the first time in the 21st century version of the programme, there was a conscious effort to give the props a hint of concrete texture, something that had been prominent on the props used in the ‘classic’ era.
“I hadn’t realised myself, until reading, that the original box — the prop — was painted and textured to feel like concrete, because the original police boxes were concrete.
And then over time it had worn, and you could tell that it was wood. So slowly, the TARDIS had become a wooden prop. So one of the things I’ve tried to do is give it a little bit of texture so that it actually feels maybe a little bit of both.”
Along with the texturing added to these new props, the team went for a different approach to the paint work, making it hard to pin down the exact colour of the new props.
“We had a little bit of fun with the colour. There’s numerous layers of paint. It depends on the light, you can go blue/black in certain lights, and go all the way through to a touch of teal maybe. So as the camera moves, you get a little bit of difference in it.”
Although the props are largely identical to each other, it’s easy to tell them apart based on the grain structure present in the wood.
TARDIS H is most obviously identified by the pronounced ‘V’ shape that runs down the right-hand door, almost as though it’s pointing to the lock. TARDIS I lacks this feature, but displays a prominent knot in the bar under the ‘Pull to Open’ panel. Unlike the earliest 21st century props, these two don’t have elements shared between them — they always appear as complete units, either H or I.
Along with the style of the box itself, both the ‘Police Box’ and ‘Pull To Open’ signs were also heavily revised as part of the redesign. The top signage went through a number of versions, utilising different fonts, before reverting to the style seen between Rose and The Husbands of River Song.
One of the unused versions was seen in an image of TARDIS H tweeted by Arwel Wyn Jones on October 7th, to mark the launch of the series;
The handmade and hand-painted ‘Pull to Open’ sign reverted to white text on a black background for the first time since The Fourth Doctor’s era, and the layout of the text on the sign was altered. The sign also switches back to the original ‘Urgent Calls’ wording, which hadn’t been seen on the 21st century props before.
As a deliberate nod to the many hexagons used for the new TARDIS Interior, the text in the middle of the sign is designed to resemble a hexagon itself.
Aside from the two ‘hero’ props used for filming on location and in the studio, there is also a third prop, fixed in place, which doesn’t strictly come under the remit of this article. While the previous TARDIS interiors of the 21st century have featured a set of Police Box doors, the Thirteenth Doctor’s TARDIS goes one further, incorporating almost an entire police box as part of the design.
This box is constructed in the same way as the two ‘hero’ props, though it lacks a base and exterior ‘Police Box’ signage, and is permanently attached to the Interior set.
The first indication that the Thirteenth Doctor would be receive a redesigned TARDIS came on November 9th 2017, when the BBC released the first image of Jodie Whittaker in her Doctor Who costume.
The composition included a shot of TARDIS H, though at such an angle that the dimensions appear distorted. As a result, some online commentators speculated that it was simply ‘a’ TARDIS image, rathen than reprisentitive of any specific new prop.
Between the photos being taken in October, and its first use for filming, the frame of the ‘Pull to Open’ panel was repainted, giving it a darker appearance than the rest of the prop.
Although filming for Series Eleven began in late October 2017, images of a new TARDIS being used for production didn’t surface until January of the following year, when a temporary local crew in South Africa made a number of posts to social media, which included TARDIS H on location.
The same prop got its first really ‘public’ outing in the second week of February, when it was used for filming of Episode Four, Arachnids In The UK, outside the Park Hill Flats in Sheffield. The nature of this location meant a large crowd gathered to watch, and photos appeared online and in local newspapers across the rest of the week.
It was a few more weeks before the second prop - TARDIS I - was first seen, at the BBC World Showcase in Liverpool. The prop was on hand at a special launch for the programme, where Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall introduced the series to a room of licencees and media.
Following this event, the prop returned to Cardiff and continued to be used for filming, which didn’t finish until August.
In the run up to the series launch, both props were pressed into service as promotional tools, appearing in Sheffield for the Series Eleven Premiere on Monday 24th September. At this event, TARDIS I appeared on the red carpet, while TARDIS H was used earlier in the day for a series of photos featuring Whittaker posing alongside a group of cosplayers, before being moved inside the venue for the afterparty.
A week later, a replica of the new props, constructed by This Planet Earth, was erected in the foyer of Television Centre in London, alongside a number of posters and screens, advertising the return of the programme.
Viewers excited to get a glimpse of the new TARDIS when the series launched on October 7th were in for a shock — The Woman Who Fell to Earth is only the fourth episode of 21st century Doctor Who to not feature the TARDIS exterior at all. As with two of the other occasions in which this has happened (2008’s Midnight, and 2017’s The Lie of the Land), the TARDIS interior is also absent.
The new TARDIS first appears on screen at the climax of The Ghost Monument, the second episode of the series. For this sequence, TARDIS H was shipped to South Africa, and the same prop was retained for the filming of Rosa, which took place in the same block and during the same trip.
For both of these episodes, the base was modified with extra wood painted blue, to help level the prop off on uneven ground. This is most noticeable on the front of the prop in Rosa.
In construction for The Ghost Monument, the prop was incorrectly assembled, with the left and right side panels inadvertently swapped. Of course, to almost everyone watching at home, it looks no different to usual! The error isn’t repeated with this particular prop anywhere else in the series, but a similar issue later effected TARDIS I.
TARDIS H remained the more prominent of the two props, going on to appear as the sole TARDIS in three of the seven remaining episodes; Arachnids in the UK, The Witchfinders, and It Takes You Away.
The second prop, TARDIS I, made its debut in Demons of the Punjab, for which it was transported to Spain for filming. It went on to appear as the sole prop in just one other episode, Kerblam!, the following week.
The final scene of The Witchfinders — the only one in that episode to feature a TARDIS prop — was rescheduled after heavy snow impacted the original filming dates. Images from the day reveal that it was TARDIS I in use for the original version of the scene.
Both props appear in the final episode of the series, The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos.
It’s TARDIS H that the team arrive and depart the story in, but TARDIS I which the Doctor summons using the Sonic Screwdriver.
For that sequence, the same error in construction that occurred with TARDIS H during The Ghost Monument happens to TARDIS I; the left and right sides are switched compared to the prop’s other appearances in the series.
Episode Five, The Tsuranga Conundrum, is the only one of the series to feature the TARDIS exterior but not make use of any prop.The police box exterior is only briefly seen on the surface of Seffilun 27 as part of a digital matte painting.
The New Year’s Day episode, Resolution, was filmed as part of Series Eleven in July and August 2018, and also made use of both props. TARDIS H appears in Graham’s House, while TARDIS I is utilised for all other appearances of the ship.
During a couple of points in the episode the third prop — permanently connected to the interior set — is called into use to really sell the idea of the TARDIS being bigger on the indie.
Early on, it’s used for the sequence of the Doctor and her friends watching the fireworks display in space, and later on for Mitch’s first entrance to the ship.
Both props were pressed into service for the BBC’s annual Children in Need appeal, which aired in November. TARDIS H appeared in an early promotional trailer, encouraging people to ‘Do Your Thing’ for the appeal, featuring alongside children dressed as various incarnations of the Doctor. The trailer is available on the Children in Need YouTube channel. This marked the final use of TARDIS H in production on Doctor Who.
TARDIS I appeared as part of a special film made for Children in Need, in which a pair of young fans were invited to Roath Lock studios in Cardiff to meet the new team and tour the set. Although TARDIS I appears outside the house of the fans, a second prop appears later in the segment, marking our first look at the show’s tenth hero prop; TARDIS J. Although it’s glimpsed on screen here in 2018, it would be over a year before this prop made an appearance in the main show.
This entire segment is available on the Children in Need YouTube channel.
During broadcast of Series Eleven, both of the hero props were put on public display. TARDIS I appeared as part of a Doctor Who stand at the MCM Comic Con at the ExCeL Centre on London from 16–28 October, and was available for photographs and interaction.
TARDIS H, having been retired from the programme, went on more permanent display as part of a new Doctor Who exhibit at Madame Tussauds Blackpool, which opened on October 18th.
Here, the prop is used as part of a backdrop for a newly-created waxwork of the Thirteenth Doctor.
Despite being given a new coat of paint before going on display, a prominent scratch attained to the front of the base in South Africa is still prominent. The box was placed into the exhibit before the floor of the forest scene was painted, resulting in a number of brown paint marks being added around the base by accident.
Series Twelve
Doctor Who’s Twelfth Series started filming on January 21st 2019, and the production ran for a period of just over nine months, concluding in late October. For this run, the services of several TARDIS props — or at least parts of them — were required.
For the majority of production, the new TARDIS J, first seen in the 2018 Children in Need segment, was utilised as the hero prop. It makes a debut appearance in the very first episode of the series, Spyfall – Part One, and goes on to appear as the sole TARDIS prop used for five other episodes; Spyfall – Part Two, Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror, Praxeus, The Haunting of Villa Diodoti, and The Timeless Children.
Although it’s technically true to say that TARDIS J is also the only prop used for filming on Can You Hear Me?, the episode does feature our only appearance of TARDIS H this series. For the TARDIS’ arrival in Sheffield a shot is recycled from 2018’s Arachnids in the UK – the first time the same sequence of a materialisation has been used for two different episodes in the 21st century.
Curiously, TARDIS J’s very first appearance in the series, being wheeled into position behind Stephen Fry at MI6 is in the form of an unusual hybrid. While the frame and left-side door (featuring the ‘Pull To Open’ panel) are TARDIS J, the right-side door is from TARDIS I. Although this practice of swapping doors between props was common in the first few years of modern Doctor Who, this is the first time it’s happened in almost a decade.
Spyfall – Part One also makes use of the full TARDIS I prop, up on a ramp in a garage for the Doctor to work on early in the episode. This marks the only time one of the Series Eleven props was brought back out for production on the new series.
An earlier prop makes an appearance this year, in the form of the ‘Bradley Box’ originally built for Twice Upon a Time in 2017. The prop has been given a few modifications to the top signage, including the fitting of lights, and pressed into service as the TARDIS belonging to another Doctor. This prop appears in Fugitive of the Judoon, making this an unusual example of an episode which features a TARDIS prop, but not one of the regular hero ones.
Two episodes this year, Orphan 55 and Ascension of the Cybermen, don’t feature the TARDIS exterior at all. These are only the fifth and sixth episodes of 21st century Doctor Who which don’t feature the police box prop. As with Heaven Sent in 2015, the TARDIS interior is seen in Orphan 55, but the ship is entirely absent inside and out from the latter episode.
Series Thirteen — Flux
Following the broadcast of Series Twelve, a standalone special was produced for broadcast on January 1st 2021, titled Revolution of the Daleks. As the title implies, the episode saw the return of the Doctor’s greatest foes and also an old friend in the form of Captain Jack Harkness, making his return to the series after an eleven year (to the day) absence.
The episode also saw the return of TARDIS I, brought out of storage for the first time since the production of Spyfall in March. The prop is featured prominently throughout the episode as the sole TARDIS used. Following completion of the special in October 2019, production shut down while plans were drawn up for the next series.
Series Thirteen — Flux
When Doctor Who returned to production in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, plans needed to be altered to accommodate new, safer, working practices. A test for this new way of working was made on September 10th 2020 — almost a year after production had wrapped — with the recording of a pick-up scene for Revolution of the Daleks. This scene was filmed entirely on the TARDIS set, and as such didn’t feature any TARDIS props.
One of the effects of the new COVID-safe production was the lengthening of the time it would take to film each episode, and as a result the thirteenth series was shortened from the planned ten episodes to just six. These episodes would form part of one long story, subtitled Flux.
All six episodes featured TARDIS I as the hero prop, but this wasn’t the only TARDIS to appear. The Halloween Apocalypse, the first episode of the series, saw the introduction of a ‘half’ TARDIS Police Box, which was integrated into the floor of the Console Room set to give the impression of the ship folding in on itself. “Adding the extra doors was good fun,” explained Production Designer Dafydd Shurmer in the February 2022 issue of SFX Magazine. “There was a big debate about whether the doors should stay or disappear. But to add to the chaos it made more sense for them to stay, so the viewer saw more entrances.”
This prop only featured the front of the box and two angled sides. To allow the doors to open outwards, the hinges for the doors were here placed on the outside rather than in the more traditional format. To sell the idea that the doors were growing out of the TARDIS, the floor was adapted to merge with the roof of this new prop. While this isn’t seen clearly on screen, the effect is visible in behind the scenes photographs.
2022 Specials
Jodie Whitaker’s era of Doctor Who was rounded out in 2022 with a series of three specials broadcast across the year. Continuing the trend from the production of Series Thirteen, all three of these episodes feature TARDIS I as the primary hero prop.
In Eve of the Daleks, TARDIS I appears briefly at the top and tail of the episode, but spends much of the episode replaced with a brand new TARDIS prop specially created for the episode. This new prop featured glowing red cracks across the entire surface, achieved with practical lighting, to represent the Flux-damaged craft.
TARDIS I returned again for Legend of the Sea Devils, appearing both on location and in the studio. Although it was the only major prop used in the episode, two other TARDISes do make key here. The first is the fitted ‘porch’ on the main TARDIS set, used while the Doctor and Yaz are at the bottom of the ocean. The second marks the return of the ‘half TARDIS’ created for Flux, which appears for a sequence of the TARDIS on its side, with the occupants spilling out. The hinges allowing the doors to open outwards are far more visible in this shot than they were during the prop’s time in the Console room.
Jodie Whittaker’s final episode, The Power of the Doctor, is something of an oddity. It presents us with a new hybrid prop; an inversion of the one seen during a single scene in Spyfall. Throughout the episode, the TARDIS prop used has the frame and right-hand door of TARDIS I, but with the left-hand door (featuring the ‘Pull to Open’ panel) from TARDIS J, making its first on-screen appearance since production on Series Twelve finished in late 2019.
This hybrid prop appeared throughout the episode, so was presumably the result of the door being added to the prop before production began.
A second police box appeared on the Cyber Planet to represent the Master’s TARDIS, which had been converted into a parody of the Doctor’s Ship, complete with a ‘Pull to Open’ sign replaced with laughter. While broadly similar in style to the TARDIS used by the Thirteenth Doctor, this box features a heavily distressed appearance, and thicker paintwork. The doors are missing the centre divider, and the frame of the ‘Pull to Open’ panel is thicker.
