New York Comic Con Doctor Who Panel on Nardole and Bill in Series Ten
By Leah Tedesco
To open the Doctor Who panel at New York Comic Con 2016, the executive producers and the actors discussed Nardole and Bill in Series Ten.
On Friday, October 7th, New York Comic Con hosted a particularly exciting Doctor Who panel. It featured executive producer Brian Minchin, executive producer and lead writer Steven Moffat, and cast members Matt Lucas, Pearl Mackie, and Peter Capaldi. As is the norm during such panels, much was discussed regarding the show.
The conversation opens with a question to the producers about how the new characters got involved with Doctor Who. In regards to Lucas’ character, Nardole, Moffat says that the idea was to give the Doctor “some sort of valet or butler who wouldn’t be very obedient or polite.” They were “astonished” that Lucas requested to make a return to the show because of how busy and successful they perceived his career to be. Lucas chimes in with a joke about how Doctor Who put all that to a grinding halt.
Moffat is impressed at how many episodes that Lucas volunteered to do, and says that the actor’s current involvement with the program is “better than [they] could have expected.” The showrunner describes Lucas’ current portrayal of Nardole as being “quite different this time.” In his debut in last year’s Christmas special, ‘The Husbands of River Song,’ “he was sort of a little comedy duffer.”
"This time, there’s a lot more layers to him. He’s even a little bit sinister at times, which is really fascinating."
Moffat then confirms that Mackie’s character — the Doctor’s new companion, Bill — will not be in the Christmas special, but will appear at the beginning of Series Ten. Understandably wanting to keep the details of this a surprise, he refuses to divulge any further information other than,
"I think I can promise you it’s really quite different."
Capaldi is then posed the question of what it is like to have “slightly different staff members” onboard the TARDIS. He replies that it is “great,” yet “quite strange” because he still thinks of himself as being new to Doctor Who. But while Mackie may not yet know the ropes of being on set, he has enjoyed taker her under his wing. He admires the “energy and vigor and talent” that she has brought to the show.
Mackie reveals, interestingly, that the code for the audition process for the latest companion was “‘Mean Town,’ which is an anagram for ‘Woman Ten,’ who is the tenth companion.” It was kept so underwraps that her agent did not even know at first that the audition was for Doctor Who. When Mackie read the script, she saw Bill as being “pretty fully formed,” but is not exactly sure if that is due to Moffat’s writing, or her connection, as an actor, to the character. She sees a “wonderful dynamic” between Bill and the Doctor.
The following is the story that she tells of her first read with Capaldi:
"There’s this one scene that we read — it’s the scene that Bill first goes into the TARDIS — and Peter’s like, “Do you want to stand up?” And I was like, “Ok! This is mad! Alright, um…” So, we stand up and Peter’s like running around, back and forth, pressing all these like imaginary buttons, you know, ’cause it’s the TARDIS and he knows where everything is. And I’m just standing there like, “This is the maddest thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t know what is going on here. I mean, luckily, the character’s supposed to be thinking that, too, otherwise it could have gone in a very, very different direction. But, yeah, I mean it was cool. It was great. They were very nice to me, thankfully."
In response to the host asking why he wanted “to have a regular role on Doctor Who,” Lucas amusingly replies,
"Well, I love the rain, and it rains a lot in Cardiff. I love the cold weather. I love paying for me own breakfast and lunch. I love all of that. Um… I just may have said the wrong thing there. I don’t know."
His “real” answer, however, is,
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"I did this appearance on the show and I just really, really had a good time. And, as much as I love the show, I also just thought the crew were great, and it was just a really great vibe. And, actually, you know, the BBC is shrinking, but the scale of Doctor Who remains as big as ever, if not bigger. And, somehow, you make this really big show, and I just thought it would be really exciting to be a real part of it. And, also . . . obviously, I didn’t know about Pearl at that stage, but I’m a really big fan of Peter’s work, and have been for a long time, and was excited at the prospect of, um… tainting his career by [laughs] . . . sticking myself into it. And it’s just been a real pleasure. And, as Steven said, I’ve been trying to just refine my performance a little bit. You know, there are moments where [Nardole] is as broad as you’ve seen him, but a lot of the rest of the time I think he blends into the show a little more easily now. You know, ’cause obviously the Christmas specials are much broader, but the rest of the series is a little more real now, isn’t it… ish?"
The entire panel can be viewed below.
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Next: Companion Advice from Jenna Coleman to Pearl Mackie