The Born Identity

Crew Diary: A truly 'Confidential' episode

Confidential tiptoed on set to be privy to the reveal of one of the biggest and best kept secrets in Who history – Who is River Song? Before we all found out we just had time to run around set, asking the cast and crew who they thought she was and even came across a husband and wife where one had been one of the select few that had been told the real answer but refused to tell the other! After a briefing from Producer Marcus on confidentiality the Doctor Who crew (and us) watched with baited breath as Matt, Alex, Karen and Arthur ran through the scene in front of an audience for the first time.

Confidential also had a lot of ducking and diving to do this week as we filmed the ferocious fight scene with sword wielding Madame Vastra (played by our favourite Silurian Neve McIntosh), Rory and the rest of the Doctor’s gang as they battled the Headless Monks – one of whom literally flies through the air and hits the ground with a smack! We had a catch up with Gordon Seed who played the unfortunate monk. He assured us that no stunt men were harmed during the making of the programme. Camera wise for this sequence we cranked the shutter speed up to 250th in addition to using crash zooms to give the backstage extra energy mixed with other takes filmed in slow motion.

As if finding out that River is Amy and Rory’s daughter wasn’t enough, Steven Moffat threw almost every creature into the mix with this episode featuring Judoon, Silurians, and of course, the Headless Monks! Around every corner, there was a monster waiting including a very friendly Cyberman who took us through his stomping schedule.

There were also two less scary additions to the Doctor Who cast this week (unless you were Karen who had to hold them!) in the form of the twins playing baby River Song aka Melody Pond. Every time they were brought onto set there was a lot of cooing from cast, crew and even Confidential felt a bit broody…


Matthew Andrews – Researcher