The New Doctor! A Doctor Who Alternate History Story

Part 10 - Vienna 1913, Production - The Twin Dilemma

"At that point, it looked like the girls were fallen through the cracks. So I had to stand up and say, 'enough.' They might not have been the best actresses in the world, but they were trying, and we were all in this together. Leave no man, or twin, behind, I said. Of course, they misquoted me on some rubbish about not leaving the twins behinds." David Burton

During the pre-production phase, the gang at Millenium was doing some serious soul searching about the role of the twin girls, Jenny and Judy Lannister, as Heart and Diamond.

During the long period of work up in 1991, it had seemed like such a good idea. A couple of attractive young women with extraordinary powers, to accompany the Doctor, a homage to other iconic series. At times, usually around a late night round of beer, it seemed like one of the strongest ideas, a pair of characters that might match or eclipse the Doctor.

Reality was a bruising experience. The Monsters of Ness had found Jenny and Judy, without previous professional acting experience, floundering in the roles assigned to them. They were charming girls, they were simply out of their depth. And the crew had fallen into the old Doctor Who trap of coming up with interesting companions, and then having no idea what to do with them. The Lannister twins had not lived up to hopes.

By February and March, Bernard, Levine and Letts were having a serious debate about recasting the roles dropping them entirely, as a drag on the production, and inventing some other companion - hopefully a more capable actress.

But there hand, there were downsides - adverse publicity and bad press, either in and of itself, or generated by the twins, who were, if nothing else, appealing and photogenic. There was potential legal action for breach of contract on behalf of the twins by their parents, which, while likely not involving huge sums, would be messy and embarrassing. The costs of buying out their contracts; the trials involved in recasting or creating a replacement character including additions, troublesome given a tight timeline.

And there was a certain timidity - the twins were likeable girls, even if they couldn't act, it was hard to walk up to them and say 'you're fired.'

Like any difficult decision, the choice made was to postpone it. Scripts were prepared without reference to the Doctor's companions, as they were clearly up in the air. The understanding was that once things were sorted out, and decisions were made, the scripts would be adjusted. Vienna, 2013, began its first day of production without a mention of the Twins anywhere in the script.

At that point, David Burton put his foot down, and stepped up as the champion of his costars. He brought it up, and refused to let it go, demanding that they be written into the script.

By this time, the Lannister twins, sensing that their stardom was going to vanish if they didn't do something, began to press their case. Against the protests of Letts and Bernard, Levine sided with Burton, and the twins were back in.

The principal compromise was a reduced role, commensurate with their acting abilities. But it was a role that could be expanded through the serials, if they improved.

The big problem was fitting them into the script for Vienna, 2013, without completely shredding the plot.

The solution was to keep them in the Tardis. The Doctor would be out and about the streets, cafes and palaces of Vienna. Judy and Jenny, or Heart and Diamond, would just stand around the Tardis console, looking at the viewscreen and making observations or offering advice. This wasn't a bad solution, it actually offered a useful role in the story structure, filling in any missing bits of information that might turn out to be needed. A shooting day with the Tardis was reserved for the post-production phase.

But if Heart and Diamond were in the Tardis, then they were going to meet Freud and Hitler when they came visiting. All those scenes would have to be reshot. And this time, it would be lighting, blocking, setting up for and shooting four or five characters - not just two or three. That was immensely more complicated. The production schedule was re-arranged, budgets were adjusted, and the Tardis interior reshoots were scheduled for April 20, afternoon and evening. They went until 3:00 am, but couldn't complete the shots. So after a break, they went back and finished up through the morning. The sets were struck once again. The crew went to location shooting as the new sets were built.