Doctor Who Confidential (2005–2011): Season 5, Episode 6 - Death in Venice - full transcript
- I'm kind of done with running down
corridors. What do you think, Rory?
- How about somewhere romantic?
- Venezia! - This week, Confidential
packs its bags and goes abroad.
The best place you could
possibly go for a romantic
weekend would be Venice.
And gets to meet up
with a Venetian count...
Looking for vampires in Venice?
- Aaargh! - What was that?
It's Venice, but not
as you know it.
I think it's alliteration, really.
Vampires.
In fact, a few things aren't
what they seem to be.
They find out that they're not
actually vampires,
they're something else.
What there are actually there is...
you know, fish from space.
OK. Move!
What is going on?
And action!
And are the Doctor Who team
really in Venice?
Confidential finds out.
Turn over, please.
70, take two, A camera. And action!
The TARDIS touches down
and the Doctor sort of bounds out
and starts describing La Serenissima,
this impossible, mad city.
Venice! Venezia! La Serenissima!
It really felt like stepping back
in time, stepping out into that.
One of the most powerful cities in
the world. Constantly being invaded.
And I think there's a real sense of
vibrancy and colour to that scene.
Ah, you've got to love Venice.
And so many people did.
It sets the romp off, as it were.
Byron, Napoleon, Casanova...
It's the perfect start
to a Venetian romp,
but it's shot hundreds of miles
across the sea in Croatia.
We thought from the beginning
we would like a foreign shoot,
somewhere exotic
and really mix it up a bit.
The trouble with real Venice is you'd
have to spend an awful lot of time
covering up the pizza parlours
and the shops and all that.
Doubling up as Venice was a small
town on the Mediterranean coast
called Trogir.
And it looks
so beautifully like Venice.
The Venetians colonised there,
so it's a great double.
It has the look,
but when it comes to standing in
for Venice, size is everything.
We needed, with our Trogir skylines,
to have
some proper Venetian buildings
sitting there on the horizon.
So a small crew, including
Dave Houghton from The Mill,
went over to Venice to get
some of our wide shots.
At the moment, I'm looking
for angles
for our opening wide of Venice,
so we're trying to match a plate
that we've already filmed
in Croatia.
What we didn't have in Trogir was
some of these painted buildings
that go directly into the water
that have no kind of walkway.
So this side, that will go,
be turned into Venice, and anything
this side of this umbrella
will also disappear.
We'll have gondolas in
the foreground and some piles.
To become the perfect vision
of Venice, Trogir just needed
to be time-travelled
back to the 16th century.
You can see behind us we've
decorated this area of the set
to look like a Venice marketplace,
and the breads
and the garlic and all those sorts
of bits that we've brought in.
We've also got some very big banners
that are very Venetian-looking.
It's looked really, really amazing.
There was hundreds of extras and
loads of chickens running around.
Chickens and goats and
a guy selling eels.
And all sorts of props everywhere.
And all the local people were in
as people in the market.
This is at the beginning,
before Matt turns up.
We were sitting having a coffee
on one of the recces,
and this old lady
walked past with a goat
and I said, "Right, book her
and the goat."
Hello, hello, hello...
Bless her, she was from
a local village
about ten miles out of Trogir,
and she had a wonderful goat,
but she didn't have a clue
what I was saying.
And then... Watch me. Through here.
I was asking her to do things
and saying, "Watch me, watch me,"
but she kept following me and
I'm going, "No, no, stay there."
No, no, stay, stay there.
Just watch. There.
And, unfortunately, her little route
kept changing, because as
the camera shot was changing,
that was changing, so we were
getting confused, so she was
getting even more confused.
Up there, through there, round...
THEY SPEAK IN CROATIAN
We had a close relationship
by the time we'd finished!
THEY SPEAK IN CROATIAN
OK.
70, take three, A and B.
And background action.
And action!
GOAT BLEATS
METALLIC THRUMMING
Venice! Venezia! La Serenissima!
Confidential took the chance
to visit modern-day Venice
to check out the actual events
behind the Doctor Who story,
particularly the great plague
of the 16th century.
So writer Toby Whithouse went
to meet a man whose ancestors
lived through it all.
Architect, historian and TV
personality, Francesco da Mosto.
Hello, Toby. How are you?
- Lovely to meet you.
- Looking for vampires in Venice?
Vampires of Venice, of course!
'Francesco tells me of a Venetian
vampire story, but that's for later.
'First, I get a tour
of the da Mosto mansion.'
How old is the actual
building itself?
It's from the end of
the 15th century, 16th century.
The period of your plague.
Absolutely perfect. It's beautiful.
'This amazing building has been
in the da Mosto family for
over a century.'
Oh, my goodness. Look at this.
Here I learnt to ride a bicycle.
It's the perfect space.
Look at this! This is incredible.
Yeah, nice shape.
And your Doctor Who,
during the plague, he was
a doctor of plague, or...?
No, no, our Doctor is not a medical
doctor. He's a time-traveller.
But my episode is set just after
the outbreak of the plague
in the late 16th century,
and a race of aliens
have arrived in the city
and are using the fear
of the return of the plague
as an excuse to close down the city.
'Francesco had something for me
which was an absolute goldmine -
'a collection of documents relating
to the period in which
I set my episode.'
Yeah, it was quite terrible,
and here I found also
a lot of the people of my family,
like this one, they died of plague.
As you see, "Death by plague."
We say "peste".
That was the black one,
called la peste bubonica.
This is the doctor with a stick.
So would that be used as a weapon?
No, in a certain way
to keep a distance.
So you can't come closer
than this point?
Yes, there was this danger
of infection.
They were using the mask with
a filter or something like that
in the nose.
And so, finally, they lighted upon a
way to stop the spread of the plague?
What is sure is the idea
of the isolation
of the infected people, dividing
the town in different parts,
and also putting the infected people
in different islands, that worked.
And there was
the old Lazzaretto, the hell.
This is the new Lazzaretto. Now
there is not any more these walls.
- Was that the one where
they put the people who were
under observation? - That's right.
So on these islands, who was actually
in charge? Who was running them?
To run the rules in that period,
there were three health officials,
and one of these was one of
my family called Pietro da Mosto.
One of your ancestors?
Yes, he was one of the bad guys,
saying, always like that or nothing.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Papers, if you please.
Proof of residency, current bill
of medical inspection.
There you go, fella.
He was in charge of all the rules,
the strict rules,
like no-one could go out
from the islands,
everyone has to be isolated.
So it was quite a tough job.
It was the only way of survival
for the town.
What exactly is your job?
Checking aliens, visitors from
foreign lands what might bring
the plague with them.
Oh, that's nice(!) See where
you bring me? The plague.
Obviously, the Venice of today looks
very different to the Venice of 1580.
Too many new shops!
Too many new shops,
so we filmed in Trogir in Croatia.
There is quite a funny coincidence.
During the period of the plague,
there was one of my family,
he was a Count in Trogir.
It's quite interesting. This guy was
called Francesco da Mosto, like me.
Can you imagine?!
There was always a person
of a noble family of Venice
controlling the different town...
- Oh, all the little... - Just at that
moment of the plague that was in
Venice, he was Count in Trogir.
- Where we filmed the episode.
- Yes, strange. I found that out
yesterday. Quite strange.
I never looked at all the things.
It was quite funny.
Trogir town square.
The cast and crew are preparing
to meet a bunch of bloodsuckers.
# Now, baby
# I've got a lot of love to give
# And I've been over, oversubscribed
with relationships... #
Ah, the look of the vampire girls.
Where do I begin?
It brightened up our day.
The crew, I tell you what, I have
never, ever seen them so occupied
and satisfied and work hungry.
Everyone was happy.
The composer was joking with me,
saying, I bet there was only one
vampire girl in the script,
and by the time we'd got
to the shoot, there were like
12 vampire girls.
# You've got a little thing
I haven't seen before... #
They looked like 80s glam rock stars,
I think. Sort of bonkers hair.
The vampire girls had to be sexy,
but it was important,
for me, certainly, to try
and hark back to some of the classic
Hammer House of Horror
vampire films.
There's something weird and gothic
and brilliant about them. I think
they'll be a real hit. Come back,
you're always welcome!
193, take one.
And set!
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls... #
Actually walking as a pack together,
they do look absolutely terrifying.
We were worried it was going
to be a bit too scary,
but we thought, no,
just make it scary!
# Maybe I can learn to settle down
one day... #
How are you doing that?
I'm thrilled. Oh, this is Christmas!
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls... #
We needed to destroy all
of the other vampire girls.
The best way to do that,
big explosion.
We are Venetians!
So obviously, we created
a house exploding.
Hello, everyone.
These are the pots containing
our explosive charge.
We've got some soft, fine board
here, which will go here.
I've pre-weakened this
just to make sure
it doesn't come out like a lump.
It'll actually break up.
What will come out is the explosive
charge itself will actually
blow out all the dust and debris
and cork towards the other side
of the building.
Then you go and we can start the
explosion almost at the same time.
We needed Matt to run for his life
and jump in the air and
fall away from where the explosion
was going to happen.
So stunt co-ordinator Crispin had
to just run through that with Matt.
More height, and the reaction
in your face.
When you react to the explosion,
it's like run, run, run!
A successful jump is down to
the confidence of the actors.
They're confident about what
they're going to do,
they go for it more and they're
a lot more dynamic and obviously
the better it looks in shot.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Ha-hah!
And then you can look...
We have to rehearse the jump,
simply because we have one go
at the explosion.
To reset it was an hour, hour and
a half, and obviously our schedule
didn't give us time to do that.
- We haven't got many of these,
have we? - We've got one.
- That's why we've got to be spot on.
- One? - Yeah. So it's all
down to you, Matt.
- No, it's not, is it?
- Yeah. Good luck, mate.
# This used to be a funhouse
# But now it's full of evil clowns
# It's time to start
the countdown... #
OK, step in, Matt. Here we go.
And action!
It does make you jump,
it's a big old bang.
But I love all that, I love all
the pyros and the explosions.
It's like a good external
that's coming in that
keeps you alive and aware, and it
does a lot of the acting for you.
# This used to be a funhouse
# But now it's full
of evil clowns... #
So more explosions, please, Danny.
# I'm gonna burn it down, down, down
# I'm gonna burn it down. #
'For stage two of my Venetian tour,
'Francesco took me to a place at
the very heart of the plague story.
'A perfectly preserved
16th century pharmacy.'
The cave of Aladdin!
This would be similar
to a pharmacy of the time?
Yeah, in the period of that plague.
And it's here that they would make
the kind of concoctions and remedies
to supposedly cure the plague?
Yeah, supposedly.
But all these things
were quite expensive.
Can we have a look at these?
Nearly all kind of things like
Talco Venetian, oil of cod,
peels of sulphurs of iron...
We've got more of this.
Acido Tannico.
It's the red thing
that you use to, that's...
Like a tannin.
Yeah, I like wine, but I never...
Never touch that.
It's a mistake you make once.
And Elixir China.
More far away, it was expensive.
Of course, and because
I suppose the belief was
that if it comes from a culture a
long, long way away, they're very
wise, they must know over there.
Nonetheless, no one really knows
if it works.
No, they were hoping,
more expensive it was,
the more people were buying it.
That's something
they still say today.
If it costs an awful lot of money,
it must work.
They didn't know exactly, so it's
better to try than to die.
Of course!
'I've invited a friend to come
and join me in Venice.'
- Matt. - Toby! - How are you?
- Hello. - Welcome to Venice.
- Thank you.
- Come and meet my new friend.
- Do you get seasick, by the way?
- Uh, no. - Good.
Matt, this is Francesco.
Francesco, this is Matt.
- How do you do? - Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, sir.
We're going to come on your boat,
are we? Thank you.
Marvellous.
'Francesco is still promising me
a vampire story.
'But first, we take a trip around
some Venetian locations
connected to my episode.'
Venezia! La Serenissima!
- It's so nice that it's sunny.
- We're in luck.
Why did you choose to set it
in Venice?
Because Venice has always had
a very... a very strong sense
of its own individuality,
from the rest of the world.
It's always wanted to keep itself
separate from the rest of Europe.
So for the aliens, in the episode,
if you were going to go anywhere
and be left alone, where you could
carry on your business...
- Have your own individual empire.
- Exactly. - With water.
- With water, exactly.
So it's absolutely ideal.
And it really is.
There's nowhere like it
in the world.
That's true. And the interesting
thing is it's separate,
but without walls.
Like, all the castles had walls,
here, nothing.
We only had about five minutes
to shoot the scene
of Guido punting, or gondoling,
the Doctor and Rory.
All it consisted of
was parallel tracks
and Lucian standing
on the trolley, being pushed.
All the way up,
put it in front of you.
Standby to shoot, please.
We didn't have time
to talk about it.
It was grab the flambeau,
time's running out, get it done.
It was like, "Right, you're on
a gondola. Go!" So that
was interesting.
I've got a great big flambeau there
and we're having to...
Almost like you're riding a horse.
'We take a trip down the Grand Canal,
and come across a house
'my character Rosanna
may have lived in.'
Attend!
Attend!
The storm is coming!
Now we are arriving at the
Ca' d'Oro. The Ca' d'Oro, this one.
This is an example of how they were
in the Byzantine
and Gothic period.
Inside, this, the courtyard
with the staircase.
And here we are.
It's funny to see
the reflected light off the water
on the wall there,
because you wouldn't believe
the amount of trouble that we had
trying to recreate it.
Because, obviously, where we filmed,
there wasn't the Grand Canal.
Take two, A camera.
B camera.
Obviously, we got the buildings of
Venice, but unfortunately no water.
So, as you can see behind me, two
of the electricians are rippling away
with shining lights into water
which gives you the ripple effect
on the buildings behind me.
We put mirror tiles on the bottom
of a ripple tray and shine a light
into the ripple tray.
The light bounces off the mirrors,
and we ripple the water
to give you the effect behind us.
The fake gondola, yeah, wow.
Well, it was a piece of wood.
Just a bit stuck on the side which
didn't really feel like a gondola,
but it looks like a gondola.
Let's just see it rocking, guys.
OK. Move these poles over
a little bit.
To the left of frame, keep going.
Standby. Thank you.
Here we go. And action!
And here, the courtyard.
Where, with the well for the water.
There is something similar
in Trogir.
Croatia. It's sort of an
incredible spit, really, isn't it?
Mummy is hydrating, Francesco.
And we'd never interrupt Mummy
when she's hydrating!
Remember when we pop up
in the Calvierri mansion?
And we've built a well like this,
not as pretty as this, I have
to say, which we climb out of.
It has a similar grate
and everything.
Push, push!
There we are.
Do you, Toby,
ever write from locations?
I mean, the thing with Venice
is you have a kind of,
a sort of slideshow in your mind
of the different...
- The aesthetic... - Exactly.
- ..that it could be.
Because you want that kind of
very heavy, slightly medieval
architecture.
And that dark, and the light
rippling, and stuff like that.
Absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which
all adds up to the very other-worldly
quality of it, which is why I think
Venice was the perfect setting for
it, because there's something about
it that is quite, that is just unlike
anywhere else on the planet.
- And there's something very magical
about it. - Yeah, yeah.
As a Venetian, I start
to feel like an alien!
And there's a great line in it,
there's a great line.
A young girl is about to be
sent to her death.
She's walking the plank,
basically, into a pool of
alien piranhas, essentially.
And she says...
I'm Venetian!
I can swim!
We can all swim!
A small lake outside Trogir.
The Who crew are here because
there are some water scenes
where only the real thing will do.
I'm six inches off the bottom here.
Ah, right, you are close then.
It's December. It's cold.
And before making waves,
the team's task is to make it safe.
I wanted a water test
because, basically,
we have the actors jumping
into the water in Croatia,
and they had to get pulled under
the water as if they were pulled
by these fish.
They bite!
We had a dry suit
specially made for them,
and I need to test whether they were
buoyant, whether they managed to get
pulled under the water or not.
So I wanted to do a test for
myself just to see how safe
the costumes and the suits were.
And to prevent floods of tears,
a special volunteer
offers to take a dip.
Our lucky lady for the test was
our very own executive producer
Beth Willis,
we got to go in the water.
So we put her in a suit.
And she was more than keen to go in.
We had two divers in the water.
In this instance, it was
both safety, and also I wanted
the divers to assist the actors
getting pulled under the water.
OK.
Is she set?
"JAWS" THEME PLAYS
As soon as we got into
the water, this swan suddenly
came out from nowhere,
came flying towards us, obviously
very protective of its territory.
And we just had to wait and hope
the swan goes away.
So we had a bit of
swan wrangling to do!
OK?
Set? OK.
And, three, two, one, under.
Splash about. Get yourself ready.
Set. In three, two, one, under.
We just thought it would be
a good idea if I could go in,
and I can honestly say
how cold or not cold it is.
And it was cold, but it was do-able.
I'm not looking my best! Thank you.
I think, if I'm asking
anyone else to get in the water,
I've got to be able to say
whether or not I think it's OK.
Now I do, so I feel much better
about it, having done it.
I wasn't massively looking forward
to it. But it was fine,
and everybody was lovely.
Apart from the swan,
who was a bit active.
But other than that, it was fine.
However, before you go dunking
members of the cast, there's
something else to take on board.
That's the way you're going
to be pulled under.
It's essential the crew are high
and dry when filming on water.
That's always the tricky thing with
water. It's a nightmare to shoot on.
So, the local Croatian
art department built us a wonderful
pontoon, a movable pontoon.
And that took both the cameras,
we got the monitors on there.
Essential equipment that needs
to be on there. It was great,
it really worked for the day.
So, we had one camera
on the floating pontoon.
The other camera, I was very keen
to get the camera as close to
the water surface as possible.
And so, in order to achieve that,
with very expensive
non-waterproof cameras, we had to put
the camera into a glass housing.
We had a waterproof fish tank.
So, you put the camera
in the fish tank.
The fish tank submerges slightly,
and the camera is right
on the water level.
So it's a little bit of a cheat,
but it works really well.
One of the trickier things
that we had to achieve
was to get two actresses to jump
into freezing cold water. Erm...
It's not cold enough to get that
ice cream head that we often get.
The only way to do that was with
a great deal of persuasion.
It's not like that. It's cold,
but it's not like, oh, my God,
you know, this is unbearable.
I, for one, had to jump in myself
in a previous recce to check it out.
So, by the time we got to them
doing it, they didn't really
have any way out.
231, take one, B camera.
And action!
I'm Venetian! I can swim!
We can all swim!
So, I literally had to jump into
freezing cold spring water.
It was an initial shock,
but once you're in, you're in.
So it wasn't too bad.
Diver in position, please.
- Are you OK? - Yeah, cool. - Standby.
'I didn't really have to act
at all, because you genuinely
were freezing cold.
'So it was pretty good.
I can definitely imagine
how she would have felt.'
Bubbles.
And action!
Something touched my leg!
It bites!
'There was a bit of cramp going on
there because of the shock.'
But I think, if you just
relax and stuff.
Well, as relaxed as you can be,
jumping into freezing cold
water in December.
'But just... you relax
and just go with the flow.'
And action!
Something touched my leg!
It bites!
SHE SCREAMS
- CREW CLAP
- OK, take her to the side.
Back on dry land, Arthur and I
are getting ready for a fight.
Here we go.
89, take one, A camera.
Still on camera.
Let me go to the smile to begin.
So we don't see the teeth to begin
with, then you reveal them.
And action!
Oh, yeah, the sword fight!
It was brilliant.
And I was there looking very
concerned about the whole thing.
But it was just incredible.
Arthur and Alex totally thrashed it.
And Arthur was hilarious.
It was really cool to watch.
'I'm glad that I didn't have
to look cool.'
I looked less cool when I watched it
than I thought I did.
'But I think, if I'd have had to be
particularly good at sword fighting,
it might have been a problem.'
I think I'm quite far off
being an action hero.
I think I'm going to stick to doing
what I do, but it was fun to do,
a taste of it.
- 91, take two, A camera. - Get set.
And action!
# Anything that's worth having
is sure enough worth fighting for
# Quitting's out of the question
# When it gets tough,
gotta fight some more
# We gotta fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight for this love
# We gotta fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight for this love
# We gotta fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight for this love
# If it's worth having,
it's worth fighting for... #
He's just defeated Francesco, so
she's very proud of him, secretly.
I'm being reviewed now, am I?
He's just battled a vampire,
who's turned into a fish
and exploded on top of him.
The last thing he thinks
is going to happen is that
Amy is going to kiss him.
It was funny, it was really
embarrassing, actually.
Because just before I did it,
Jonny, the director was, like,
"No pressure, Karen.
"But make it the kiss of his life."
I was like, "Oh, my God! Right..."
Well, I basically just told Karen
what Arthur Darvill had asked me
to say to her.
And he said, "Jonny, just make sure
you say to her, make it the kiss of
your life." So that's what I did.
- 87, take one, camera A. - And action!
So yeah, I just had to go for it.
Do you know what? It was fine.
But I actually, when I was kissing
him, forgot that I was the one
who was supposed to stop it,
so it went on for ages.
God, and they were like,
"Karen? Karen!"
Why don't we go and see the Doctor?
Cut that.
But that was just the first time.
Yeah, it was funny.
Let's put it this way.
The episode was running short!
THEY ALL LAUGH
Should we just do that once more?
Reset, please.
# We gotta fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight for this love
# We gotta fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight for this love
# We gotta fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight for this love
# If it's worth having,
it's worth fighting for. #
- Now we go help the Doctor.
- Cut there. Very nice.
Cut there, thank you.
'Next stop on my tour, one of
the plague quarantine areas
'that Francesco told me about
when we first met.'
Francesco, we are on our way now
to the islands.
We are going to try to arrive
in the old Lazzaretto.
Where there were the people
not only suspected but infected.
So this was the one you really
didn't want to go to.
It was the last chance.
The place where you say bye
to everyone.
It was like a place
no-one gets out of.
Right. That was the situation.
OPERA MUSIC PLAYS
So, this, where we're going now,
is the old Lazzaretto.
- Lazzaretto?
- Yeah, it was the hell place,
where the people were coming to die.
There is all these walls
which are surrounding it.
Why don't we stop here?
What do you think?
Yeah. Let's climb in.
Now, we are going to break in
to the plague...
the house for the poor people
that had the plague,
and were brought here
to peter away and die.
God, it feels particularly
dilapidated.
'It's a grim place
with a grim purpose.
'But how else did you stop
a plague in the 16th century?'
The only thing was isolation. You
had to isolate the infected people.
Yes, yes, but, so who would
determine... Well, obviously if
you are wasting away...
There were the doctors arriving.
When they see that you
start vomiting.
One of Francesco's relatives was
one of the health officials.
Yeah. He decided the rules.
Because our episode is set in the
1580s, so it's just a couple of years
after the plague has died down.
But still, the fear within the city,
having experienced this
unbelievably traumatic event
that would have touched absolutely
every family, and everyone who lived
in Venice would have lost someone.
And so that's why they used
the fear of that coming back again
as an excuse to close the city down.
Because, just the word would
fill everyone with such terror,
that it was coming back again.
We follow the plan.
Let them hammer on our door.
Beg to be taken.
There's that great line
at the top, I walk into the city
and to the gates of the city,
and someone says,
"You can't come in because you
are them what bring the plague."
My character says...
How interesting. I heard
the plague died out years ago.
Not out there!
No, Signora Calvierri has seen it
with her own eyes.
- Streets are piled high with bodies,
she said. - Did she, now?
And of course, as you say, it's
Rosanna, this mad fish alien.
This lie that's been put around,
that it's coming back.
It's like vaccinations. I had it.
'With Matt on board,
Francesco finally gave us
his Venetian vampire story.
'A tale that came to life
when archaeologists found
the remains of a plague victim
'whose burial bore all the hallmarks
of something even darker.'
They found a skull of a woman
that has a brick inside the mouth.
Because when they died,
what was happening, they also,
when they were dead,
they found blood coming out.
- And the veil a little eaten. - Right.
But, blood comes out
as a result of the plague?
Yeah, but after the death.
So that was strange.
So they were thinking
that the body, this person,
could pass this thing to other dead.
And then the plague
was going around more.
And so they were putting this brick
so she could not move the mouth.
Strange!
'Tales of deadly creatures
sucking the blood of the living.'
It looks like I was closer
to the truth than I expected.
Perhaps there really were
vampires in Venice.
Well, Francesco, sir.
Thank you for
a wonderful, brilliant
and completely insightful tour
of Venice. It's been a joy.
- It's been fantastic.
- Absolutely fantastic.
Thank you for showing us around
this beautiful city.
We found the plague, we found
the cure for the plague.
It does feel kind of alien
as a world. Yes.
It's been good.
Thanks for watching as well,
Doctor Who Confidential.
Do come back and, er...
Yeah.
It will be great.
corridors. What do you think, Rory?
- How about somewhere romantic?
- Venezia! - This week, Confidential
packs its bags and goes abroad.
The best place you could
possibly go for a romantic
weekend would be Venice.
And gets to meet up
with a Venetian count...
Looking for vampires in Venice?
- Aaargh! - What was that?
It's Venice, but not
as you know it.
I think it's alliteration, really.
Vampires.
In fact, a few things aren't
what they seem to be.
They find out that they're not
actually vampires,
they're something else.
What there are actually there is...
you know, fish from space.
OK. Move!
What is going on?
And action!
And are the Doctor Who team
really in Venice?
Confidential finds out.
Turn over, please.
70, take two, A camera. And action!
The TARDIS touches down
and the Doctor sort of bounds out
and starts describing La Serenissima,
this impossible, mad city.
Venice! Venezia! La Serenissima!
It really felt like stepping back
in time, stepping out into that.
One of the most powerful cities in
the world. Constantly being invaded.
And I think there's a real sense of
vibrancy and colour to that scene.
Ah, you've got to love Venice.
And so many people did.
It sets the romp off, as it were.
Byron, Napoleon, Casanova...
It's the perfect start
to a Venetian romp,
but it's shot hundreds of miles
across the sea in Croatia.
We thought from the beginning
we would like a foreign shoot,
somewhere exotic
and really mix it up a bit.
The trouble with real Venice is you'd
have to spend an awful lot of time
covering up the pizza parlours
and the shops and all that.
Doubling up as Venice was a small
town on the Mediterranean coast
called Trogir.
And it looks
so beautifully like Venice.
The Venetians colonised there,
so it's a great double.
It has the look,
but when it comes to standing in
for Venice, size is everything.
We needed, with our Trogir skylines,
to have
some proper Venetian buildings
sitting there on the horizon.
So a small crew, including
Dave Houghton from The Mill,
went over to Venice to get
some of our wide shots.
At the moment, I'm looking
for angles
for our opening wide of Venice,
so we're trying to match a plate
that we've already filmed
in Croatia.
What we didn't have in Trogir was
some of these painted buildings
that go directly into the water
that have no kind of walkway.
So this side, that will go,
be turned into Venice, and anything
this side of this umbrella
will also disappear.
We'll have gondolas in
the foreground and some piles.
To become the perfect vision
of Venice, Trogir just needed
to be time-travelled
back to the 16th century.
You can see behind us we've
decorated this area of the set
to look like a Venice marketplace,
and the breads
and the garlic and all those sorts
of bits that we've brought in.
We've also got some very big banners
that are very Venetian-looking.
It's looked really, really amazing.
There was hundreds of extras and
loads of chickens running around.
Chickens and goats and
a guy selling eels.
And all sorts of props everywhere.
And all the local people were in
as people in the market.
This is at the beginning,
before Matt turns up.
We were sitting having a coffee
on one of the recces,
and this old lady
walked past with a goat
and I said, "Right, book her
and the goat."
Hello, hello, hello...
Bless her, she was from
a local village
about ten miles out of Trogir,
and she had a wonderful goat,
but she didn't have a clue
what I was saying.
And then... Watch me. Through here.
I was asking her to do things
and saying, "Watch me, watch me,"
but she kept following me and
I'm going, "No, no, stay there."
No, no, stay, stay there.
Just watch. There.
And, unfortunately, her little route
kept changing, because as
the camera shot was changing,
that was changing, so we were
getting confused, so she was
getting even more confused.
Up there, through there, round...
THEY SPEAK IN CROATIAN
We had a close relationship
by the time we'd finished!
THEY SPEAK IN CROATIAN
OK.
70, take three, A and B.
And background action.
And action!
GOAT BLEATS
METALLIC THRUMMING
Venice! Venezia! La Serenissima!
Confidential took the chance
to visit modern-day Venice
to check out the actual events
behind the Doctor Who story,
particularly the great plague
of the 16th century.
So writer Toby Whithouse went
to meet a man whose ancestors
lived through it all.
Architect, historian and TV
personality, Francesco da Mosto.
Hello, Toby. How are you?
- Lovely to meet you.
- Looking for vampires in Venice?
Vampires of Venice, of course!
'Francesco tells me of a Venetian
vampire story, but that's for later.
'First, I get a tour
of the da Mosto mansion.'
How old is the actual
building itself?
It's from the end of
the 15th century, 16th century.
The period of your plague.
Absolutely perfect. It's beautiful.
'This amazing building has been
in the da Mosto family for
over a century.'
Oh, my goodness. Look at this.
Here I learnt to ride a bicycle.
It's the perfect space.
Look at this! This is incredible.
Yeah, nice shape.
And your Doctor Who,
during the plague, he was
a doctor of plague, or...?
No, no, our Doctor is not a medical
doctor. He's a time-traveller.
But my episode is set just after
the outbreak of the plague
in the late 16th century,
and a race of aliens
have arrived in the city
and are using the fear
of the return of the plague
as an excuse to close down the city.
'Francesco had something for me
which was an absolute goldmine -
'a collection of documents relating
to the period in which
I set my episode.'
Yeah, it was quite terrible,
and here I found also
a lot of the people of my family,
like this one, they died of plague.
As you see, "Death by plague."
We say "peste".
That was the black one,
called la peste bubonica.
This is the doctor with a stick.
So would that be used as a weapon?
No, in a certain way
to keep a distance.
So you can't come closer
than this point?
Yes, there was this danger
of infection.
They were using the mask with
a filter or something like that
in the nose.
And so, finally, they lighted upon a
way to stop the spread of the plague?
What is sure is the idea
of the isolation
of the infected people, dividing
the town in different parts,
and also putting the infected people
in different islands, that worked.
And there was
the old Lazzaretto, the hell.
This is the new Lazzaretto. Now
there is not any more these walls.
- Was that the one where
they put the people who were
under observation? - That's right.
So on these islands, who was actually
in charge? Who was running them?
To run the rules in that period,
there were three health officials,
and one of these was one of
my family called Pietro da Mosto.
One of your ancestors?
Yes, he was one of the bad guys,
saying, always like that or nothing.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Papers, if you please.
Proof of residency, current bill
of medical inspection.
There you go, fella.
He was in charge of all the rules,
the strict rules,
like no-one could go out
from the islands,
everyone has to be isolated.
So it was quite a tough job.
It was the only way of survival
for the town.
What exactly is your job?
Checking aliens, visitors from
foreign lands what might bring
the plague with them.
Oh, that's nice(!) See where
you bring me? The plague.
Obviously, the Venice of today looks
very different to the Venice of 1580.
Too many new shops!
Too many new shops,
so we filmed in Trogir in Croatia.
There is quite a funny coincidence.
During the period of the plague,
there was one of my family,
he was a Count in Trogir.
It's quite interesting. This guy was
called Francesco da Mosto, like me.
Can you imagine?!
There was always a person
of a noble family of Venice
controlling the different town...
- Oh, all the little... - Just at that
moment of the plague that was in
Venice, he was Count in Trogir.
- Where we filmed the episode.
- Yes, strange. I found that out
yesterday. Quite strange.
I never looked at all the things.
It was quite funny.
Trogir town square.
The cast and crew are preparing
to meet a bunch of bloodsuckers.
# Now, baby
# I've got a lot of love to give
# And I've been over, oversubscribed
with relationships... #
Ah, the look of the vampire girls.
Where do I begin?
It brightened up our day.
The crew, I tell you what, I have
never, ever seen them so occupied
and satisfied and work hungry.
Everyone was happy.
The composer was joking with me,
saying, I bet there was only one
vampire girl in the script,
and by the time we'd got
to the shoot, there were like
12 vampire girls.
# You've got a little thing
I haven't seen before... #
They looked like 80s glam rock stars,
I think. Sort of bonkers hair.
The vampire girls had to be sexy,
but it was important,
for me, certainly, to try
and hark back to some of the classic
Hammer House of Horror
vampire films.
There's something weird and gothic
and brilliant about them. I think
they'll be a real hit. Come back,
you're always welcome!
193, take one.
And set!
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls... #
Actually walking as a pack together,
they do look absolutely terrifying.
We were worried it was going
to be a bit too scary,
but we thought, no,
just make it scary!
# Maybe I can learn to settle down
one day... #
How are you doing that?
I'm thrilled. Oh, this is Christmas!
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls
# I get all the girls,
I get all the girls... #
We needed to destroy all
of the other vampire girls.
The best way to do that,
big explosion.
We are Venetians!
So obviously, we created
a house exploding.
Hello, everyone.
These are the pots containing
our explosive charge.
We've got some soft, fine board
here, which will go here.
I've pre-weakened this
just to make sure
it doesn't come out like a lump.
It'll actually break up.
What will come out is the explosive
charge itself will actually
blow out all the dust and debris
and cork towards the other side
of the building.
Then you go and we can start the
explosion almost at the same time.
We needed Matt to run for his life
and jump in the air and
fall away from where the explosion
was going to happen.
So stunt co-ordinator Crispin had
to just run through that with Matt.
More height, and the reaction
in your face.
When you react to the explosion,
it's like run, run, run!
A successful jump is down to
the confidence of the actors.
They're confident about what
they're going to do,
they go for it more and they're
a lot more dynamic and obviously
the better it looks in shot.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Ha-hah!
And then you can look...
We have to rehearse the jump,
simply because we have one go
at the explosion.
To reset it was an hour, hour and
a half, and obviously our schedule
didn't give us time to do that.
- We haven't got many of these,
have we? - We've got one.
- That's why we've got to be spot on.
- One? - Yeah. So it's all
down to you, Matt.
- No, it's not, is it?
- Yeah. Good luck, mate.
# This used to be a funhouse
# But now it's full of evil clowns
# It's time to start
the countdown... #
OK, step in, Matt. Here we go.
And action!
It does make you jump,
it's a big old bang.
But I love all that, I love all
the pyros and the explosions.
It's like a good external
that's coming in that
keeps you alive and aware, and it
does a lot of the acting for you.
# This used to be a funhouse
# But now it's full
of evil clowns... #
So more explosions, please, Danny.
# I'm gonna burn it down, down, down
# I'm gonna burn it down. #
'For stage two of my Venetian tour,
'Francesco took me to a place at
the very heart of the plague story.
'A perfectly preserved
16th century pharmacy.'
The cave of Aladdin!
This would be similar
to a pharmacy of the time?
Yeah, in the period of that plague.
And it's here that they would make
the kind of concoctions and remedies
to supposedly cure the plague?
Yeah, supposedly.
But all these things
were quite expensive.
Can we have a look at these?
Nearly all kind of things like
Talco Venetian, oil of cod,
peels of sulphurs of iron...
We've got more of this.
Acido Tannico.
It's the red thing
that you use to, that's...
Like a tannin.
Yeah, I like wine, but I never...
Never touch that.
It's a mistake you make once.
And Elixir China.
More far away, it was expensive.
Of course, and because
I suppose the belief was
that if it comes from a culture a
long, long way away, they're very
wise, they must know over there.
Nonetheless, no one really knows
if it works.
No, they were hoping,
more expensive it was,
the more people were buying it.
That's something
they still say today.
If it costs an awful lot of money,
it must work.
They didn't know exactly, so it's
better to try than to die.
Of course!
'I've invited a friend to come
and join me in Venice.'
- Matt. - Toby! - How are you?
- Hello. - Welcome to Venice.
- Thank you.
- Come and meet my new friend.
- Do you get seasick, by the way?
- Uh, no. - Good.
Matt, this is Francesco.
Francesco, this is Matt.
- How do you do? - Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, sir.
We're going to come on your boat,
are we? Thank you.
Marvellous.
'Francesco is still promising me
a vampire story.
'But first, we take a trip around
some Venetian locations
connected to my episode.'
Venezia! La Serenissima!
- It's so nice that it's sunny.
- We're in luck.
Why did you choose to set it
in Venice?
Because Venice has always had
a very... a very strong sense
of its own individuality,
from the rest of the world.
It's always wanted to keep itself
separate from the rest of Europe.
So for the aliens, in the episode,
if you were going to go anywhere
and be left alone, where you could
carry on your business...
- Have your own individual empire.
- Exactly. - With water.
- With water, exactly.
So it's absolutely ideal.
And it really is.
There's nowhere like it
in the world.
That's true. And the interesting
thing is it's separate,
but without walls.
Like, all the castles had walls,
here, nothing.
We only had about five minutes
to shoot the scene
of Guido punting, or gondoling,
the Doctor and Rory.
All it consisted of
was parallel tracks
and Lucian standing
on the trolley, being pushed.
All the way up,
put it in front of you.
Standby to shoot, please.
We didn't have time
to talk about it.
It was grab the flambeau,
time's running out, get it done.
It was like, "Right, you're on
a gondola. Go!" So that
was interesting.
I've got a great big flambeau there
and we're having to...
Almost like you're riding a horse.
'We take a trip down the Grand Canal,
and come across a house
'my character Rosanna
may have lived in.'
Attend!
Attend!
The storm is coming!
Now we are arriving at the
Ca' d'Oro. The Ca' d'Oro, this one.
This is an example of how they were
in the Byzantine
and Gothic period.
Inside, this, the courtyard
with the staircase.
And here we are.
It's funny to see
the reflected light off the water
on the wall there,
because you wouldn't believe
the amount of trouble that we had
trying to recreate it.
Because, obviously, where we filmed,
there wasn't the Grand Canal.
Take two, A camera.
B camera.
Obviously, we got the buildings of
Venice, but unfortunately no water.
So, as you can see behind me, two
of the electricians are rippling away
with shining lights into water
which gives you the ripple effect
on the buildings behind me.
We put mirror tiles on the bottom
of a ripple tray and shine a light
into the ripple tray.
The light bounces off the mirrors,
and we ripple the water
to give you the effect behind us.
The fake gondola, yeah, wow.
Well, it was a piece of wood.
Just a bit stuck on the side which
didn't really feel like a gondola,
but it looks like a gondola.
Let's just see it rocking, guys.
OK. Move these poles over
a little bit.
To the left of frame, keep going.
Standby. Thank you.
Here we go. And action!
And here, the courtyard.
Where, with the well for the water.
There is something similar
in Trogir.
Croatia. It's sort of an
incredible spit, really, isn't it?
Mummy is hydrating, Francesco.
And we'd never interrupt Mummy
when she's hydrating!
Remember when we pop up
in the Calvierri mansion?
And we've built a well like this,
not as pretty as this, I have
to say, which we climb out of.
It has a similar grate
and everything.
Push, push!
There we are.
Do you, Toby,
ever write from locations?
I mean, the thing with Venice
is you have a kind of,
a sort of slideshow in your mind
of the different...
- The aesthetic... - Exactly.
- ..that it could be.
Because you want that kind of
very heavy, slightly medieval
architecture.
And that dark, and the light
rippling, and stuff like that.
Absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which
all adds up to the very other-worldly
quality of it, which is why I think
Venice was the perfect setting for
it, because there's something about
it that is quite, that is just unlike
anywhere else on the planet.
- And there's something very magical
about it. - Yeah, yeah.
As a Venetian, I start
to feel like an alien!
And there's a great line in it,
there's a great line.
A young girl is about to be
sent to her death.
She's walking the plank,
basically, into a pool of
alien piranhas, essentially.
And she says...
I'm Venetian!
I can swim!
We can all swim!
A small lake outside Trogir.
The Who crew are here because
there are some water scenes
where only the real thing will do.
I'm six inches off the bottom here.
Ah, right, you are close then.
It's December. It's cold.
And before making waves,
the team's task is to make it safe.
I wanted a water test
because, basically,
we have the actors jumping
into the water in Croatia,
and they had to get pulled under
the water as if they were pulled
by these fish.
They bite!
We had a dry suit
specially made for them,
and I need to test whether they were
buoyant, whether they managed to get
pulled under the water or not.
So I wanted to do a test for
myself just to see how safe
the costumes and the suits were.
And to prevent floods of tears,
a special volunteer
offers to take a dip.
Our lucky lady for the test was
our very own executive producer
Beth Willis,
we got to go in the water.
So we put her in a suit.
And she was more than keen to go in.
We had two divers in the water.
In this instance, it was
both safety, and also I wanted
the divers to assist the actors
getting pulled under the water.
OK.
Is she set?
"JAWS" THEME PLAYS
As soon as we got into
the water, this swan suddenly
came out from nowhere,
came flying towards us, obviously
very protective of its territory.
And we just had to wait and hope
the swan goes away.
So we had a bit of
swan wrangling to do!
OK?
Set? OK.
And, three, two, one, under.
Splash about. Get yourself ready.
Set. In three, two, one, under.
We just thought it would be
a good idea if I could go in,
and I can honestly say
how cold or not cold it is.
And it was cold, but it was do-able.
I'm not looking my best! Thank you.
I think, if I'm asking
anyone else to get in the water,
I've got to be able to say
whether or not I think it's OK.
Now I do, so I feel much better
about it, having done it.
I wasn't massively looking forward
to it. But it was fine,
and everybody was lovely.
Apart from the swan,
who was a bit active.
But other than that, it was fine.
However, before you go dunking
members of the cast, there's
something else to take on board.
That's the way you're going
to be pulled under.
It's essential the crew are high
and dry when filming on water.
That's always the tricky thing with
water. It's a nightmare to shoot on.
So, the local Croatian
art department built us a wonderful
pontoon, a movable pontoon.
And that took both the cameras,
we got the monitors on there.
Essential equipment that needs
to be on there. It was great,
it really worked for the day.
So, we had one camera
on the floating pontoon.
The other camera, I was very keen
to get the camera as close to
the water surface as possible.
And so, in order to achieve that,
with very expensive
non-waterproof cameras, we had to put
the camera into a glass housing.
We had a waterproof fish tank.
So, you put the camera
in the fish tank.
The fish tank submerges slightly,
and the camera is right
on the water level.
So it's a little bit of a cheat,
but it works really well.
One of the trickier things
that we had to achieve
was to get two actresses to jump
into freezing cold water. Erm...
It's not cold enough to get that
ice cream head that we often get.
The only way to do that was with
a great deal of persuasion.
It's not like that. It's cold,
but it's not like, oh, my God,
you know, this is unbearable.
I, for one, had to jump in myself
in a previous recce to check it out.
So, by the time we got to them
doing it, they didn't really
have any way out.
231, take one, B camera.
And action!
I'm Venetian! I can swim!
We can all swim!
So, I literally had to jump into
freezing cold spring water.
It was an initial shock,
but once you're in, you're in.
So it wasn't too bad.
Diver in position, please.
- Are you OK? - Yeah, cool. - Standby.
'I didn't really have to act
at all, because you genuinely
were freezing cold.
'So it was pretty good.
I can definitely imagine
how she would have felt.'
Bubbles.
And action!
Something touched my leg!
It bites!
'There was a bit of cramp going on
there because of the shock.'
But I think, if you just
relax and stuff.
Well, as relaxed as you can be,
jumping into freezing cold
water in December.
'But just... you relax
and just go with the flow.'
And action!
Something touched my leg!
It bites!
SHE SCREAMS
- CREW CLAP
- OK, take her to the side.
Back on dry land, Arthur and I
are getting ready for a fight.
Here we go.
89, take one, A camera.
Still on camera.
Let me go to the smile to begin.
So we don't see the teeth to begin
with, then you reveal them.
And action!
Oh, yeah, the sword fight!
It was brilliant.
And I was there looking very
concerned about the whole thing.
But it was just incredible.
Arthur and Alex totally thrashed it.
And Arthur was hilarious.
It was really cool to watch.
'I'm glad that I didn't have
to look cool.'
I looked less cool when I watched it
than I thought I did.
'But I think, if I'd have had to be
particularly good at sword fighting,
it might have been a problem.'
I think I'm quite far off
being an action hero.
I think I'm going to stick to doing
what I do, but it was fun to do,
a taste of it.
- 91, take two, A camera. - Get set.
And action!
# Anything that's worth having
is sure enough worth fighting for
# Quitting's out of the question
# When it gets tough,
gotta fight some more
# We gotta fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight for this love
# We gotta fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight for this love
# We gotta fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight for this love
# If it's worth having,
it's worth fighting for... #
He's just defeated Francesco, so
she's very proud of him, secretly.
I'm being reviewed now, am I?
He's just battled a vampire,
who's turned into a fish
and exploded on top of him.
The last thing he thinks
is going to happen is that
Amy is going to kiss him.
It was funny, it was really
embarrassing, actually.
Because just before I did it,
Jonny, the director was, like,
"No pressure, Karen.
"But make it the kiss of his life."
I was like, "Oh, my God! Right..."
Well, I basically just told Karen
what Arthur Darvill had asked me
to say to her.
And he said, "Jonny, just make sure
you say to her, make it the kiss of
your life." So that's what I did.
- 87, take one, camera A. - And action!
So yeah, I just had to go for it.
Do you know what? It was fine.
But I actually, when I was kissing
him, forgot that I was the one
who was supposed to stop it,
so it went on for ages.
God, and they were like,
"Karen? Karen!"
Why don't we go and see the Doctor?
Cut that.
But that was just the first time.
Yeah, it was funny.
Let's put it this way.
The episode was running short!
THEY ALL LAUGH
Should we just do that once more?
Reset, please.
# We gotta fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight for this love
# We gotta fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight for this love
# We gotta fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight for this love
# If it's worth having,
it's worth fighting for. #
- Now we go help the Doctor.
- Cut there. Very nice.
Cut there, thank you.
'Next stop on my tour, one of
the plague quarantine areas
'that Francesco told me about
when we first met.'
Francesco, we are on our way now
to the islands.
We are going to try to arrive
in the old Lazzaretto.
Where there were the people
not only suspected but infected.
So this was the one you really
didn't want to go to.
It was the last chance.
The place where you say bye
to everyone.
It was like a place
no-one gets out of.
Right. That was the situation.
OPERA MUSIC PLAYS
So, this, where we're going now,
is the old Lazzaretto.
- Lazzaretto?
- Yeah, it was the hell place,
where the people were coming to die.
There is all these walls
which are surrounding it.
Why don't we stop here?
What do you think?
Yeah. Let's climb in.
Now, we are going to break in
to the plague...
the house for the poor people
that had the plague,
and were brought here
to peter away and die.
God, it feels particularly
dilapidated.
'It's a grim place
with a grim purpose.
'But how else did you stop
a plague in the 16th century?'
The only thing was isolation. You
had to isolate the infected people.
Yes, yes, but, so who would
determine... Well, obviously if
you are wasting away...
There were the doctors arriving.
When they see that you
start vomiting.
One of Francesco's relatives was
one of the health officials.
Yeah. He decided the rules.
Because our episode is set in the
1580s, so it's just a couple of years
after the plague has died down.
But still, the fear within the city,
having experienced this
unbelievably traumatic event
that would have touched absolutely
every family, and everyone who lived
in Venice would have lost someone.
And so that's why they used
the fear of that coming back again
as an excuse to close the city down.
Because, just the word would
fill everyone with such terror,
that it was coming back again.
We follow the plan.
Let them hammer on our door.
Beg to be taken.
There's that great line
at the top, I walk into the city
and to the gates of the city,
and someone says,
"You can't come in because you
are them what bring the plague."
My character says...
How interesting. I heard
the plague died out years ago.
Not out there!
No, Signora Calvierri has seen it
with her own eyes.
- Streets are piled high with bodies,
she said. - Did she, now?
And of course, as you say, it's
Rosanna, this mad fish alien.
This lie that's been put around,
that it's coming back.
It's like vaccinations. I had it.
'With Matt on board,
Francesco finally gave us
his Venetian vampire story.
'A tale that came to life
when archaeologists found
the remains of a plague victim
'whose burial bore all the hallmarks
of something even darker.'
They found a skull of a woman
that has a brick inside the mouth.
Because when they died,
what was happening, they also,
when they were dead,
they found blood coming out.
- And the veil a little eaten. - Right.
But, blood comes out
as a result of the plague?
Yeah, but after the death.
So that was strange.
So they were thinking
that the body, this person,
could pass this thing to other dead.
And then the plague
was going around more.
And so they were putting this brick
so she could not move the mouth.
Strange!
'Tales of deadly creatures
sucking the blood of the living.'
It looks like I was closer
to the truth than I expected.
Perhaps there really were
vampires in Venice.
Well, Francesco, sir.
Thank you for
a wonderful, brilliant
and completely insightful tour
of Venice. It's been a joy.
- It's been fantastic.
- Absolutely fantastic.
Thank you for showing us around
this beautiful city.
We found the plague, we found
the cure for the plague.
It does feel kind of alien
as a world. Yes.
It's been good.
Thanks for watching as well,
Doctor Who Confidential.
Do come back and, er...
Yeah.
It will be great.