10 Doctor Who DVD Easter eggs you may have missed
The good, bad and downright baffling hidden extras lurking in your disc collection
1) The Doctor’s complete… er, Easter egg from Blink
In Steven Moffat’s 2007 classic Blink, the Doctor hid a special message for Sally Sparrow (Carey Mulligan) on each one of the 17 DVDs she owned. But it’s also on one more – namely, disc 4 of the Complete Series 3 box set.
This is your chance to see David Tennant’s uncut, uninterrupted performance (running to 5 minutes, 7 seconds, fact fans) as he issues his now legendary warning about the Weeping Angels: “Don’t turn your back, don’t look away, and don’t blink”.
And, of course, he leaves all the gaps for Mulligan to speak her lines, so the really great bit is you can play along as Sally Sparrow at home. Cosplay optional.
How to find it: On disc 4 of the Complete Third Series, go to Scene Selection and navigate through to the second page of Blink scenes. Go to 9 (“Keep Looking”) press up and the word Blink will be highlighted. Press OK.
2) David Tennant talks like a pirate
Animated adventure The Infinite Quest saw the Tenth Doctor pretending to be a pirate for… reasons.
On the DVD, you can watch footage of David Tennant recording these lines in the sound booth. And boy does he go for it: his throaty cry of “We surrenderrraaaaarrrgghhh!”, in particular, has to be seen to be believed. And now you can see it.
How to find it: Go to Extras and press up to highlight a section of the TARDIS console. Press OK/Select. Or you can watch a clip above.
3) David Tennant squeeeeeees over The Five Doctors
Released in 2008, the 25th Anniversary Edition of Doctor Who’s 20th birthday special features a simply delightful extra commentary from then current Doctor David Tennant, producer Phil Collinson and script editor Helen Raynor.
Both Tennant and Collinson immediately revert to the pre-adolescent fanboys they were when the story first went out in 1983. “As a 12-year-old, this was one of the most exciting things that had ever happened,” admits Tennant.
But, tragically, the young David McDonald had to go out that evening, so it was down to his neighbours, The Warks (“They sound like they should have been in this,” jokes Collinson) to tape it for him. And they managed to miss the beginning. Ouch.
Tennant later gets the measure of The Five Doctors by re-naming it Three-and-a-Half Doctors and A Bloke In A Wig. He also propositions Lalla Ward (Romana) live on air.
Priceless.
How to find it: Go to Audio Options in the Special Features menu of disc 1, then press right on Companions Commentary.
4) Tom Baker presents the world’s weirdest advert
In the mid-70s, Tom Baker recorded a promotional advert for the BBC’s Doctor Who Exhibition on Blackpool’s Golden Mile. At least we assume that’s what this is.
In the promo, Baker walks into shot, holding his famous scarf to his ear (for reasons that aren’t entirely clear), and says: “Hello! Goodbye! Can’t stay long, I’m going to Blackpool. Brush your teeth!”
And, er, that’s it. Still, I guess Britain’s dentists must have been pleased, at least.
How to find it: On the Special Features menu of The Ark in Space DVD, press left on Tom Baker Interview.
5) Leela the Christmas fairy
In 1976, toy manufacturer Denys Fisher produced a range of dolls based on Doctor Who. But they got off to a bad start when a fire at the factory destroyed all the Tom Baker heads – forcing them to replace him with Gareth Hunt from The New Avengers.
The result was a dead ringer for the Doctor, however, compared with the doll for Leela, the Doctor’s noble savage companion, who sported hair so big it could be seen from space, along with certain other... enhanced features.
“They got a Barbie doll, painted her black, put blue eyes on her and gave her HUGE breasts, which I didn’t have,” says actress Louise Jameson in an Easter egg feature on the Image of the Fendahl DVD. And this despite the fact she’d modelled for the doll for four-and-a-half hours!
Jameson also reveals that her mother put a Leela doll on top of the Christmas tree instead of a fairy. It’s what every trained warrior would want.
How to find it: In Special Features, go to Trailer and press left.
6) Tom Baker and John Cleese perform an off-colour sketch
While filming his cameo as a pompous art critic in Douglas Adams’ classic Doctor Who story City of Death, John Cleese also took time out to record a sketch with Tom Baker for the BBC’s in-house “Christmas tape” – an annual tradition in which stars would perform skits for the amusement of technical staff.
In the sketch, Cleese asks Baker for an autograph for his blind godson. But when neither of them can find a pen, he tells him “Never mind, I’ll tell him you signed it.”
Hmmmmm. Well it was the 70s, I suppose.
How to find it: On the second disc, click left on Doctor Who Annual. Or watch it above.
7) Jamaican Cybermen. Irie!
In 1983, the Fifth Doctor battled the Cybermen in adrenalin-fuelled actioner Earthshock. A decade or so later, BBC comedy show The Real McCoy recorded a sketch in which a Jamaican TV channel broadcast a selection of classic TV shows that had been “specially dubbed for we”.
First up was a clip of Earthshock, in which the Doctor and the Cyberleader argue in Jamaican patois, with the Time Lord concluding: “You don’t look like no Dalek to me.”
How to find it: In Earthshock’s Special Features, click left on the 40th Anniversary Celebration. Or watch it above.
8) Janet Fielding’s wardrobe malfunction
Tegan actress Janet Fielding has never made any bones about how much she hated her white ‘boob tube’ costume.
On the DVD of 1983’s Enlightenment, there’s a hidden feature in which she tells a story about how Peter Davison deliberately made her pop out of said boob tube in a corridor at BBC Television Centre.
Davison pops up, so to speak, to defend himself, and it seems Fielding saw the funny side. Still probably not something you want to try with Carol in Accounts on Monday, though.
How to find it: On disc 1’s Special Features, press left on Coming Soon.
9) The Doctor skives off at the cinema
In August 1975, Tom Baker introduced an edition of the BBC’s Disney Time cartoon clips show in character as the Fourth Doctor. At the end of the programme, he receives an urgent summons from the Brigadier, which leads directly into the following week’s story, Terror of the Zygons. (Though, given that he’d already received the message at the end of the previous story, you have to wonder what he was doing watching cartoons in a cinema while the Earth was being invaded by shape-shifting orange aliens in the first place.)
How to find it: On Terror of the Zygons’ disc 2 menu, click left on Remembering Douglas Camfield. Or watch the clip above.
10) This actual Easter egg
In 1983, chocolate manufacturer Suchard released a Doctor Who Easter egg that hadn’t quite been properly thought through.
The packaging for the egg featured a TARDIS, across which a Dalek was firing a death ray. When the flap was opened it revealed the Doctor himself – with Peter Davison apparently projecting an explosion of deadly firepower directly from his groin.
No wonder he didn’t bother using a sonic screwdriver in those days.
