Mark Gatiss reveals Doctor Who Easter egg was cut from Lot No. 249
"Things like that really pain me."
The latest Ghost Story for Christmas from writer/director Mark Gatiss was filmed in just four days – a remarkable achievement, but the tight schedule meant that one Easter egg doesn't quite make the final cut.
Lot No. 249, based on Arthur Conan Doyle's 1892 Gothic horror short story, sees young academic Abercrombie Smith (Kit Harington) encounter the strange and exotic Edward Bellingham (Freddie Fox), whose arcane research into Ancient Egypt could be inspiring something terrible...
Gatiss couldn't resist slipping in a nod to his beloved Doctor Who – having a prop scroll made featuring the character Scaroth from the 1979 story City of Death.
In that serial, the Doctor (Tom Baker) battles Scaroth (Julian Glover), the last of the alien Jagaroth, who is ransacking the art treasures of history to rescue his people – in one sequence, Scaroth's visage is seen depicted on an Egyptian scroll.
Given the Egyptian slant of Lot No. 249, Gatiss planned to feature a replica scroll in the drama – and though it was constructed, a tight shooting schedule means it's never quite visible on-screen.
"The downside, always, is time," he told RadioTimes.com. "Bellingham's room... the design is beautiful and I wanted so many cutaways... we just didn't have time.
"There's a cutaway which will pain you because I actually commissioned it – I had the scroll made from City of Death with Scaroth in it. You can see it just behind Kit's head.
"Things like that really pain me, especially when you've actually gone out of the way to do it!"
Read more:
- Mark Gatiss says his unmade Doctor Who story could still be released
- Doctor Who's Mark Gatiss reveals idea for An Adventure in Space and Time sequel
Gatiss has suggested that Lot No. 249 may be his final Ghost Story for Christmas, due to the difficulty in securing funding for his one-off, 30-minute stories.
"If you talk to anybody, it's scary how scarce the resources are.
"I don't want to sound like a bleeding heart, but people love them and I really hope we can find a way. But I think it's perilous, because, as I always say, it's such an unusual slot... it's just really hard to scrape the money together.
"I'm hoping for an eccentric billionaire [to fund it]!"
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A Ghost Story for Christmas: Lot No.249 airs on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer on Christmas Eve (Sunday 24th December) at 10pm.
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Authors
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across the brand's digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
