The Sound of Drums - Production and Publicity

Production and Publicity

This episode, along with "Utopia" and "Last of the Time Lords", are treated in several sources as a three-part story, the first such story in the revived series of Doctor Who. However, Russell T Davies has said that he regards "Utopia" as a separate story, but notes that the determination is arbitrary.

Some of the car action sequences in this episode were filmed by Freema Agyeman herself rather than a stunt double, and took place at Harbour View Road, Penarth. David Tennant's makeup in which he is aged 100 years was inspired by the First Doctor, William Hartnell.

The episode was advertised on BBC television with a spoof party political broadcast, featuring testimonials from British celebrities Sharon Osbourne, McFly and Ann Widdecombe showing their support for Mr Saxon, a version of which is seen in the episode itself. Also during the broadcast, drums can be heard. There is also a different trailer that showed still shots of the Doctor, Martha Jones and Captain Jack over the top of which Mr Saxon's speech, in which he says "... what this country really needs, right now, is a doctor", can be heard and at the end there is a small clip of him showing his trademark smile. The celebrity appearances in the episode itself differ from those in the trailer, most noticeably that of Ann Widdecombe, who appears alone in the trailer but alongside Mr Saxon in the episode. The BBC had created two fictional websites in connection with these episodes, Vote Saxon and http://www.haroldsaxon.co.uk. The latter site, at one time, did replicate the video and web pages seen by the characters in The Sound of Drums.

Read more about this topic:  The Sound Of Drums

Famous quotes containing the words production and, production and/or publicity:

    Production and consumption are the nipples of modern society. Thus suckled, humanity grows in strength and beauty; rising standard of living, all modern conveniences, distractions of all kinds, culture for all, the comfort of your dreams.
    Raoul Vaneigem (b. 1934)

    From the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.
    Charles Darwin (1809–1882)

    Publicity is the life of this culture—in so far as without publicity capitalism could not survive—and at the same time publicity is its dream.
    John Berger (b. 1926)