‘Doctor Who’ Director Rachel Talalay on ‘Heaven Sent’ Episode, David Tennant & 60th Anniversary

Rachel Talalay knows what she’s doing behind the camera. We see that most recently with the Good Omens finale, streaming on Prime Video as of May 13, and that wasn’t even the first time she worked with David Tennant. She directed him in the first of the three Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials in 2023, “The Star Beast.” She also directed Peter Capaldi as The Doctor across seven episodes, including 2015’s “Heaven Sent,” which we named the second best Doctor Who episode ever.

“The script to ‘Heaven Sent’ was just the script to die for, as was this script [for the Good Omens finale] to die for. I feel like they are two of my strongest works,” Talalay tells TV Insider. “And getting to finally work with David on ‘The Star Beast’ was like, that was a bucket list for me.”

“Heaven Sent” is inarguably one of the most memorable and talked-about episodes of Doctor Who. In it, Capaldi delivers his best performance as the Doctor as, after his companion Clara (Jenna Coleman) dies, he finds himself alone in a castle, surrounded by skulls in the sea, clues, and a wall made out of Azbantium (a mineral harder than diamond). Watching The Doctor come to the realization of what’s really going on is a top-tier twist.

Then, “The Star Beast” was the first of three episodes to feature Tennant back as The Doctor, this time the Fourteenth after he played the Tenth, alongside his former companion Donna (Catherine Tate). It’s based on Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons’ 1980 comic for Doctor Who Magazine and features a classic Doctor-companion adventure — all while finding a solution to the fact that if Donna remembered the Time Lord, she’d die.

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Talalay also raved about working with Tennant and Michael Sheen on the Good Omens finale.

“I just can’t say enough about how much David and Michael own their characters from beginning to end. So when you come and say, ‘OK, but now we are in the real world, what kind of changes do we want?’ And that was everything to do with that was done in collaboration with them,” she shared, referring to the twist at the end regarding their characters.

She continued, “I also can’t say enough about how brilliant they are, how brilliant they are to work with, but also watching every nuance. I mean, I watch that scene with them against the wall where he catches up and tries to and asks him out. And I’m just blown away that both of them have every nuance down. And I’d love to say that that’s good directing, but that’s just wonderful acting. And I can watch it over and over again.”

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