In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall visited the set of the show, and were given a TARDIS flying lesson by the current Doctor, Matt Smith.
Matt Smith and his Doctor Who companion Jenna-Louise Coleman were on set today to meet the royal couple in celebration of the show’s 50th anniversary, which is set to debut it’s celebratory episode in November.
The Prince of Wales has been a fan of Doctor Who since he was fifteen, and showed a lot of interest in the TARDIS and its flying mechanisms, which prompted a quick lesson on flying the TARDIS from Matt Smith himself. When asked about the experience Smith said:
“It was great to welcome The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall to set today. Showing them how to fly the TARDIS was a real treat and something I never thought I would be doing when I first took on the role. The Prince of Wales said he remembers watching the show when he was 15 and seemed very knowledgeable on the Who history, so it’s nice to think they are watching.”
The Royal couple even tried getting information about the 50th anniverary special from Coleman, who was kind but still secretive about the subject. She states, “the Prince was particularly interested in the mechanics of how the TARDIS works and the storyline for the upcoming 50th anniversary special, but I didn’t give too many secrets away.”
After their flying lesson the Prince and Duchess met one of the most infamous Doctor Who villains, the Daleks, after getting shown displays from the show’s costume department, locations manager, graphics artist, set decorator and production designer.
This was the first Royal visit to the BBC’s Cymru Wales Roath Lock studios since they opened in 2012. Danny Cohen, director of BBC Television, even joked about casting The Prince as the next Doctor, stating, “The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall seemed to thoroughly enjoy their visit to the set of Doctor Who. The Prince did an extremely good impression of the voice of the Daleks using the special audio effects. Following his time in the TARDIS we may well have an exciting new option for the casting of the next Doctor.”
Update: A video of the visit has now been uploaded by BBC!
We’re glad that the Royals had such a fun trip to the Doctor Who set, even if it makes us jealous! Now, when can we get a recording of The Prince of Wales doing a Dalek voice?!
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