Dafydd Shurmer has worked in Doctor Who’s art department since 2006 and took over as the programme’s production designer for Series 12. “It’s like a childhood dream,” he says. “I’m designing spaceships!”

Interview by EMILY COOK

Series 12 production designer Dafydd Shurmer.

The upgraded console incorporates ‘smoke screens’ for the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) to consult.

The modi ed Series 12 TARDIS control room.

Ryan (Tosin Cole), Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) on the control room steps.

“Im very lucky to have this job,” says Dafydd Shurmer. “It’s such a great opportunity, especially for somebody as young as me - and I mean young in terms of being a production designer - to be working on such a big programme as Doctor Who.”

With the 2020 series complete, this is a good time to reflect on Dafydd’s first year in his new role; although, as Dafydd points out, he’s not new to the series

“I’ve been in and out of Doctor Who since 2006,” he says. “That’s when I did my first stint as standby art director [working on Blink and the first series of Torchwood]. I’ve done bits and bobs since then. I became a supervising art director for Series 9 [2015] and Series 10 [2017], working with Michael Pickwoad. Then when Arwel Wyn Jones took over as production designer [on 2018’s Series 11], I was his supervising art director. I’d worked closely with Arwel in the past on things like Sherlock [2010-17] and The Sarah Jane Adventures [2007-11], and Arwel’s a very close friend of mine, so to work with him while he was Doctor Who’s production designer was a great learning curve for me.”

Dafydd recalls early conversations he and Arwel had at the start of Jodie Whittaker’s first series. “We talked about the plans we had for Series 11 in terms of what we wanted to do with the direction of the production design. We knew that the Doctor’s journey in 2020 would be slightly darker and we wanted to portray that in the sets. Unfortunately, Arwel didn’t do Series 12, but that was fortunate for me because I got the chance to do it.” Dafydd smiles. “Arwel did a great job and I’m hoping I continued that.”