Doctor Who 60th special: Bristol plays huge part in new episodes

Doctor Who is back on our screens this weekend for an eagerly anticipated 60th anniversary special.

First broadcast on 23 November, 1963, Doctor Who has seen 14 different time lords move into the blue British police box to travel across time and space.

On Saturday, David Tennant will be returning in a three-part special much of which was filmed in Bristol.

So, to mark the anniversary, we've looked at a few times Bristol has made its way into the Doctor Who Universe.

It was back in the summer that eager fans jammed into Baldwin Street and Clare Street in the centre of the city to watch the production.

David Tennant - who played the charismatic doctor between 2005 and 2010 - was spotted in his classic trench coat protecting the occupants of a car, while crowds of people were running away.

During filming, cars were set on fire, and vehicles bearing the logo of Unit, a fictional United Nations agency, were also spotted.

But it is not the first time the city has made more than a cameo appearance in the much-loved show.

The housing tower block in Redcliffe took centre stage in the 2011 episode of Night Terrors, which saw the Doctor, Matt Smith, fighting off sinister dolls coming to life.

Much of series seven was also shot in and around the city. In episode one, Asylum of the Daleks,the Doctor is kidnapped by his oldest foe and forced on an impossible mission to a place even the Daleks are too terrified to enter.

At the beginning of the episode, the classically designed Georgian Institute for Advanced Studies is used for a photoshoot for the Doctor's companion Amy Pond.

The University of Bristol makes a second appearance in the Angels take Manhattan. In this episode, the Doctor is in a race against time through the streets of Manhattan, as New York's statues come to life around them. For this episode, it is the stairwell of the physics department that makes an appearance.

In the 2012 Christmas special, the Doctor comes to Victorian London - or rather, the streets of Bristol doubling as London - to save the world from the icy clutches of The Snowmen.

Filming took place in a couple of snowy-looking Bristol locations including St Nicholas Market.

For the 2013 episode Hide, almost all of the filming took place in the Gothic extravagance of Tyntesfield House just outside the city.

The main house is depicted as a "haunted" mansion where something terrifying is hiding, the doctor finds himself part of the ghost hunt.

Most of the action takes place in and around the central hall, with its distinctive staircase and ornate fireplace.

In the 2015 Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song, the Doctor is hiding from Christmas carols and comedy antlers when a crashed spaceship calls upon the Doctor for help. The great hall, at the Grade II* listed mansion house was transformed into space hotel Harmony and Redemption.

While the library, decked out in floor-to-ceiling metallic shelving, became the starship baggage hold, where The Doctor and River Song arrive in the Tardis.

Doctor Who returns for three 60th anniversary specials on Saturday at 6:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]