Earlier today Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the Doctor Who studios at Roath Lock in Cardiff, on the third day of their Welsh tour.
The Royal couple arrived at the studios and were greeted by the Time Lord’s oldest enemies, the Daleks, before meeting Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, and executive producer Steven Moffat.
Matt Smith, said:
The Prince was lovely and a charming bloke. He took quite an interest in the Tardis’s controls and asked a lot of questions about it. He told me and Jenna that he’d been a big fan of the show since he was 15 – which we didn’t know.
During the tour Charles met actor Nick Briggs, who showed him how to re-create the distinctive Dalek voice using a microphone plugged into a voice modulator, prompting the Prince to utter their famous “exterminate” catchphrase – impressing producer Steven Moffat, who said
I haven’t thought about how I could weave a meeting between the Doctor and the royal family. But Prince Charles’s attempt at being a Dalek was great.”There would be a part in the show for him if he wanted it.
Briggs also gave the Prince’s attempt a glowing review:
The Prince has got a history of performing and has done stuff with The Goon Show previously, so he really stepped up to the plate. Apart from a couple of giggles at the end, he did really good.
Charles and Camilla also met members of the production team from the set and props department, where the Prince was handed a sonic screwdriver by set decorator Adrian Anscombe, who said
He got it to work first time, which doesn’t usually happen.
The Royal couple also enjoyed a guided tour of the TARDIS console room set, Matt Smith inviting the Duchess to throw the main switch to make the prop come to life.
Their Royal Highnesses tour itinerary was as follows:
- Doctor Who production office, where Their Royal Highnesses will meet the show’s costume designer, storyboard artist, locations manager, graphics artist, set decorator and production designer with displays from each of the skills areas.
- The TARDIS where Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman and Steven Moffat will show how one of the most famous sets in the world works.
- Next is a display of some of the show’s renowned monsters, including Daleks, a Silent, a Weeping Angel, a Cyberman, Strax and an Ood. Nicholas Briggs, the voice of the Daleks, will demonstrate how to re-create the famous catchphrases.
- During the final stage of the tour Their Royal Highnesses will be shown a display against a green screen, demonstrated by SFX…
- Before meeting some Skillset apprentices who are training at Roath Lock in a number of TV functions.