Doctor Who at the BFI – the last days of normality
- At March 15, 2020
- By Niel
- In Animation, Events/News
0
I love going to London. It’s where most of my friends live, it’s where a lot of my work comes from, and it was my home between 1994 and 1998. I have a lot of memories embedded in the grime of that city, so if there’s an opportunity to go there I usually grab it.
But so far I’d avoided the BFI screenings of my Doctor Who work. I don’t like seeing my work once it’s done, especially on a big screen. I only ever see what’s wrong with it. But I’d heard such good things about the BFI events. They were always sold out, celebratory events with lots of special guests, so I finally accepted the offer to attend for the screening of the Talons of Weng-Chiang, the Season 14 Doctor Who adventure starring Tom Baker and Louise Jameson.
That was about a month ago. Then the world turned upside down. The Covid-19 virus started to crawl from country to country, tearing up the usual conventions of society. So I had mixed feelings about attending the event at the BFI. I expected it to be cancelled, but it went ahead, so I jumped on the train and set off for London.
I met up with my good friend Chris Chatterton and we had a few beers – all very normal. London bustled and glittered, but there was a sense of unease, as if this was the end of something special.
The next day, after a very nice breakfast, I went along to the event and spoke about my work on the story. I wasn’t sure if the screening would be deserted, but it was about three quarters full.


I think the interview and the screening of the story went down well, and it was lovely to bump into some old friends who I hadn’t seen for a while like Cameron McEwan, but the feeling of unease never went away and I was glad to be on the train and heading home again afterwards.

Who knows what the next few days and weeks will bring, but I don’t think I’ll be going to London again for a long time.
Animating Gargantua
- At December 23, 2016
- By Niel
- In Animation
0
Remember when I animated Tony Blair piloting a microscopic submarine through the veins of the Duchess of Cambridge?
It was for The Windsors, a Channel 4 comedy that was broadcast earlier this year. Well, The Windsors is back for a Christmas Special, and this time I’ve animated this chap, Gargantua, the EU’s automatic defence system:Gargantua is a rather toothy computer interface that has a ding dong with Prince Charles. With the entire UK under threat of a nuclear strike what could possibly go wrong? Tune in tonight at 10pm on Channel 4 in the UK to find out. And in the meantime here’s a trailer for the episode:
Rogue One, Gareth Edwards and Me
- At December 15, 2016
- By Niel
- In Animation, Events/News
0
Yesterday I was lucky enough to see the new Star Wars movie in Leicester Square a day before it went on general release. I loved the film, it captured the essence of Star Wars but propelled it into the arena of 21st century cinema in a more convincing way than The Force Awakens managed (and I loved The Force Awakens). Afterwards the cast and crew talked for half an hour about the making of the movie. This was even more fun than the film! Here they are, director Gareth Edwards with actors Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Ben Mendelsohn, Riz Ahmed and Alan Tudyk:
Alan was particularly entertaining, talking about the process of performing as a sarcastic droid.
And Gareth discussed the origin of the character of Chirrut and why he’s blind – it’s to do with Kyber dust.
Deigo revealed how he struggled to keep his role a secret, and how his son bragged about a set visit to entertain teenage girls.
As I was leaving I bumped into Kevin Cecil, co-creator of Hyperdrive. I worked on Hyperdrive producing the animation and vfx for the show, including being involved in the development and design of the main space ship, the HMS Camden Lock. I hadn’t seen Kevin for a few years so we grabbed a quick drink to catch up. As we were waiting to be served Kevin turned to me and said, “Do you know the big connection between you and Gareth Edwards?”
Gareth’s background is in CGI and visual effects, so I was immediately intrigued. I was already impressed by his determination as a film-maker, and how he made the jump from VFX into writing and directing. But I hadn’t got a clue how we might be connected. Had we met and I’d forgotten all about it perhaps?
“No, you’ve not met,” Kevin said. “But you have a really big connection.”
Our drinks arrived just as I ran out of guesses. “OK, Kevin, tell me.”
“Gareth built the first version of the HMS Camden Lock.”
Before Hyperdrive was commissioned there was a short non-broadcast pilot made featuring Mark Gatiss, Robert Webb and a few other actors not in the series. I never saw this until about a year ago, so as we began development on the show I had no idea what Gareth had built. The pilot has surfaced on YouTube so it’s interesting to compare this to the full series. Why Gareth didn’t work on the full series remains a bit of a mystery but I presume he was off starting his directing career or working on other animation projects.
It’s odd to think that, just over a decade ago, our paths almost crossed and now he’s directing the biggest movie of the year. I could sit here and mumble and moan about my career path but I won’t… not for too long anyway!
One downside of the event was that by time it was over the last train home had left. Not wanting to stay in London overnight I did something I hadn’t had to do in more than twenty years: I got the bus. It took over six hours and was like Mos Eisley on wheels. It’s a night I won’t forget in a hurry.
Animation Showreel
- At October 26, 2014
- By Niel
- In Animation, Video
0
I’ve finally updated my animation showreel with some recent work! It includes a variety of TV projects such as Our School for CBBC and The Number of the Doctor, produced for the 50th anniversary celebrations of Doctor Who.
Filmmaking at Macmillan Academy
- At July 06, 2014
- By Niel
- In Animation, Events/News, Talks/Events
0
Had a great week working with the pupils from Macmillan Academy in Middlesbrough with Mark Jobe from Quay Animation. Together we helped the pupils write, design and animate a short film about climate change and the effects of flooding. Former Macmillan pupil and BBC Breakfast business reporter Steph McGovern dropped in to see what we were up to.
Beneath The Ice
- At September 12, 2013
- By Niel
- In Animation
0
If you’re interested in my work on the animated Ice Warriors episodes here’s the making-of doc from the DVD.
Ice Warriors production sketches
- At September 11, 2013
- By Niel
- In Animation, Artwork
0
If you’re a Doctor Who fan you might have heard me shouting about the release of The Ice Warriors on DVD recently. Like many early Who stories some of the episodes are missing from the BBC’s archive. The Ice Warriors, first broadcast in 1967 is a six part story with episodes 2 and 3 lost to the ether. So in order to complete the story for release on DVD BBC Worldwide commissioned the production of animated versions of the missing episodes. Along with documentary maker Chris Chapman I produced the animated episodes. Director Chris Chatterton led the character design effort but this was something I was also involved with in the early stages. The hardest part was agreeing on a look for the Doctor, and our work went through many iterations. Here are a few of my sketches from that early period in production.
Most of these are face studies using photo reference. We were trying to capture the essence of Patrick Troughton’s performance in a stylised form – not easy! Chris took these drawings and combined them with his own studies to create the final artwork used in the animation.
I also did some turn-around artwork for the Ice Warrior, Varga. This is an early rough.
Finally here’s my artwork for Victoria. By this stage Chris had set the tone for the designs so my work on Victoria is a more finished, following in the the set style. Each piece of character art has to be broken up into various components in order to be used for animation. This means that the foot, calf, knee and thigh all become separate pieces of artwork, one overlaid on top of the next, so I couldn’t resist adding in a bit of extra hidden detail onto Victoria’s foot.
The Ice Warriors is out now! Here’s a clip from the animation:
Life on the Farm
- At November 12, 2011
- By Niel
- In Animation, Artwork
0
A long time ago I created a comic strip with Gordon Fraser about talking animals and the Farm that time forgot.
Gordon and I had met at school and soon became firm friends. During College we went everywhere together and when the real world beckoned we stepped into it together. We both harboured dreams of a life as comic artists and we collaborated on several projects. The one that has endured over the intervening years is a comic strip, originally called The Funny Farm, now known as Farmageddon.
Farmageddon ran for two years in our home town newspaper, appearing six times a week. When a new Editor came on board and didn’t find the strip to his taste Farmageddon came to an abrupt end. But, over the years, we’ve never been able to completely stay away from the old Farm. I’ve dabbled in animated versions of the characters and now the original strips are getting a regular dusting down and a digital reprint courtesy of the Birmingham Mail’s website.
Read More»Animation Forum West Midlands Talk
- At March 05, 2011
- By Niel
- In Animation, Talks/Events
0
I had a really good night in Birmingham last
Tuesday giving a talk on the my experiences setting up an animation studio in the North East.
The event, held in The Studio, Birmingham, was organised by the lovely people from and BSeen.
It was free to attend, and open to animators and designers of all levels. I was thrilled to see over 70 people turn up. There was a vigorous Q & A at the end that lasted about 45 minutes, followed by the same again when people came to speak to me individually at the end.
Animex Festival 2011
- At February 15, 2011
- By Niel
- In Animation, Talks/Events
0
Last week I had a great time – as ever – at the Animex Festival. From humble beginnings 11 years ago the event has grown to cover two locations in the North East of England, (Middlesbrough and Newcastle), and includes talks on film, TV, game animation, workshops, screenings and parties.
Its a chance to catch up with some old friends, and make a few new ones too. This year I gave a talk at the Animex Pro event on the subject of setting up a studio in the North. It was a chance to pull out some really old cine films from when I was a naive boy who believed he could be the first man on Mars.
The event was well organised, and well attended with delegates from across the UK.
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