llywela: (DW-11Tardis)
llywela ([personal profile] llywela) wrote2011-09-11 05:27 pm

Doctor Who location spotting!

Okay, so last night's episode of Doctor Who was good (aside from an ongoing quibble I shan't get into just now because I am brain dead - someone else has touched on at least a bit of it for me here, although I'm not in tune with everything they say) but I found myself very distracted from the plot every time we had a scene with Amy in the garden because I was too busy going 'ooooh, that's Dyffryn!' to concentrate on what was actually happening. They seem to have filmed quite a significant chunk of the episode at Dyffryn Gardens, just outside Cardiff.

Here's Amy stepping into the garden


And here's the garden she is stepping into (from a reverse angle, unfortunately - alas, I don't have a shot from the same angle; doesn't ever seem to have occurred to me to stand on the terrace and take a shot out across the croquet lawn. If you click for a larger view you'll get a better look at the terrace to compare)


From this angle you get a better look at all the bushes they CGI'd so dramatically


And then we saw Amy (and later Rory) enter a Roman-styled garden



That's Dyffryn's Pompeian Garden



What? Location spotting is fun! And they aren't always quite so obviously recognisable as in this episode!

[identity profile] llywela13.livejournal.com 2011-09-12 08:47 am (UTC)(link)
Aye indeed, Reinette's bedroom and the Palace of Versailles and its grounds were filmed at Dyffryn. As were the exterior scenes for Gwen's wedding in Torchwood. It's a versatile location!

The lack of emotional follow-through from such a massive, life-changing loss is really grating and prevents me from fully connecting with the characters - which bums me out because this was a great episode full of the kind of emotional resonance and fleshing out that Amy and Rory and their relationship have long needed! Yet without any acknowledgement whatsoever of their terrible loss...it falls a bit flat. And I understand the desire for standalone episodes, obviously not every episode can or should be about the seasonal arc. But that doesn't mean that references shouldn't be inserted in context, or that the characters can't show any reaction to what they have been through.

Ah well.