DOCTOR WHO
ALIENS OF LONDON/WORLD WAR THREE, BBC1

The showcase sequence of the 2005 series was a spacecraft circling over London before crashing into the Thames, taking a chunk out of Big Ben on the way down.

Working closely with the digital effects team at The Mill, a large scale section of the clock tower was constructed in plaster sections, and a fibreglass and timber wing built in scale. The destruction was achieved as an 'in-camera' effect, shot on two high speed 16mm cameras.

As well as destroying Big Ben, we also got the opportunity to blow up Downing Street - providing a shot of a 1/3 scale model of the famous Number 10 door against black for the Mill to composite into the plate photography.

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