10 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About Modern Doctor Who

10. David Tennant Didn't Know Billie Piper Was On Set For The Stolen Earth

At the end of The Stolen Earth, after a long series of big first meetings of characters all across the NuWhoiverese meeting for the first time in the best crossover event ever put to screen. Yes, Marvel fans, I said what  I said. The big one people were waiting for was the reunion of the 10th Doctor and Rose Tyler, a reunion that had been teased throughout Series 4's entire run. David Tennant's performance was so great that it was said no one told him that Billie Piper was on set, which made his reaction completely genuine. As sweet as this story is, David Tennant… is just a good actor. TV production is a long process of call sheets, scheduling, rehearsals, script read-throughs, blocking. You can actually see a lot of the behind-the-scenes on this in the Doctor Who Confidential episode. 

The issue with moments like this on TV is that time is money; putting too much on the line can slow the production down dramatically. You can actually find the filming order of the series online, which shows that many of the interior scenes for both The Stolen Earth and Journey's End, such as the fake-out regeneration in the TARDIS, were filmed in February, while exterior shots, such as this moment, were shot much later, in mid-March.