10 Doctor Who Bloopers You Need To See

7. Rose's Missing Face

Doctor Who The Idiot's Lantern Rose blooper
BBC Studios

Building friendships with our colleagues can really make the difference between a great day at work, and a not-so-great day at work. But these friendships can also come with their limitations: namely, the inability to actually work, and instead spending the entire day laughing and joking around with your mates.

Actors are no different, except they're often required to remain totally serious or react with deep emotion when in reality, they're standing opposite their friend wearing a silly outfit, or with CGI markers all over their face.

And sometimes, the giggles get the better of them.

It's no secret that David Tennant and Billie Piper got along really well while making Series 2, and so, the giggles would frequently strike! One brilliant example of this was during the filming of The Idiot's Lantern, when a faceless Rose is revealed to Detective Inspector Bishop and the Doctor. In reality, Billie Piper had a number of marks on her face ready to be edited in post-production, and poor David Tennant simply could not keep a straight face (1:06 in the video below).

At one point, Tennant can be heard admitting that getting this scene right is "gonna be tough," so kudos to both of them for getting it eventually. And to be fair, not many jobs require people to imagine that their friend is missing a face.

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Ellie has been part of the WhatCulture team since 2021 where she began as a freelance presenter for the WhoCulture channel. As a diehard Whovian with a BA (hons) degree in Drama and Acting, this role was the perfect opportunity for her to combine her screen presence training with her extensive Doctor Who knowledge. From there, she branched out to various other WhatCulture channels, including TrekCulture, and became a full time Content Producer/Video Presenter in 2023. Ellie is now a regular fixture on both WhoCulture and TrekCulture and has become a well respected public figure within both fandoms, building up a substantial following across her social media platforms and being given the opportunity to represent the channels and the wider communities at several industry events. Her favourite Doctor Who character is River Song and her favourite Star Trek character is Captain Janeway - which tells you everything you need to know about how she approaches her role within a generally male dominated field.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!