Doctor Who: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Weeping Angels

by Danny Meegan

1. Special Effects Are Used To "Freeze" Them In Place

Blink 744
BBC

Somewhat unbelievably, most of the Weeping Angels we've seen in Doctor Who are not inanimate props designed by the art department: they're actually real actors and actresses trussed up in layers of makeup and prosthetics.

But since it's very difficult for humans - even trained stunt performers - to stand perfectly, unwaveringly still, the Doctor Who production team has to use a very clever trick to stop them shaking on film.

During an episode commentary for Blink (featuring Moffat and composer Murray Gold), it's revealed that digital effects are used to freeze the Angel performers in place, getting rid of any minor immersion-breaking movements.

The Angels in Blink were played by actors, but because of this post-production trick, you won't spot a single instance of a random Angel wobbling in the background of a shot. You could say... that they're as still as a statue.

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Know any other interesting details about the history, design or abilities of the Weeping Angels? Let us know in the comments section!

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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!