The one episode in particular that would give us the most confidence for filming in New Zealand is the Easter special Planet Of The Dead. Not only did the crew relocate to the middle of the desert in the United Arab Emirates, but they also took a whole London double-decker with them. New Zealand may be (a lot) further away that the UAE, but on the plus side, the BBC wouldn't need to take as much with them. The unique premise that Doctor Who is based on, the idea of being somewhere completely different each week, means that the show only has one permanent set: the TARDIS control room. As mentioned previously Neil Cross has offered to pen the script, and so writing it with New Zealand in mind could mean that even this wouldn't be needed. The Genesis Of The Daleks went six episodes without featuring the TARDIS, and that didn't stop it from being voted the best ever classic serial. Surely an episode filmed entirely in another country also would want to make the most of its unique landscape, and so any TARDIS scenes would be kept to a minimum anyway. In today's age of instant communication, it is also entirely possible that any use of the TARDIS interior could also be directed from New Zealand via video link, or Jackson could even employ his British second unit director from The Hobbit: Andy Serkis. Unlike the middle of the desert there would also already be a thriving film industry when they get to New Zealand. This includes studios, post-production facilities, and even the crew who would run them, many of which would already be familiar to Peter Jackson. The fact that he essentially owns them means that from his end he would be able to hit the ground running, probably why he would want the show to film there to begin with, and would result in a better finished product for fans to enjoy. All the BBC would really need to take is regular costumes and props, plus the TARDIS exterior, which is designed to be transportable anyway. In reality this would be no more than the current world wide promotional tour Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman are currently engaged in, and with only one country to visit, New Zealand would not cause any problems in terms of personnel. What would be the hard part however, would be planning everything else in advance. Whatever wasn't brought from Cardiff would need to be arranged, found, hired/bought, etc, and this would be a long list of props, costumes, sets, and equipment. Nothing that doesn't have to be done for any other episode, but remember that this would have to be done from the other side of the planet. Video links are a marvel of modern technology, but can only go so far. Put simply, other than spending far more money than the Doctor Who budget would allow, an episode directed by Peter Jackson in New Zealand would essentially have to become a BBC/Weta co-production. This would bring with it the problem of ownership, particularly in terms of selling the season/episode to the various foreign TV channels which broadcast the series, and determining how much of these proceeds should go to whom. The TARDIS landing in New Zealand is certainly a possibility, but would perhaps be too much for a regular season episode, even if it is the finale.
