 This story is narratively tied to the final scene of the previous story "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone", greatly furthered The Doctor-Rory-Amy romantic triangle subplot and ended with Rory Williams, Amy Pond's boyfriend, apparently joining The Doctor and Amy in the TARDIS.
"The Vampires of Venice" is the first Doctor Who story to be directed by Jonny Campbell - who previously directed episodes of BBC One’s Judge John Deed in 2001, Spooks in 2004 and Ashes to Ashes in 2008. He also directed Channel 4’s Shameless in 2004 and the movie Alien Autopsy in 2006.
This is also the first story to be co-produced by Patrick Schweitzer and the second story written by Toby Whithouse – the creator of Being Human. Toby Whithouse previously wrote the 2006 Tenth Doctor story "School Reunion".
Arthur Darvill returns to the show as Amy Pond's boyfriend, Rory Williams.
Rosanna is played by Helen McCrory who won the BAFTA Cymru Award for her role in Streetlife in 1995. She also played Casanova's mother in Casanova, in 2007, and starred as the eponymous lead in Frankenstein, a modern update of Mary Shelly's famous story. Incidentally, this dramatisation also featured Julian Bleach as the 'Monster'. Shortly after he played the part of Davros in "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End".
The read through for this story took place on 23rd November 2009, exactly 46 years after the very first episode of Doctor Who was transmitted.
This story is predominantly set in Venice, in the sixteenth century, but location filming actually took place in Trogir, a small medieval town in Croatia, in November 2009 – thus making this the first Doctor Who story to be filmed in a former Communist country and the third story, since the show was revived in 2005, to include major filming outside the UK.
This was followed by location filming in December 2009 at St Donat's Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. Notable areas of the castle used for filming include the Dining Hall and the dungeon bathrooms.
The 1979 Fourth Doctor story "City of Death" was the first Doctor Who story which involved overseas filming – in the case of this earlier story in the streets of Paris, France. Subsequent stories that have involved shooting abroad include the Fifth Doctor stories: "Arc of Infinity" (Amsterdam, Holland) and "Planet of Fire" (Lanzarote) , the Second and Sixth Doctor story "The Two Doctors" (Seville, Spain), the 1996 television movie "Doctor Who: The Movie" (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) and the Tenth Doctor stories: "Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks" (New York City, USA), "The Fires of Pompeii" (Cinecittà Studios, Rome,Italy) and "Planet of the Dead" (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates).
This isn't the first time The Doctor has visited Italy. The TARDIS has landed there in the 1965 First Doctor story "The Romans", the 1976 Fourth Doctor story "The Masque of Mandragora" and the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Fires of Pompeii".
According to The Doctor, vampire stories exist on many planets and their legends derive from enemies of the Time Lords known as Great Vampires. The Fourth Doctor previously encountered vampires of a different kind in the 1980 story "State of Decay". The Doctor has also faced vampire-like creatures in the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "The Curse of Fenric" and the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Smith and Jones".
The Doctor compares the vampires to the famous escapologist, Harry Houdini who is renowned for tricks such as freeing himself from handcuffs, straitjackets and heavy chains. In the 1974 Third Doctor story "The Planet of the Spiders" The Doctor revealed he was trained in the art of escapology by Houdini, something he later confirms in the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "Revenge of the Cybermen". He is also referenced by The Doctor in the 2009 animated story "Dreamland".
The Doctor also mentions Casanova, the famously eighteenth century charismatic writer and traveller. Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt. Numerous myths and legends have sprung up around Casanova and he has been depicted on screen many times. Perhaps the best portrayal was in Russell T Davies' BBC version of his life where he was played by David Tennant before he became the Tenth Doctor...
When The Doctor shows the vampires his identification, he shows a library card instead of psychic paper as used by the Tenth Doctor. The photo on it shows the First Doctor, played by William Hartnell. The Eleventh Doctor did use the psychic paper in "The Eleventh Hour".
It is revealed that the Vampires in this story are not real vampires, but are of alien origin. They are fish-like alien creatures, called Saturnynians, who use Perception Filters to hide themselves to other people. The perception filter is shown to have a self preservation loophole, making the teeth visible when the brain detects a threat.
The name of the species, Saturnynians, is not actually spoken in this story.
Rosanna Calvierri is also heard to mention ‘the fall of silence’, a continuing theme first mentioned in "The Eleventh Hour".
The relationship between Rosanna Calvierri and her son, and their plan to convert people to become their species, is similar to that of the Family of Blood who shared a close bond and took over individuals to go unnoticed.
In the preview trailer for this season, a clip of one of the vampires is seen leaping for Rory, without any change. In the actual story, the vampire changes to his alien form. Differences like this have happened many times from trailer to the broadcast story.
A 90-second clip from this story was shown during Matt Smith's appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 26th March 2010.
Although "The Vampires of Venice" is the first Doctor Who story title to contain the word ‘vampires’ the working title for the 1971 Third Doctor story "The Claws of Axos" was "The Vampires from Space".
There was some initial confusion over the title of this story, with some media sources (including Matt Smith in a television interview) using the title "Vampires in Venice".
The accompanying Doctor Who Confidential is entitled "Death in Venice", a reference to the Thomas Mann novel of that name. It was made into a BAFTA-winning film starring Dirk Bogarde in 1971.
Following on immediately after this story, on BBC3, was the sixth chapter of the fifth series of Doctor Who Confidential. Titled "Death in Venice" which looked into the making of this story and filming in Croatia. It was presented by Alex Price.
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The Firsts:
The first trip in the TARDIS for Rory Williams, played by Arthur Darvill, and also his first story as an official companion.
The first Doctor Who story to be written by Toby Whitehouse.
The first Doctor Who story to be produced by Patrick Schweitzer.
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Jonny Campbell.
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(Position = 8 out of 10)
(Position = 167 out of 241)
