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Aussie to direct Doctor Who episodes

Daniel Nettheim will direct Peter Capaldi in 2 episodes of the upcoming season.

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Australian director Daniel Nettheim will direct two episodes of the upcoming Doctor Who season.

Nettheim, who has directed for The Secret Life of Us, Rush, Spirited and Dance Academy, directs Peter Capaldi in the final two episodes of the next instalment.

“There’s a lot of personal connection for me with this show”, says Nettheim. “I was obsessed with it as a kid, when Tom Baker was the Doctor. And my own kids are obsessed with it now. They convinced me to take the job, even though it means spending months away from the family because production takes place in Cardiff.

“There’s also another strong family connection with the show, as my late Uncle David Nettheim was as an actor in Britain in the 60 and 70s, and he played a villain opposite the second Doctor, Patrick Troughton in 1967.”

David Nettheim also appeared amongst the “lost episodes” The Enemy of the World, which was found on surviving tapes in 2013.

“On my first day of pre-production they gave me a copy on DVD. No one in my family had ever seen it before. The production values weren’t great in those days, but the imagination behind the show was amazing. Doctor Who is such a cultural phenomenon, I’m really proud to be a part of it.”

Nettheim moved to London with his family just over two years ago. He was one of two directors on the BBC series Line of Duty, recently nominated for BAFTA. He has also directed for Channel 4’s Glue, Whitechapel and two episodes of Humans with William Hurt.

“I loved the work I was doing in Australia”, says Nettheim, “but there seemed to be a level of creative ambition going on in UK television that I really wanted to be a part of. We don’t get to play with the budget levels of shows like Spooks and Life on Mars back home, partly because we don’t get the audience reach.”

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