History Trivia / DoctorWhoS30E15PlanetOfTheDead

* ThrowItIn: The double-decker bus' roof was smashed up by shoddy crane operation when it was being shipped to Dubai. Rather than waste crucial filming time to fix it, the script was altered to have the bus suffer damage as it passed through the portal to San Helios, serving as a warning how dangerous it was to pass through the gateway. Unfortunately, they didn't bother changing the driver's complete confidence that he can get back through it without any problems, which makes him seem either idiotic or delusional.

** Russell T. Davies originally didn't like the idea of a ClassyCatBurglar randomly getting on a bus and was considering swapping the character that became Christina for an ordinary housewife named Eileen. Failure to find any appealing actresses to cast as the latter ended that version of the story.

* PromotedFangirl: Michelle Ryan was a fan of the show.

* TroubledProduction: The special was made when the new production team was being trained by the old one. Due to location shooting in Dubai and Creator/DavidTennant only having a small gap in his schedule in which to film, the team only had six days to shoot, with an unusually tight turnaround between filming and broadcast. Unfortunately the double-decker bus prop on which the story relied got heavily damaged while transporting to Dubai. Creator/RussellTDavies decided to ThrowItIn and added lines in the script addressing the damage to the bus (which results in a plot hole, or at least a major WhatAnIdiot moment, as the driver's confidence that he can go back through the portal unscathed wasn't changed despite the massive damage it now was written as causing to the bus), but couldn't do a lot about the sandstorm that prevented shooting for several precious days!

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The story was originally to have featured the Chelonians, villains of ''The Highest Science'' and recurring bad guys in the ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'', but the Dubai filming location meant they couldn't put an actor in turtle-man prosthetics without real risk of heatstroke. The Chelonians would eventually get a shout-out in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], but still haven't appeared onscreen.

* DevelopmentGag: Lady Christina is very similar to [[Characters/BigFinishDoctorWhoCompanions Raine Creevy]], who would have replaced Ace as companion, had there been a twenty-seventh season of the original show (and who was eventually realised by Creator/BigFinish).

* ThrowItIn: The double-decker bus's roof was smashed up by shoddy crane operation when it was being shipped to Dubai. Rather than waste crucial filming time to fix it, the script was altered to have the bus suffer damage as it passed through the portal to San Helios, serving as a warning how dangerous it was to pass through the gateway. Unfortunately, they didn't bother changing the driver's complete confidence that he can get back through it without any problems, which makes him seem either idiotic or delusional.
* TroubledProduction: The special was made when the new production team was being trained by the old one. Due to location shooting in Dubai and Creator/DavidTennant only having a small gap in his schedule in which to film, the team only had six days to shoot, with an unusually tight turnaround between filming and broadcast. Unfortunately the double-decker bus prop on which the story relied got heavily damaged while transporting to Dubai. Creator/RussellTDavies decided to ThrowItIn and added lines in the script addressing the damage to the bus (which results in a plot hole, or at least a major WhatAnIdiot moment, as the driver's confidence that he can go back through the portal unscathed wasn't changed despite the massive damage it now was written as causing to the bus), but couldn't do a lot about the sandstorm that prevented shooting for several precious days!

* YouSoundFamiliar: In the Hungarian dub, Lou's voice (Csaba Jakab) was also the [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie Roberts!Master]]'s voice.

* DevelopmentGag: Lady Christina is very similar to [[Characters/BigFinishDoctorWhoCompanions Raine Creevy]] who would have replaced Ace as companion, had there been a twenty-seventh season of the original show (and who was eventually realised by Creator/BigFinish).

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The story was originally to have featured the Chelonians, villains of ''The Highest Science'' and recurring bad guys in the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse, but the Dubai filming location meant they couldn't put an actor in turtle-man prosthetics without real risk of heatstroke. The Chelonians would eventually get a shout-out in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], but still haven't appeared onscreen.
* YouSoundFamiliar: In the hungarian dub Lou's voice (Csaba Jakab) was also the [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie Roberts!Master]]'s voice.

* InMemoriam: The episode was dedicated to Barry Letts.

* TroubledProduction: The special was made when the new production team was being trained by the old one. Due to location shooting in Dubai and Creator/DavidTennant only having a small gap in his schedule in which to film, the team only had six days to shoot. Unfortunately the double-decker bus prop on which the story relied got heavily damaged while transporting to Dubai. Creator/RussellTDavies decided to ThrowItIn and added lines in the script addressing the damage to the bus (which results in a plot hole, or at least a major WhatAnIdiot moment, as the driver's confidence that he can go back through the portal unscathed wasn't changed despite the massive damage it now was written as causing to the bus), but couldn't do a lot about the sandstorm that prevented shooting for several precious days!

* ActorAllusion: Lee Evans has a recurring character called Malcolm in his early stand-up routines.
* DevelopmentGag: Lady Christina is very similar to [[Characters/BigFinishDoctorWhoCompanions Raine Creevy]] who would have replaced Ace as companion, had there been a twenty-seventh season of the original show (and who was eventually realised by Big Finish).

* YouSoundFamiliar: In the hungarian dub Lou was the [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie Roberts!Master]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The story was originally to have featured the Chelonians, villains of ''The Highest Science'' and recurring bad guys in the DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse, but the Dubai filming location meant they couldn't put an actor in turtle-man prosthetics without real risk of heatstroke. The Chelonians would eventually get a shout-out in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], but still haven't appeared onscreen.

* DevelopmentGag: Lady Christina is very similar to what has been publicly revealed about a character who would have replaced Ace as companion, had there been a twenty-seventh season of the original show.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The story was originally to have featured the Chelonians, villains of ''The Highest Science'' and recurring bad guys in the DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse, but the Dubai filming location meant they couldn't put an actor in turtle-man prosthetics without real risk of heatstroke. The Chelonians would eventually get a shout-out in Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]], but still haven't appeared onscreen.

* ThrowItIn: The double-decker bus's roof was smashed up by shoddy crane operation when it was being shipped to Dubai. Rather than waste crucial filming time to fix it, the script was altered to have the bus suffer damage as it passed through the portal to San Helios, serving as a warning how dangerous it was to pass through the gateway.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Easily one of the most kidsy Who episodes.