DOCTOR Who celebrates its 60th anniversary this week, with the first of three special episodes starring David Tennant, Catherine Tate and Neil Patrick Harris.
The Time Lord and TARDIS have traversed an incomprehensible amount of time and space since the show’s return in 2005 – so much so, it threatens to melt Donna Noble’s mind.
Perhaps, this list would help bring Donna back to Earth – because many of their daring getaways were actually filmed at Tredegar House.
Here is a list of all the times Doctor Who came to Tredegar House, according to the National Trust.
The Christmas Invasion
It did not take long for David Tennant to wind up in Tredegar – in his first full-episode appearance in the role, no less!
Written by returning showrunner Russell T Davies, the The Christmas Invasion crew came to Tredegar House on July 22, 2005, with the episode airing on Christmas Day.
In it, the newly-regenerated time traveller leaves companion Rose, Mickey and Jackie to combat an invasion of gnarly Sycorax who demand that Earth surrenders – or one third of humanity will die.
Tredegar House featured as prime minister Harriet Jones addressed the nation from her office.
The success of the episode led to the very 21st century tradition of the Doctor Who Christmas special.
Series two
As National Trust says: “You can barely go two episodes in season two without seeing Tredegar House.”
The cellar serves as the lair of Lady Cassandra (Zoe Wanamaker) in series opener New Earth, while other rooms including the kitchen were used for the interior of a Scottish manor house in Tooth and Claw, featuring a clan of werewolf-worshipping warrior monks!
Only in Doctor Who… You might also spot the grounds of Tredegar as Madame de Pompadour leaves Versaille in The Girl in the Fireplace which involves two sides, 33 centuries apart.
Human Nature, Family of Blood
Tredegar House made the ideal filming location for Farringham School in this two-part story set in 1913.
One of the bedrooms is used in a glimpse into an alternate future where the Doctor is a human, married to a nurse, and welcomes the arrival of his first child.
His human name is John Smith – an alias that has accompanied the Time Lord for decades.
Who-dunnit
In The Unicorn and the Wasp, a giant vespine alien starts picking off the guests like something out of an Agatha Christie murder mystery. Who’s at the party? Why, Agatha Christie, of course.
Several interior scenes, including the library and kitchen, were filmed at Tredegar.
The Next Doctor
The 17th-century Tredegar House was brought just a little more up to date with a Victorian makeover for The Next Doctor.
One deluded adventurer tethers his version of a time-travel machine (actually a hot air balloon) in the courtyard.
The End of Time
David Tennant started and finished his Time Lord tenure in Newport. For parts one and two of The End of Time, Tredegar House belonged to Master-mind billionaire Joshua Naismith.
Wink, wink.
The Impossible Astro-port
It seems like the Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith, enjoyed his visits to Tredegar House just as much.
It features in the opening scene of The Impossible Astronaut, as the mischievous Time Lord finds an unconventional hiding place from King Charles II.
The Woman Who Lived
Doctor number twelve, now! The National Trust says it is harder to recognise the House in this episode, set in 1651, because many of the scenes were filmed at night.
The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) disrupts a highwayman known as the “Knightmare” and encounters an unlikely friend.
The National Trust say you can still make out the “distinctive wooden panelling” as everyone’s favourite Time Lord sneaks into the aristocrat’s house.
Spyfall
Doctor thirteen! In this spy thriller, which aired in 2020, a ragtag group comprising Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill are recruited by MI6 to investigate an alien threat.
More than six million people watched part two of the two-part special, where the dining room poses as part of computer entrepreneur Charles Babbage’s house.
Mathematician Ada Lovelace also appears here.
Fourteenth and fifteenth…
Eagle-eyed fans spotted the stars of the future (and present, and past, and all the timey-wimey stuff) filming at Tredegar House this May.
Among them, Fifteenth Doctor actor Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson and Jonathan Groff, all in Regency-era attire.
They have made use of other Newport locations, too. Viewers may recognise Belle Vue Park, St Woolos Cemetery, Tredegar House and Duffryn High School.
Doctor Who returns to television screens at 6:30pm this Saturday, November 25, with The Star Beast.
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