Interview with Jack Murphy, the Bridgerton choreographer, on the dances he created for Doctor Who

Can you explain how you came to be involved in Doctor Who?

Phil Collinson, one of our Executive Producers, said, ‘let’s see if we can get the Bridgerton choreographer!’. I’ve filmed lots of ball sequences, so I was asked if I would be interested in working on the Regency episode. I was sent two scripts, Rogue and The Devil’s Chord, and I said ‘Yes, I would love to, so long as you let me do the twist as well because I’m never allowed out of the 19th Century!’ (laughs!)

Describe what scenes you choreographed for Rogue and the style of the dance.

I choreographed the ball sequence, which is set at a lavish party organised by Indira Varma’s character, The Duchess. I gave the Regency dancing a sense of the ‘then and now’ – I do that by combining Regency configurations, with modernity and some ballroom and Latin American dance. Of course, Regency dances are very sociable as it is where you went to meet people, many people say it was how they did speed dating!

Explain your process when coming up with a dance, what inspires you?

My process for developing any dance, especially for drama, is first and foremost reading the script. I get the inspiration from the writing, and I am like a detective in the sense that I have to see a continuum of the narrative of the characters before, during, and after a dance. The music that is chosen inspires me, along with the music length and the structure, which helps inform the rhythm and tempo.

How does it compare choreographing Regency in Rogue to the twist in The Devil’s Chord?

There is a big difference. The style in Regency is elegance – everything needs to look like it is happening very gently and isn’t causing any discomfort. Whereas the twist uses the hips and arm movements, and it’s very jerky and punchy. The contrast you get is a sudden quality in the twist, and a sustained quality in the Regency.

What is it like being on set?

Being on set is a celebration of the work. You get to be with a huge crew, when normally I am just in a dance studio working with a few actors. I love the collaboration and camaraderie – we’re a group of people who are all passionate about what we do, so it feels like a family.

What other elements play a part in pulling off a dance sequence?

The most important element is having collaboration. Where a camera is positioned can have a huge impact on a dance, so I walked the locations with our amazing director Ben Chessell. I gave an example of what the dances are, and what it would look like to say, have over fifty people doing the twist!

How is it choreographing for actors who may not have had any dance experience?

I always look to see if the actor has ever done any sports before because I use a lot of analogies when I teach. There are two reasons to dance – to have or to give pleasure. They’re not in Strictly Come Dancing where they are dancing to get a score. When you are dancing in a television drama, you are dancing so that the story can continue, it’s not about how well you dance. I encourage them to enter into the dance using an actors language and because I trained as an actor, everything I use language-wise is available to them. My job is to find a way to make them feel comfortable to undertake that task.

Doctor Who is produced by Bad Wolf with BBC Studios for the BBC and Disney Branded Television.

The BBC is the exclusive home of Doctor Who in the UK as it premieres at 00:00 on Saturday May 11 on BBC iPlayer and will then airs on BBC One that evening. Outside the UK, Doctor Who began streaming 10 May at 7pm ET on Disney+ where available, giving audiences a simultaneous global launch.

An episode continues to drop on BBC iPlayer at 00:00 on Saturdays, followed by a primetime slot on BBC One each week following that.