| abstract | - The idea for the process germinated with the experience of filming The Long Game during the first series of the BBC Wales version of the programme. Because the production team had increasingly slipped behind schedule during the course of the series' principal photography, The Long Game was partially filmed alongside The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances. The entirely studio-bound nature of The Long Game, as well as the presence of temporary "third leads", Bruno Langley and John Barrowman, narrowly allowed the production team to complete all three episodes. For the second series, head writer Russell T Davies wanted a less harrowing filming schedule. He therefore devised the concept of the "Doctor-lite episode" — a story which did not greatly require the presence of the programme's lead actors. One of the teams would principally work in studio, while the other would mainly work on location. This then allowed two complete production units to function simultaneously. It became an absolute necessity, however, when the BBC added a 2005 Christmas special to their order for the 2006 series, and even more vital when they tacked on a 2006 Christmas special for their Series 3 order. This meant that, unlike Series 1, each subsequent series had 14 episodes. Thus, what had started as a way to better accommodate the filming of 13 episodes now became the only practical way to film a 14-episode series.
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