A little Ischia for Dr.Who

Recognisable in the opening scenes of two episodes of Dr Who, the immensely popular TV series produced by the BBC

Details of the Aragonese Castle were used, together with pieces of other English castles, to form an island/mine for two episodes of the British TV series Dr Who. These two episodes were seen by about 8 million viewers in the UK alone.

The series Dr Who is one of the BBC’s most popular and longest running worldwide TV series.

Doctor Who is a British television science fiction fantasy series, produced by the BBC since 1963.

The series,with its’ 27 years of schedules (running from 1963 to 1989 and then again from 2005) and with more than 700 episodes (made in colour from 1970), holds the record for the longest running science fiction fantasy television series.

The current series starring Matt Smith as Doctor Who and Karen Gillian as Amy Pond is one of the most popular and has an enormous following of websites, forums, magazines and research.

“The Rebel Flesh” series 32 episode 5 is one of the darkest and more frightening of the series, with an intricated plot, references and links between all episodes: an important point in the evolution of the whole story now on air on the BBC.

Divided into two episodes (the second entitled “The Almost People”series 32 episode 6) was highly successful with a high audience share, delighting fans.

The story is set on an island fortress where an ex- monastery is transformed into a factory which pumps acid through pipes to the mainland.

The human workers have created clones from the gungy Flesh, called Gangers, to do the more dangerous work.

That’s enough about the plot for now as the main thing that leaps out of the screen is the initial opening shot of the island fortress – a construction resembling the Aragonese Castle on Ischia

Consulting the BBC’s official location site I discovered that it was created using parts of various castles: Cardiff Castle, Caerphilly Castle, Neath Abbey e St. Donat’s Castle. But the official site doesn’t mention one important thing: the whole base of the fortress is Ischia’s Aragonese Castle ! Unmistakably recognised by a true “Ischitano” – our Aragonese Castle!

An important occasion for Ischia to be in the Dr Who episodes!!!

Ischia's Castle

The BBC Castle