WHAT IT’S LIKE…
Who better to teach the Time Lord to dance than Regency ballroom master Jack Murphy?
This week, Doctor Who is doing a Bridgerton with its own spin on Regency romance and lavish balls — so who better for the team to recruit than Jack Murphy, who’s choreographed every decadent dance in the hit Netflix show? Fresh from the Duchess’s ball hosted by guest star Indira Varma (and working on Bridgerton series three, which returns with its second instalment this week), Murphy fills us in on what it’s like to dance with the Doctor…
FIRST STEPS
I trained as a classical actor. My favourite classes were movement and historical and social dance. I’d never had any formal dance training, but after studying European dance history from the 12th to the 19th century, I worked on the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice and the movie Young Victoria before I was hired for Bridgerton.
STRICTLY START
I screentested to be a judge on Strictly but didn’t get it. In the middle of my interview, the fire alarm went off, we all left the building and I never saw the people who’d been interviewing me again! But I met Shirley Ballas on Doctor Who [she had a dancing cameo in the 60s Beatles episode]. She’s electric. During filming, she asked me to do a Viennese waltz. I can’t believe I got to dance with her — she has such energy and focus. And I got to do a rumba with the beautiful Johannes Radebe!
FROM THE TON TO THE TARDIS
I had an email asking if I’d like to work on a production featuring a Regency ball, but with no indication what the show was. When they sent me a Doctor Who script, I was very bemused! I hadn’t watched it since I was a kid. They approached me because I choreograph Bridgerton and can fuse the then and the now for a modern audience. Learning about song and dance planned for this year’s 1960s episode, I was very cheeky and said, “I’ll do the ball if you let me do that too, so I can get out of the 19th century for once.”
HOT TO PLOT
Dancing tells a story. It’s never dancing for its own sake. I read a script and bring it to life with the director. Within any dance there should be a continuity of the overall narrative. I like to know what’s happening to the characters. That helps actors feel comfortable.
CHOREO CORNER
It starts in my kitchen. At 5am, I put the coffee on, put music on and start dancing by myself. Later, I workshop it with the dancers. For a four-dance ball on Bridgerton, eight of them will learn it in two days. Once people are moving in the space, it’s a bit like working with clay. You start sculpting. I tell the actors that for every session they
