FILM · 2008 · UK
Doomsday
27 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (27)
- #001
The car featured in the chase scene is a 2008 Bentley Continental GT Speed. Because Bentley did not participate in product placement, the filmmakers bought three of the cars for roughly $150,000 each. One car was accidentally driven into a passageway; the second was used for the lion's share of the stunt driving. The producers were astonished at how durable the car proved despite the punishment it took; when filming ended, it needed only cosmetic repair, with its chassis and engine intact.
- #002
The APC vehicles were built with real steel plating and armored glass windshields so that actors and stunt performers could interact with them authentically. Designing them took four or five weeks and building them took ten weeks. Two were produced, and every part was custom-made. Buying decommissioned similar vehicles was discussed, but building their own from scratch turned out to be cheaper.
- #003
Despite many stunt sequences with dangerous choreography, only two went wrong. A motorcyclist was dragged while trying to roll safely to the side, but was not injured. The other was the man Sol punches in the face on the train platform; on the second take of the scene, the stunt performer's nose was broken.
- #004
Although the film is set in London and Scotland, most of the principal photography was done in South Africa. The last scene shot in the country before the production moved to the United Kingdom was the long car chase in which the Bentley crashes into a bus.
- #005
The two DDS soldiers sent to Scotland are named "Miller" and "Carpenter." George Miller directed the "Mad Max" trilogy, and John Carpenter directed Escape from New York (1981) and Escape from L.A. (1996), all of which heavily influenced this film.
- #006
Alexander Siddig, who plays the British Prime Minister, is the real-life nephew of Malcolm McDowell, who plays one of the leading Scots in this film.
- #007
The intersection scene uses around 700 extras, most of them South African.
- #008
The opening and closing title sequences are set in the Albertus typeface, a direct homage to the influence of John Carpenter, who used the same typeface in all of his films.
- #009
Rhona Mitra plays a character who lost her right eye to a stray bullet in childhood. Emma Cleasby, who plays her mother at the start of the film, had also appeared in Dog Soldiers (2002), likewise written and directed by Neil Marshall. In that film, Cleasby's character is shot in the right eye as she turns into a werewolf.
- #010
The film was turned into a haunted house at Universal's "Halloween Horror Nights" in Orlando, Florida.
- #011
At the start of the film (around the 8th minute), the on-screen message reads London, 2035: Now. This is the same wording and typeface used in Escape From New York (1981), which influenced this film.
- #012
The assault weapons used by the DDS soldiers are (modified) Vektor CR-21 bullpup assault rifles, a product of South Africa, the film's principal shooting location.
- #013
Because part of the filming took place in South Africa, the helicopters' registration numbers were in the "ZS" format. The helicopter that chooses Eden at the end of the film visibly carries this registration on its tail, while the helicopter that flies Eden from London to the quarantine zone conceals it on its belly and shows a fictitious number on its sides.
- #014
Scottish Screen contributed £300,000 to the film's budget.
- #015
The assault team at the head of the ship is given the name "Pervyj Raz" for Rhona Mitra / Eden Sinclair, meaning "First time," written in Russian on the side of the ship.
- #016
Four actors in this film were also main characters in Dog Soldiers (2002): Sean Pertwee, Darren Morfitt, Chris Robson and Emma Cleasby.
- #017
Several different helicopters are used throughout the film: the helicopter that extracts Eden from the quarantine zone at the start is a "Bell UH-1." The helicopter that flies Eden from London to the quarantine zone is an "Agusta a119." The gunship that picks Eden up at the end of the film is an "Aerospatiale SA.321 Super Frelon." The helicopter Nelson uses after taking the disc from Eden at the end of the film is a "Bell/Boeing CH-47 Chinook."
- #018
MyAnna Buring, Nora-Jane Noone and Craig Conway had previously worked together on The Descent (2005).
- #019
The death of Sean Pertwee's character resembles the death of his character in Dog Soldiers (2002) (both involve fire).
- #020
The character Canaris probably takes his name from the German spymaster of World War II. Although most of his missions aligned with the official Nazi party, he was known to have carried out some operations for his own purposes.
- #021
Sean Pertwee and Alexander Siddig appeared together in Fox's Gotham (2014-2019), playing Alfred Pennyworth and Ra's Al Ghul respectively.
- #022
A 130-page first draft of the screenplay sent to Rogue Pictures around 2006 contained a different version of the scene in which Eden is captured. In that draft she wakes up in a cage inside the sewer where the cannibal gang is based, and Sol poses as another prisoner to learn more from her. After revealing himself, Viper throws Eden into a pit in front of a deformed humanoid creature (originally the virus mutated people and animals), which tries to rape her, but she fights it off and gets out, then fights Viper. Unlike in the film, however, she does not kill him, instead knocking him out, stealing his clothes and throwing him in front of the creature, which begins to rape him the moment he wakes up and realizes he is naked.
- #023
Chris Robson's character dies fighting, just as his character did in Dog Soldiers (2002).
- #024
Sean Pertwee and David O'Hara appeared together in Gotham as former SAS soldiers who help train the young Bruce Wayne.
- #025
The Prime Minister's name, John Hatcher, may be a reference to two former British prime ministers: John Major and Margaret Thatcher.
- #026
Darren Morfitt worked with Martin Compston on Line Of Duty.
- #027
When Chancellor Falco first comes out of Kane's castle to greet Sinclair and the others, a "Gift Shop" sign can be seen behind him.
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