Moffat’s Original Ideas for 50th, War Doctor Return Clip
Speaking to the Radio Times he said: “The first version was David [Tennant], Matt [Smith] and Chris [Eccleston] together. With whatever involvement we could contrive for the other Doctors, but – being brutal – it had to be Doctors that still looked like their Doctors. I know I’m a bastard but hey, I think Peter [Davison], Colin [Baker] and Sylvester [McCoy] were better deployed in The Five-ish Doctors than they could ever be elsewhere. But I knew that Chris was almost certainly going to say no. I met him a couple of times and he was absolutely lovely. He met with me because he didn’t want to say no through his agent or a phone call or email. He wanted to do it personally. And I three-quarters talked him into it.
“So I started a version of it but I got to a point where I could go no further unless it was going to be him. I went for another meeting with him and he decided no. His reasons are his business and he’s a very private man. But it’s reasonable to say he really cares about Doctor Who. He’s well versed in what’s happened since he left, and happily chatted away about Amy Pond by name.”
Elaborating further about how the War Doctor came about: “We had to work out what else to do. At that point neither David nor Matt were under contract either. I had Jenna [Coleman]. And I did come up with a plotline that was just Jenna. It was a nightmare. We’re weeks from filming. A production team is assembled, people are doing storyboards and I don’t even know if anyone who has ever played the Doctor is going to be in it.
“And meanwhile the entire internet is finding my email and sending me the most hideous death threats. Because I haven’t got William Hartnell back! And I’m thinking, “Well, one: he hasn’t answered the phone. I don’t know why…” But never mind him – I’m not sure if David and Matt are doing it either. I’m crouched in the corner of my office wondering, “What the f*** am I going to do!”
“So then David and Matt come on board and the BBC are waiting for my big idea. I remember saying to Marcus [Wilson, producer], “What if there was an incarnation of the Doctor none of us knew about? And, coincidentally, he was played by the most famous actor in the world? Specifically someone who might have been cast as the Doctor during the long hiatus. For instance, John Hurt…”
The site also posted the first clip of John Hurt reprising his role as the War Doctor for the upcoming Big Finish audio:
