Moffat on Why Series 8 Needed A Big Shake-Up

Steven Moffat has explained why he felt Doctor Who was in need of a big shake-up.

Speaking in the latest Empire magazine, he says: “It was time to change. Certain things we were doing a little reflexively. Some of the humour was getting a bit glib. One of the hardest things to notice is when your new idea has become your old idea and it’s time to get rid of it.”

Jenna Coleman adds: “It’s amazing how different it feels. It’s darker. The limits feel like they’re being pushed more in terms of the danger and the dread. It’s scarier, that’s for sure.”

Coleman says one of the bigger changes is the pace of the stories: “A producer once told me this is the hardest job because you’re creating characters and telling stories while always on the run. But Steven’s changed the format quite a lot. We have much longer scenes now.”

Moffat concurs, stating his favourite scene from the opener is “a five-minute argument between the Doctor and Clara over a restaurant table.”

Ben Wheatley, director of the first two episodes, says: “For me, they’re back to Classic Who, or the mid-Tennant adventures, where you’d tell a story and move on to the next one, less tied up in the final machinations of long plot arcs.

“Capaldi’s his own man but there are elements of Baker and Troughton and Pertwee. He’s inherently funny but inherently brooding and complicated, as a performer and a man.”