Thing is, I was at the launch too, though, and there’s something that Steven Moffat also said, that I don’t think has been talked about enough. In short, the pressure – while hardly off – is perhaps different on Steven Moffat this time around. I can’t imagine the BBC is being hands off, but I do bet that the drama department – and the various bits of the BBC that make hard cash from Doctor Who – has its eyes on the series beyond this one. Furthermore, there’s nothing longer term that Moffat has to be set up save for a regeneration (well, y’know, a small thing). That this can be a twelve-episode run, out of the spotlight of rampant speculation about the future of the show. Back to that press launch, one of the quietest for the show I’ve been to. In particular, I want to zero in on something Steven Moffat said in his Q&A after the premiere screening of The Pilot. He was asked how he wanted to approach this run of the show. In the past, he’s talked about two-parters, standalone movie-style episodes, series splits. The approach this time, though? “Entirely from the point of view of the story begins again”, he said. “That’s what’s exciting about Doctor Who. You get a new character, the story of Bill, she meets the Doctor, you’ve got all those lovely beats”. However, I’ve been fortunate enough to attend lots of Doctor Who press launches in the past, and heard lots of talk promoting the show from him over the years. For instance, about the aim to deliver a blockbuster movie-style episode a week. About big revelations coming. About how Doctor Who was changing as television, and television viewing habits, also evolved. But here was a slightly different tone. Here was Moffat talking about story being at the heart, and explicitly making a point of that. It was proverbial music to my non-proverbial ears. And whilst it’d be remiss to say of any show with the size of following Doctor Who has earned and enjoyed that it has nothing to lose, this upcoming run is as close as it can get to that. The signs in the first episode, The Pilot, are that Moffat is putting together plot and story ingredients early, and that’s he’s enjoyed refocusing the show again slightly with the introduction of Pearl Mackie’s Bill. The Pilot, and the twelve episodes beyond it, will bring to an end Steven Moffat’s dream job, and Peter Capaldi’s tenure as the Doctor. I’ll have a quiet bet with you that they’ve got something really quite special up their sleeve for us. Here’s hoping for a thumping good story to send them on their way.
