Steven Moffat has been sharing the wisdom he imparted to the man who’s set to inherit the role of showrunner and, basically, it’s don’t let Doctor Who consume your life!
In an interview with Worldscreen, Moffat revealed some of the advice he gave Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall – as well hinting at a few words of wisdom that he would rather keep to himself.
Moffat said:
“First of all, he’s a very, very experienced showrunner himself, so he doesn’t need advice. The advice I gave him, which I won’t share, was not about how to run Doctor Who but how to have a life while you’re running Doctor Who. The things you must make sure of.
“He’s a family man, like myself. You’ve got to make sure that you survive it! And the support you’re going to need and what it’s going to be like at 4 in the morning when you’re rewriting some other bastard’s script and not even putting your name on it. What that’s going to feel like. That is what I talked to him about.”
Other than telling Chibnall how to keep his sanity, Moffat also offered him some ‘prosaic’ ideas about keeping true to his vision – and keeping the nameless powers that be from meddling with it.
Moffat added:
“But it’s really about, you’ve got to see your kids now and then. You’ve got to go home now and then. You’ve got to keep living. It is a monstrous workload, Doctor Who, monstrous.”
Speaking about his decision to leave the show, Moffat hinted at a desire to make new stories – as well as have a slightly less stressful writing experience.
He said:
“I’m astonished at how long I’ve been doing it!” he said. “I sort of miss my own job of making up television shows and doing the new things, which is the real job of a writer.
“I’ve been curating and looking after and worrying about Doctor Who and Sherlock for several years – these two huge franchises that threw up brand-new problems every single day – in addition to writing. You’re never more a writer than when you write something new, you try something different. I miss all that.
“I miss being, as it were, a proper writer. I’d like to go and find a new thing to fail at!”
The whole interview – which includes the standard refusal to say anything about what’s in store for Twelfth Doctor and Bill – is well worth a read.
Doctor Who returns to BBC1 on Saturday 15th April.