Steven Moffat has sat down with the lovely people at Doctor Who Magazine to discuss the first part of Series 10’s finale and it sounds like it’s going to be a belter.
During the exclusive Series 10 preview in issue 513 (out now), Moffat discusses the notion of ‘time dilation’, horror in Doctor Who, and the beginning of the end.
Featuring an idea from Moffat’s son Joshua, who has a keen interest in physics, World Enough and Time, sees the “four-strong TARDIS crew” of the Doctor (Peter Capaldi), Bill (Pearl Mackie), Nardole (Matt Lucas), and Missy (Michelle Gomez) trapped on a spaceship being sucked into a super massive black hole – causing the ship to suffer time dilation, which means that “two days have passed at the front of the spaceship, thousands of years at the back.”
Not only that, the ship features a “grim, ghostly hospital” in which much of the episode is set, Steven told DWM:
“We had to make sure that our hospital didn’t look very much like any hospital you’d ever actually go to. So it’s quite operatic. Huge hospital sets. Huge wards. That’s not where kids will go and visit their grannies. It doesn’t look like that. At the same time, Doctor Who is in the business of making every dark corner and creepy cupboard seem extra scary – kids expect it to be a bit scary – so you’ve got those two things sort of at war with each other. But that’s the nature of the show.”
When asked exactly how far Doctor Who could push the horror angle on prime-time BBC One on a Saturday night, Moffat said:
“Exactly as far as we’ve gone, I would say. Doctor Who is quite horrific, so you’ve got to deliver on those things. But you try to push it away from real-life horror.”
Judging by Moffat’s enthusiasm for Series 10 finale, we could be in for something very special indeed:
“When you see these episodes, I think you’ll love them – because we love them. I love them. Episode 11 is as properly exciting as Doctor Who has ever been, and, I suppose, it’s the beginning of the end…”
Doctor Who Magazine #513 is available now from all good stockists.
