Former Doctor Who showrunner, Steven Moffat, has revealed that not only did he have to scrap the first draft of his latest episode, Boom, but that he also began writing it without having been commissioned!
Talking about the development of the Fifteenth Doctor story, Moffat recalled:
“It was quite a long time ago [that I began writing Boom]; around two and a half years. I just started tentatively writing and got about 12 to 15 pages in, and realised I had got it completely wrong. I started the story in the wrong place, on the wrong foot, so to speak. So I threw that away and started again.”
And current showrunner, Russell T Davies, didn’t even know Moffat had been writing Doctor Who again. Steven explains:
“So when I sent it to just Russell; he was quite surprised – he didn’t know I had been working on it. Mainly, it felt pretty good and pretty familiar to be back on the TARDIS. It doesn’t seem that long ago since I was writing for [Twelfth Doctor, Peter] Capaldi.”
Maybe this explains why Ncuti Gatwa’s incarnation felt so right as the Doctor here — Moffat had been writing “the Doctor”, not specifically “the Fifteenth Doctor”, though he tweaked the script to include more contemporary details, i.e. Gatwa’s particular take on the Doctor, and the inclusion of Millie Gibson’s character, Ruby Sunday.
Ah but saying that… we wonder who Moffat originally wrote as the companion of the piece…
Boom was the third episode of Doctor Who Series 14, and the first episode by Moffat since Twice Upon a Time in 2017. His next, and potentially last, script for the show will be this year’s Christmas special, Joy to the World.
