Tick... Tick... Boom!

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• Publication: Radio Times
• Date: 2024-05-18
• Author: Huw Fullerton
• Page: 25
• Language: English

Former showrunner Steven Moffat thought he'd written his last Doctor Who - but now he's back with a bang

WHEN STEVEN MOFFAT returned to Doctor Who, the Time Lords laughed. "Matt Smith was very amused," Moffat tells RT of his former leading man. "Peter Capaldi absolutely roared with laughter that I was doing it. He said, 'I knew you'd go back!'

"Nobody ever really seems to leave the show completely. The cast all have a sort of afterlife of Doctor Who, because they go and do conventions and all that stuff. And now I'm actually back writing some silly episode."

Unlike his Doctors, however, not many would have expected Steven Moffat to be back working on Doctor Who in 2024 - despite him being very good at the job. Nearly two decades ago, the now 62-year-old was the guest-writing "ringer" behind the most popular episodes under then-series boss Russell T Davies. Then, in 2010 he was the natural choice to take over when Davies departed, powering through seven years, six series, two Doctors (Capaldi and Smith) and a 50th-anniversary special that beat the odds to become a critical and ratings hit.

When he left in 2017, he'd written more Doctor Who than anyone living and seemed content to leave it there, moving on to write big new dramas for Netflix and HBO. But this week, Moffat is back at the Tardis controls for an episode starring Ncuti Gatwa's new Doctor. Apparently, returning showrunner Russell T Davies made Moffat an offer he couldn't refuse.

"Literally one of the first things I did when I came back was to call Steven and say, 'Please, please, please come back," Davies tells RT. "He said, 'No, I've finished with it: 'I swore I'd never return.' And then, 'Oh, my God, I've got a good idea."

Moffat remembers things a little differently apparently the conversation actually started over email, and it took a little longer to persuade him to return. But he agrees what finally hooked him was the promise of something new.

"You've got to remember, I'd written 42 solo scripts - not counting co-writing or the ones I rewrote," he says. "I thought I'd done everything - twice. And if there isn't anything new for me to do, I can't see the point in doing it.

"But then I thought, 'Well, I haven't done tension. I haven't done suspense edge-of-your-seat suspense. Whether or not I succeeded in doing that, of course, is a different matter. But that's what I was aiming for."

So what was this (literally) killer idea? Well, Moffat suggests he was inspired by a moment from the classic 1975 adventure Genesis of the Daleks, where Tom Baker's Doctor briefly steps on a landmine. What if, he thought, that became an entire episode? He adds, "It was pretty much a one-line pitch: 'He's standing on a landmine, and he can't move, and he has to do everything the Doctor does while standing on a landmine."

Hence, presumably, the episode title - Boom. "Doctor Who doesn't often do that tension," Moffat continues. "You might think it does. It does scary, it does funny, action, even musicals. But not tension or suspense. And that's in part because no character switches off suspense like the Doctor, because he comes in, makes a joke and defeats the enemy, every single time.

"So to make him the focus of the jeopardy, and to have him on a knife edge where one wrong move and he literally blows everything up - I just thought that was a new thing for me to do." He adds, "It's quite an about-face. If you've seen the first two episodes [of this series], this will arrive like a bloody shock, I'll tell you. It's quite different! But that's the nature of the beast."

TO SAY ANY more about what awaits the Doctor would be a spoiler - and even on the sidelines, Moffat still delights in secrets. Just try asking him about unconfirmed rumours that he's already written another episode for this new era, possibly airing as soon as Christmas.

"Let's leave that to the future," he says enigmatically. "I could well be done. It depends on if anyone wants me to, and if I've got an idea. Those are very big ifs. If they want new, young people, I wouldn't blame them.

"Whenever I finish something for Doctor Who now, I always sit and think, 'Was that it? Is that it done? Am I finished? I'd better make the last line a good one because that could be the last one I ever write:

"But I feel as though I've been making my exit for about 100 years now. So I'd better not make too much of a fuss. I'll end up writing my last one and not realising it."

And if this is Moffat's final say on Who, at least he'll be going out with a bang - or should that be a Boom?

Caption: BACK IN THE WHONIVERSE Former showrunner Steven Moffat

Caption: BIG BANG THEORY The Doctor(Ncuti Gatwa) must use his wits to survive a deadly predicament

Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org

• APA 6th ed.: Fullerton, Huw (2024-05-18). Tick... Tick... Boom!. Radio Times p. 25.
• MLA 7th ed.: Fullerton, Huw. "Tick... Tick... Boom!." Radio Times [add city] 2024-05-18, 25. Print.
• Chicago 15th ed.: Fullerton, Huw. "Tick... Tick... Boom!." Radio Times, edition, sec., 2024-05-18
• Turabian: Fullerton, Huw. "Tick... Tick... Boom!." Radio Times, 2024-05-18, section, 25 edition.
• Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Tick... Tick... Boom! | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Tick..._Tick..._Boom! | work=Radio Times | pages=25 | date=2024-05-18 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=5 December 2025 }}</ref>
• Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Tick... Tick... Boom! | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Tick..._Tick..._Boom! | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=5 December 2025}}</ref>