Steven Moffat - H 2014
AP Images/InvisionShowrunner Steven Moffat said he was “happy” for a potential Doctor Who movie, but it was “incredibly important” to maintain the integrity of the globally successful TV series.
Speaking to the Radio Times, Moffat, who also created the BBC’s Sherlock, said: “You can’t make a movie that damages the TV series. … That’s the only thing I’d say about it. I’m very happy for there to be a movie, very happy [for there] to be a theater show — anything you like — but the TV show is incredibly important and must not be hurt. Everybody knows that.”
Moffat was addressing persistent talk of a mooted Doctor Who movie after it was revealed in leaked emails that BBC Television director Danny Cohen told senior Sony executives that there was “tremendous interest” in a movie. Moffat’s latest opinion on the topic has notably softened from earlier this month, when he said the prospect of the Time Lord hitting the big screen was just not going to happen.
On the prospect of a big-screen version of Doctor Who finally happening, Moffat said: “If someone can work out how [a movie] actually works, I’ve got nothing against it, but no one’s ever been very clear about how it actually works. It’s not really got that far, and it’s not my job. I can neither action it nor stop it.”
Moffat still thinks a film is unlikely, given the funding issues and lack of commercial imperative that governs the BBC. “I’m sure there’s money to be made out of it, but that’s not the point, is it? We are British, the BBC. We are there for the art.”
