Steven Moffat

Doctor Who: Steven Moffat on how the show competes with a lower budget

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Outgoing Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has been doing promotional work for the series 10 DVD and Blu-ray release. And as part of that, he’s done a long interview with Den Of Geek, where he’s been chatting about the show.

In particular, he was questioned about how Doctor Who – on a limited budget – competes with the huge amounts of money being thrown at shows like Game Of Thrones. And Moffat admits that it’s a problem, but has a Doctor Who solution to it.

“What’s Doctor Who got to do except not just really compete, but try and find ways to lead? And what’s really difficult about that is we don’t have as much money as anybody”, he said.

“The trick we always go for in Doctor Who is aim for a visual that nobody else has done. We can’t do a dogfight in space, because you’ve seen a dogfight in space. If we do a city on fire, other people have done this better. Forget those”

“Even when we do Doctor Mysterio, we’re thinking let’s deliberately make it slightly Christopher Reeve-level special effects, because we can’t compete. We had to find new visuals, things you hadn’t seen before. A farm on a spaceship! It’s cool for no reason I can even think of. Back in the day, Rose Tyler in her Union Jack top during the Blitz. It’s a visual you haven’t seen anyone else attempt before, therefore we can do something without comparison”.

The full interview with Moffat can be read here.