Spoilers for Doctor Who: The Doctor Falls.

Come the end of Doctor Who series 10, the fate of Bill – played by Pearl Mackie – seemed unpleasant. It would be fair to say that she was in no small amount of trouble. She had been turned into a Mondassian Cyberman, seemingly doomed to live out her days in that form. The future looked bleak.

And then Heather popped up. The same Heather we saw right back at the start of series 10 in its opening episode, The Pilot. A few may have seen it coming, but it’s fair to suggest the vast majority didn’t. Steven Moffat, who penned the episode, has been chatting about her return in the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine.

“I think it’s hilarious that anyone didn’t think I’d bring Heather back”, he said, when questioned as to whether he always planned to do so. “I just thought it was so obvious. The unrequited love. The unstarted love. The love story that doesn’t happen. Come on! What else is going to happen in Doctor Who land?”

Steven Moffat confirmed in the interview too that he knew from the start that Heather would be back at the end of the series to help resolve Bill’s conundrum.

This all ties in too to Moffat’s believe that Doctor Who companions should never be killed off, something we reported on here.

Doctor Who Magazine issue 515 is on sale now.