Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has confirmed that more Doctor Who mini episodes are planned, following the success of Paul McGann’s return in last year’s ‘The Night of the Doctor’.
Moffat told SFX: “I think we now have to accept that online stuff isn’t a spin-off anymore. We used to treat it as a spin-off that maybe some people would watch. But then you suddenly realise something like Pond Life, which we took much more seriously, had an audience of over six million.”
> Watch 25 of the best Doctor Who mini episodes and prequels so far.
He explained: “What I think is quite exciting about all that stuff is you’re allowed to do a six minute episode. I actually think ‘The Night Of The Doctor’ is one of the best ones we’ve done, and I don’t think it would be improved by being 45 minutes long. What more storytelling do we need? Arguably always the problem with the regeneration show is everybody’s just waiting for the bit when he dies and regenerates – so why don’t we just do that bit?”
The writer added: “…there’s going to be more of that, up until the point when all television is like that. And it will be. All television will be downloadable content. It’s coming.”
Moffat revealed: “We’ll certainly do some more. We’ll do more prequels and stuff. I’ve been in to talk to the channel controller of iPlayer and say ‘We need proper money for it’, and they’re very keen. And we don’t call them prequels, we don’t call them minisodes, we just call them Doctor Who. That’s all they are. As I say, why not do an episode that’s ten minutes? Or an episode that’s half an hour? It depends what it suits.”
The new issue of SFX is on sale now, with five collectable Doctor Who covers.
Series 8 will begin on BBC One on Saturday 23 August with feature-length premiere episode ‘Deep Breath’.
> Here’s everything we know about Series 8 so far.
What would you like to see in new mini episodes? Let us know below…