The Name of the Doctor

‘Doctor Who’: 11 things we learned from the BFI’s Eleventh Doctor event

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Taking place at BFI Southbank as part of their year-long 50th anniversary celebrations, the screening was followed by a highly entertaining Q&A session with writer Steven Moffat, director Saul Metzstein, actor Dan Starkey (Strax) and writer Mark Gatiss.

Here are some of the highlights from the Q&A…

» Steven Moffat: “Doctor Who is made in a permanent sense of crisis and desperation.”

» Steven Moffat: “With ‘The Crimson Horror’, I knew I wanted it to be Victorian, grotesque and scary – and so I thought of Mark [Gatiss].”

» Steven Moffat: “Doctor Who will always be principally about the story of the week. The arc has to be there if you want it to be.”

» Steven Moffat: “By the end of Series 5, Matt’s Doctor was pretty much in place.”

» Mark Gatiss: “The word is canonical [not ‘canon’] – it drives me insane!”

» Steven Moffat: “There’ll be no split [in Series 8].”

» Dan Starkey: “[To get transformed into Strax] I basically have a big Rolo that they put on my head and my face pokes out. I look like an obese Steven Seagal.”

» Steven Moffat: “The Doctor could improve most TV shows. Imagine how much better Holby [City] would be?”

» Steven Moffat: “We’ve noticed [‘The Day of the Doctor’] did well [in cinemas]. It’s great to see [Doctor Who] up on the big screen. Television just handed cinema its own arse.”

» Steven Moffat: “There are only eleven versions of the Time Lord who call himself ‘the Doctor’. Matt [Smith] is the Eleventh Doctor.”

» Steven Moffat: “I walked out on [Steven] Spielberg and a 3-picture deal [for the Tintin movies]… so when you’re wondering who the most tragic Doctor Who fan is…”

What’s your favourite Eleventh Doctor moment? Let us know below…

> Buy the 50th anniversary special on DVD on Amazon.

> Buy the 50th anniversary special on Blu-ray on Amazon.