Writer will “park” character after Christmas special, leaving the possibility of a comeback…

In a new interview with Doctor Who Magazine, Stephen Moffat has talked a little about winding up his time on the show, and what that means for some of the key characters of his tenure.

He came out fervently against killing off companions – something he has avoided during his time in charge of the show – saying:

“It’s wrong! I’m not even that crazy about it when they did it with Adric [in 1982’s Earthshock]. I don’t think that’s the story. I’m sorry, it’s a children’s programme. And explicitly, the companions are like Doctor Who’s children. Or his grandchildren. They’re in his care, and lovely old Doctor Who is opening the TARDIS doors and saying, ‘I will always look after you.’ Get it right – that’s the story.

It’s not the mean-spirited kind of story where you’ve proved the ‘grittiness’ of real life. It’s not real life – it’s Doctor Who.”

When talking specifically about the future of last season’s companion, Bill Potts – who we’ve already seen will return in the upcoming Christmas special, he holds firm to the same line.

“I actually tried to find ways to give everybody closure,” he says, “but simultaneously park them somewhere. You want something that feels like an end. That’s right and proper. Love triumphs over all. As it always must, whatever any fool says. But there’s enough in there that if anyone wanted to pick her up again and use her again, then it can be done.”

So there. There’s still a chance we’ll see Bill Potts and the 13th Doctor together at some point. Sooner, rather than later, we hope.

Presumably, given his attitude on the matter, the same will apply to Jenna Coleman’s Clara Oswald, who has also been rumoured to be making a cameo appearance in Peter Capaldi and Moffat’s swan-song instalment.