Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat says it’s unlikely that the Doctor’s name will ever be established in the show as fans would just ignore it.

Responding to a fan’s question in Issue 496 of Doctor Who Magazine about the identity of the mystery woman in the barn in ‘Hell Bent’, Moffat went on to say: “A few years ago I wrote an episode called ‘The Name of the Doctor’, and when that title was rolled out, oh the ripple of fear that went round fandom. Were we really going to give the game away? The central secret of Doctor Who? The answer to the oldest question?”

He continued: “Well, no, of course we weren’t. As if! And you know what? If we’d been daft enough to do that, the audience would have ignored us anyway. Just like the last time it happened – because it did, you know. Oh, I remember.”

Moffat explained: “There’s a Tom Baker story called ‘The Armageddon Factor’, and sometime during it, the Doctor runs into an old friend from Gallifrey called Drax. And shockingly, right in the middle of a story, with no fanfare or fuss, we found out the Doctor’s real name. No really, that was a thing that happened. Ready for it? The name of the Doctor? Okay. Theta Sigma. Yeah, rubbish, isn’t it?”

He added: “But here’s what happened – the audience turned politely away, and ignored it. If Head Canons had doors you’d have heard every one in the world slam shut in that moment. Just a great big, ‘Nope, you’re not allowed to do that!’ In later years, the show got in line with its audience, and ‘Theta Sigma’ was retconned away as a nickname in ‘The Happiness Patrol’, but the lesson remains: showrunners beware, your powers are weak. If you ever doubt that Doctor Who belongs to its audience before anyone else, remember the case of Theta Sigma.”

The new season of Doctor Who will begin filming this summer.

> Here’s everything we know so far about Season 10.

Do you think we’ll ever find out the Doctor’s name? Let us know below…