Posted in: BBC, TV | Tagged: doctor who
If Steven Moffat can craft a Doctor Who episode in just minutes, with only five basic facts, maybe it’s not too late for a Christmas Special?
Published Fri, 26 Jun 2026 07:37:09 -0500 by Ray Flook
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Article Summary
Steven Moffat’s The Whoniverse Show challenge proves he can build a sharp Doctor Who story from five random prompts fast.
Moffat’s Doctor Who pitch pairs Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor with Amy Pond, 51st-century London, and Davros.
The Doctor Who concept sends Davros after Time Agents, with Moffat even teasing a Captain Jack Harkness gap fix.
Moffat also weighs in on Doctor Who’s missing Christmas Special, insisting the series will return despite the tender.
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Let’s be honest. Looking at it from a “bigger picture” perspective, the Doctor Who Christmas Special being nothing more than a hope and a dream, Russell T. Davies and Bad Wolf departing, and the show being put out to competitive tender will probably be a good thing for Doctor Who. But right now, and for the next couple of years, it’s gonna suck. But even during the suckiest of times, we find it helpful (and mentally healthy) to have a little fun wherever we can find it. That’s where ex-showrunner and writer Steven Moffat comes in.
Checking in with host Tia Kofi for this month’s episode of The Whoniverse Show, Moffat covered a wide range of topics regarding his years with the show. But one special segment caught our attention. During it, Moffat reached into five envelopes to see what he had to work with to craft an original concept for an adventure: Doctor, Companion, Location, Time Period, and Enemy. The result was… really, really good. We wanted to make a joke, but we can’t. It was really good. In fact, it got us thinking that if Moffat could craft a concept this strong in less than two minutes (give or take a minute or two, depending on possible editing), maybe we could squeeze in a Christmas Special before it’s too late?
Images: BBC Screencap; BBC
Here’s a look at what Moffat’s choices were, followed by an overview of Moffat’s story:
Doctor: The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) – “Wonderful Doctor. The one with the scarf. The best”
Companion: Amy Pond (Karen Gillan)
Location: London
Time Period: 51st Century – “One of my absolute favorites.”
Enemy: Davros
The Story: We don’t want to spoil what Moffat crafts, but we will say it involves Davros traveling to 51st-century London to target the Time Agents. His reason? If he wants to defeat the Doctor once and for all, he needs to be able to travel through time, too. From there, the Doctor drops a “bowtie” reference to convince 1930’s Amy Pond to help him. And that’s where we’re going to hit the brakes on spoilers – except to say that Moffat finds a way to explain those missing two years from Capt. Jack Harkness’ life.
Moffat also had some thoughts to share on the show being tendered during the Utopia 2026 convention earlier this month, tackling the topic of the Christmas Special being canned and the show’s being shopped for a new creative team. “Doctor Who has not been cancelled. Yes, Christmas has been cancelled. Well, to be clear, not all of Christmas, the day will still take place, even if Doctor Who’s not on it,” Moffat shared. “Quite honestly, I’m not altogether sure why they bother doing that, but yes, Christmas, and that’s a black mark.” On that topic, Moffat added, “I don’t like the fact there’s not gonna be a Christmas special. There should always be a Christmas special. There’s not going to be that, but the show will return – very, very definitely.”
Courtesy of Emma/electriccandles on TikTok;
Steven Moffat’s been at Utopia and he’s rather clear that Doctor Who will return in the most comical fashion. pic.twitter.com/5fLHntuDpK
— -𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐄- | ♟️ (@AMadmanNotABox) June 13, 2026
As for those comparisons between what the long-running show is going through now and when it was shut down in 1989, Moffat says that there’s a very important difference. “This is not like… those of us who are old remember it was 16 years of, ‘Well, we’ll maybe tell you something next week,’ – it’s not that situation, right? So, out to tender is not out to grass. Out to tender means actively seeking a future for Doctor Who,” Moffat explained. “It may take a little bit longer. Oh, so what? How much Doctor Who do you need? I mean, on your iPhones right now is every episode ever made, except for the ones we accidentally lost! So watch those for a while.”
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