Steven on future Doctor Who plans

Steven Moffat talks to the official Doctor Who site about the Xmas special and his new exec.

That's right, Steven Moffat has a new exec named Caroline Skinner. He also talks about the Xmas special and Skinner's first episode.

What can you tell us about Doctor Who's new executive producer?

Steven Moffat: The exec joining me on Doctor Who is Caroline Skinner - fresh from the wonderful Five Days, and still finishing up on a brand new show called The Fades (a fantasy horror series, written by Jack Thorne - I've seen episode 1, and it's BRILLIANT.) Somewhere between me laughing in a basement and choosing planets to invade, and Marcus Wilson raising armies, there has to be a Prime Minister actually running the whole thing. That's the job Piers Wenger and Beth Willis have been doing so wonderfully for the last few years. Now that Piers is off to movie land, that's the furnace Caroline will be walking into.

How did you meet her?

SM: It's a funny thing about this show: the people who work on it, get so attached and so passionate about it, they can't just leave - they have to make sure it's going to be okay after they're gone. Just as when Russell was leaving, he sounded me out about taking over, Piers had strong views on who should be his successor. And as soon as I met Caroline, I knew exactly why. It takes a particular kind of person to work on this show - you have to be prepared to work every day of the week, laugh in the face of holidays, and above all, understand that Doctor Who is completely impossible to make and then make it anyway. I could see all that in Caroline - so off we go!

When will she actually start on the show?

SM: This has been in the works for a very long while, and a smooth succession is vital on this show. Caroline starts work almost immediately on the Christmas Special, alongside Piers Wenger. They've worked together before so this will be the smoothest hand-over we've done - and since Piers is determined to go out with a bang, that means Caroline will arrive with one. Just as it should be!

What are you working on at the moment? Is there anything you can tell us about the Christmas Special?

SM: I think I spent the entire budget on the first page. A baptism of fire for Caroline Skinner. Literally fire. And aliens!