Moffat has “certainly not ruled out” a return for Alex Kingston’s character but says if Davies was to write it, it would probably need to be censored…

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has “not ruled out” the possibility of a return for River Song, although he admits he has reservations about any character spending too long with the Time Lord.
“It entirely depends on whether we’ve got a good story,” said Moffat. “It’s certainly not ruled out. I have a sort of worry about keeping anybody around in the Doctor’s life for too long. Because he’s the Man who Leaves. He’s the man who outlives everybody: that’s his story. In the end it’s the boy in his box, and he’s alone.
“In the end if we had a great story, we’d do it.”
One man who seems extremely keen to see Alex Kingston’s sassy Ms Song opposite Peter Capaldi’s irascible Twelfth Doctor is Moffat’s predecessor Russell T Davies, who apparently told him their encounter would be “a sex storm”.
Could he perhaps be the one to script the such a meeting? Only with a lot of editing, jokes Moffat, referring to Davies’s recent, rather risqué, Channel 4 drama Cucumber.
“I mentioned in passing to Russell that we were probably done with River,” Moffat told interviewer Jaci Stephens during a Bafta talk in New York earlier this month. “He said, ‘You can’t be done with River! No, no, no. Capaldi and Kingston, it’s a sex storm!’
“So if you see an episode called Sex Storm by Russell T Davies in his post-Cucumber years… [there will be] lots of editing from me saying ‘We really can’t do that, you’ve forgotten which show this is….’”
River Song died saving the Tenth Doctor in series-four episode Forest of the Dead but reappeared at various points in time in subsequent adventures. She was last seen as a digitally preserved consciousness that apparently bid a final farewell to the Eleventh Doctor in series seven finale The Name of the Doctor.
But as Moffat is fond of reminding us, this is Doctor Who, a show about time travel – anything can happen…
Series nine of Doctor Who is expected on BBC1 this autumn.

News Source: Radio Times

The inaugural three-day event this September will give television fans a chance to get closer than ever to their favourite stars and shows in the shadow of historic Hampton Court Palace by the River Thames.

You’ve seen it on television, you’ve read the book… now you can be part of it as the inaugural Radio Times Festival gives you the chance to get closer than ever to your favourite stars, shows and the people who make them.
Some of the biggest names in television and radio including Sir David Attenborough, Sir Bruce Forsyth, David Walliams and Paul Hollywood have already signed up to appear at the three-day event between 24th and 27th September in the shadow of Hampton Court Palace – with lots of exciting announcements still to come.
Other names in the first line-up announcement for the festival include former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies, Lynda La Plante, Simon Schama and Melvyn Bragg, alongside some of the UK’s most popular programmes, including The Archers, Doctor Who, Gogglebox, Poldark and Wolf Hall.
Radio Times, the UK’s leading authority on television and radio, in association with Brand Events, will host over 70 live events – from talks and interactive workshops to exhibits and screenings – across the weekend, giving festival-goers the inside scoop on how the best television and radio is made, straight from those in front of, and behind, the cameras and microphones.
Alex Jones, Deborah Meaden, Russell Grant and Robin Windsor will bring glitz, glamour and glitter balls to proceedings with ‘Life after Strictly’, while BAFTA will give advice on how to break into television.
The literature side of the festival, celebrating the close relationship between books and screen, will see sessions from the author of the new James Bond novel, Anthony Horowitz; Sex and the City creator and writer Candace Bushnell on her new novel Killing Monica; The Grantchester Mysteries writer James Runcie; and Shetland author Ann Cleeves.
Family sessions to appeal to all ages include: award winning broadcaster, actor, comedian and author David Walliams discussing his hugely popular children’s books; Shaun the Sheep creators Aardman hosting a series of modelling workshops where you can learn to make your very own Shaun or Morph characters; Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler, the author and illustrator of children’s books Gruffalo and Stick Man, leading a fun-packed story-telling session; and Little Princess creator Tony Ross conducting a ‘How to illustrate’ masterclass.
Ben Preston, Radio Times Editor, says: “I’m delighted to announce the first Radio Times Festival. What better place to celebrate broadcasting than at Hampton Court Palace – the true heart of this year’s outstanding drama Wolf Hall.
“For 92 years Radio Times has prided itself on telling readers when and where to find the very best television and radio. Now we’re hosting the first Radio Times Festival so you can meet and discover more from broadcasting’s most talented people. We have secured some of the best names for the festival, which contains more than 70 sessions, and are confident that this event will be a huge success and capture the public’s imaginations.”
Radio Times Festival will run from 24th-27th September on The Green at Hampton Court Palace. Early bird tickets will go on sale to Radio Times subscribers from 9th June and then on sale to the general public from 23rd June. Tickets will be available from www.radiotimesfestival.com soon.

News Source: Radio Times.

The showrunner says he now expects Doctor Who to go on forever, but when he first took over he thought he would “preside over a gentle, respectable and decent decline”

Steven Moffat predicts that Doctor Who will go on forever – but admits that when he first took over from former showrunner Russell T Davies he thought the show’s popularity would begin to wane.

“I’ll be honest, I thought when I took it over, and it was more or less said to me – I took over about half-way through the ten years [of nuWho] – I thought I was there to preside over the gentle, respectable and decent decline, because that’s what happens to shows that run for a long while.

“They don’t plunge off a cliff,” he told interviewer Jaci Stephen, “but they go gently down. Every big show gets slightly less big; that’s a reality.”

Five years later, after a very different story to the one he expected, Moffat’s belief in the show has only increased.

“As an entity Doctor Who will go on forever,” he said at a Bafta event in New York to celebrate ten years of the show. “I think it will go off from time to time but then it will just come back. If axeing it for 15 years [in 1989] didn’t work I’m not sure what could kill it!”

News Source: Radio Times

It was all motorbikes and bazookas for Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman as she filmed scenes for the next series of Doctor Who on the south Wales coast on Monday.

Peter Capaldi and Coleman, who plays companion Clara, were spotted filming on the Knap near Barry. Also there was Ingrid Oliver who returns to the show as Osgood who was killed off in the last series.

As previously reported Coleman’s not racing around on the motorbike herself, there’s a very adept stunt rider in her place.

However, the actress seems VERY used to handling a huge bazooka gun, not bad considering she’s playing a maths teacher.

News Source: Wales Online

‘Back to the 80s’ is the next one day event on behalf of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society. For the first time in eight years we are moving out of London – this time to Manchester where we have found a superb new event venue.

The theme for the day is, unsurprisingly, Doctor Who in the 1980s – the period when fandom really came into its own. Join us and celebrate all things 1980s, from long scarves to robotic dogs, celery, cricket bats, orange spats, paisley patterns and Hawaiian shirts.

As with all DWAS events, ‘Back to the 80s’ will offer the usual mix of guests panels, on screen presentations, autographs, photo studio, merchandise and more. We pride ourselves on offering a well organised event at the the best possible value – and this event offers the biggest discount for DWAS members in some time.

You can book right now online or by post. As the event begins to take shape and guests are booked, you will find details announced here.

Please Note:
Following discussions with our hotel venue in Manchester we have taken the decision to change the date of our event from 10th October 2015 to 24th October 2015. This is for a number of reasons but principally due to the low availability of accommodation in central Manchester over the weekend of 10th/11th October as a result of a Rugby World Cup match being played in the city at that time.
(Current ticket holders will be contacted)

Guests will be announced soon… Stay Tuned!

News Source: DWAS

Doctor Who. New York. Cardiff. They are not words I ever imagined I would be uttering in the same sentence. But last night (May 14), on Broadway in New York, I found myself on stage saying those very words.

I wasn’t in a show. I was actually in the Institute of Technology’s Auditorium on Broadway and, despite having a microphone in my hand, I was managing to resist bursting into song.

I was in New York (where I now live) interviewing Steven Moffat: showrunner, executive producer and chief writer of Doctor Who, which, in March this year, celebrated its 10 year revival.

In 2010, Moffat took over from Russell T Davies, who had resurrected the series in 2005. And on May 21, it will be 10 years since Moffat’s first Doctor Who script, The Empty Child, starring Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor, hit the screen (to many, it remains the scariest episode of all time).

Courtesy of the Cardiff Business Council and Bafta Cymru, the auditorium was packed with an eclectic mix of die-hard fans, both US and UK.

“Before Dr Who, I had never been to Wales,” Moffat confessed, but declared passion for the revitalisation of the TV and film industries, particularly among young people.

“It used to be the case that if you wanted to do something in either, you had to go to London. But now, there is whole generation who don’t have to do that. And the future is always more interesting than the past – because we don’t know how it ends.”

Moffat is one of the easiest interviewees one could have – and yet, ironically, one of the toughest. He speaks so easily and with such fluidity, it would be easy to be lulled into a false sense of security.

He cares passionately about the Doctor and is fiercely protective about the show; he is also very, very focused about what really matters.

We are talking about criticism he has received about his female characters who, to some, are perceived as weak, and needing a macho man to “rescue” them.

“These are strong women,” he argues. “If anyone needs rescuing, it’s the Doctor. As for “macho” – Matt Smith, David Tennant? Really?” (At this, he does a really hilarious, rather camp Doctor Who action that is all 12 Doctors rolled into one).

Moffat’s background in comedy has, he feels, given him a good grounding in writing drama.

“In comedy, you have to be doing something all the time. Have we done anything is always the question. Everything is about the next laugh. And the change in comedy has been that the audience now knows how it works.

“In the kind of comedy we do in Doctor Who, you need to surprise the audience: do something you didn’t tell them you were going to do.”

It was a childhood dream of Moffat to work on Doctor Who, and he still emanates an innocent glow when he talks about working on the show – a show that has come a long way from the one that, back in 1963, was conceived as an educational programme to explore scientific ideas and famous moments in history – “Well that lasted all of five minutes,” he says.

His latest episode, Listen, is an extraordinary piece of work, with no monsters and just three characters. It’s a beautiful, lyrical piece that focuses on childhood fears – what’s under the bed.

The truth is, like the Doctor’s “demons”, as Moffat calls them (oh yes, and “The Doctor’s also mad”), those things still lurk within all our lives. It’s a brilliant metaphor in the writing of someone whose subtlety often escapes people seeking an agenda.

Having just signed up for another year of Doctor Who, and with the ongoing success of Sherlock, Moffat’s place in the TARDIS of broadcasting in Wales looks secure. And for that, we really can be very grateful.

News Source: Wales Online