The latest edition of Doctor Who Magazine – issue 513, out now – features an interview with Toby Whithouse, the writer of this Saturday’s episode, The Lie of the Land.

DWM asked Toby about the Series 10 mini arc, the three-part ‘Monk Trilogy’ (Extremis, The Pyramid at the End of the World and The Lie of the Land), and if it reflected the burgeoning ’fake news’ phenomenon, the writer responded:

“It’s impossible to ignore the echoes of that in real life and so we really didn’t have a choice but to embrace them. I’m wary of making, you know, cheap kind of political points, certainly in something like Doctor Who, but this Monk story is so attuned with what’s been going on in the world that it would have been nuts not to address it face on.”

Whithouse – the man behind Doctor Who eps, School Reunion, The Vampires of Venice, The God Complex, A Town Called Mercy, and Under the Lake / Before the Flood – added:

“ … fiction is an incredibly important and powerful way of expressing what’s going on. It’s getting harder now, but I think that comedy, and satire, and stories have even more importance than they used to – certainly satire, and political theatre, and political TV shows and films.

That’s what Doctor Who – indeed, science-fiction – does best: it allows you to address and explore. Even though the political climate has thrown up new challenges, it’s absolutely vital that people keep telling these stories and holding up a mirror to the world – now more than ever.”

The latest edition of Doctor Who Magazine also includes an exclusive preview of Series 10 episodes 9 through to 11, including interviews with writers Mark Gatiss (Empress of Mars), Rona Munro (The Eaters of Light) and Steven Moffat.