“I thought it might be the last one, so to get River in – that was bringing me full-circle.”

Steven Moffat hadn’t signed for a 10th series of Doctor Who when he wrote this year’s Christmas special.
The showrunner told press that he thought the festive episode could be his last ever for the show.

“I hadn’t signed for next year at that point,” he confirmed. “I have now – unless they fire me, which would be quite sensible!
“I thought it might be the last one, so to get River (Alex Kingston) in – that was bringing me full-circle.

“But also – much more importantly – I was very tired and [executive producer] Brian Minchin was going at me about what we were going to do for Christmas.”And it just cheered me up, the idea that River could be in it. I hadn’t written River for years and I love writing River.”

Both Moffat and his leading man, Peter Capaldi, insisted that this year’s special will be more light-hearted than 2014’s ‘Last Christmas’.
“Doctor Who’s got to be a bit scary – but I think this is quite a funny Christmas special,” Moffat said.

“Last year, Father Christmas was in it, but it was actually quite dark. This year, because the series itself goes quite dark towards the end, we bring it back up. It’s Mr and Mrs Who back in action – it’s mainly one long domestic in space, with a big robot!”

“It’s more festive fare…” Capaldi added. “…although I like a ghost story at Christmas – I think it should be scary!

“But this is much more fun, it isn’t as frightening. It’s certainly Doctor Who in a more comic vein, with lots of snow and Dickensian streets and monsters and flying saucers.”

But while the tone might be different this year, Moffat insisted that he doesn’t worry too much about making Doctor Who more “accessible” on Christmas Day.

“You do have to be aware that some poor bastards are dragged screaming into the living room to watch Doctor Who when they normally are excused that duty!” he joked. “So you want to be accessible to them as well.

“But to be honest, I think Doctor Who fans like myself are always slightly worried about how accessible Doctor Who is, and the general audience have no problem understanding it. He’s just a man in a box who travels in time and talks crap!”

Doctor Who’s festive special, ‘The Husbands of River Song’, will air on Christmas Day (Friday, December 25) at 5.15pm on BBC One.