Am I making it sound too heavy? It does have its darker moments but it is a romp too. 'But if he meets another Doctor, what would he say to himself? What does he ask himself? This one is about him, for once. We never see him when he's alone, he's always with his human friends. He's usually the one who catalyses other people's big emotional moments. 'We don't often do good character episodes for the Doctor. 'It's a turning point,' says Moffat, trying to explain without giving anything away. Instead the birthday story will concern a particularly important day in the Doctor's life. And contrary to what was written at the time he in no way messed us around.' But Chris was perfectly sweet and kind about it.

'The ninth Doctor turns up for the battle but not the party. 'It's just not the sort of thing he does,' concludes Moffat. Moffat had met him for a 'very amiable and gentlemanly' conversation and the actor considered it 'quite seriously' before saying no. Such poly-Doctoral plans were scuppered when Eccleston declined to appear. Do what James Bond did with their 50th – a story that's so good in its own right that it stands up as a 50th special.'įeeling the pull of tradition, some fans had wanted to see all 11 Doctors somehow reunited, or at least the post-revival trio of Christopher Eccleston, Tennant and Smith. 'In the end I thought, let's just try to make it a really, really good one. We're talking in a multi-coloured circular thinkpod in the centre of New Broadcasting House that looks like a Fisher-Price Tardis control room. 'It's such a hell of a thing to work on, and there is a sense of responsibility,' admits Moffat, the 52-year-old from Paisley, Scotland, who took charge of the show with the end of Russell T Davies's tenure in 2009. Does Doctor Who's showrunner feel the weight of the occasion? Are we about to witness Steven Moffat and The Burden Of the 50th?

Doctor Who by Andrew Smith