‘Doctor Who’ boss Steven Moffat brands BBC ‘stupid’ for axing show in 1980s

The show's writer and producer compares the upcoming 50th anniversary special to James Bond

Doctor Who writer and producer Steven Moffat has called the BBC ‘stupid’ for axing the cult sci-fi show in the 1980s.

Speaking to the Radio Times around the 50th anniversary of the show, he commented: “What can one say about 50 years of Doctor Who? Well, first of all, one can be pedantic. Doctor Who hasn’t been on for 50 years – owing to the outright stupidity and unforgivable blindness of the BBC (sorry guys, it needs to be said), there was a 16-year gap.”

He continued, calling the gap ‘important’. He said: “That gap is important though. It confers something very special on this most special of all shows, immortality. Doctor Who…is the show that comes back. Axe it at your peril. Someone like me is going to call you a fool.”

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Speaking to the Guardian about the upcoming Doctor Who 50th anniversary special, he explained: “In the end I thought, let’s just try to make it a really, really good one. 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.”

The BBC recently released a surprise mini-episode of as a teaser for this month’s 50th anniversary special. Watch it below. The seven-minute short film stars eighth Doctor Paul McGann, whose only previous appearance as the Time Lord came in the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie. Doctor Who‘s eagerly-anticipated anniversary special is called The Day Of The Doctor and has an extra-long running time of 75 minutes. The show’s current stars Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman will be joined for the episode by popular former Timelord David Tennant and companion Billie Piper, as well as by John Hurt.

The Day Of The Doctor will air on BBC One on November 23 at the same time it is shown in 3D in over 200 UK cinemas, as well as in cinemas in the US, Canada, Germany and Russia – further details here.

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