Doctor Who’s Steven Moffatt addresses major mystery around The Doctor’s age amid disturbing clone theory
STEVEN Moffatt has shed light on one of Doctor’s Who’s most controversial episodes.
The former show runner took part in one of the BBC sci-fi hit’s recent watch-alongs, which has seen fans revisit some of the most beloved episodes in the saga.
The latest to get the treatment was 2015’s Heaven Sent, which starred then-Doctor Peter Capaldi.
The Time Lord found himself trapped in a Gallifreyan confession dial for a whopping 4.5billion years.
The reveal left many fans reeling when it originally aired, as they were left to grapple with the idea that the Doctor could be billions of years old.
During the live viewing, one fan put the questions to Moffatt, who was quick to reply with his own theory.
“[It’s] up to you,” he wrote back, before adding: “I think not, though – he keeps resetting.”
With that in mind, fans then couldn’t help but wonder if that meant the original Doctor in fact died during Heaven Sent, only to be replaced by a duplicate.
Doing little to assuage their fears, Moffatt shot back: “He first teleported in [1964 story] The Keys of Marinus – he’s been a copy since then – deal with it, kid.”
Well, consider us told.
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Nonetheless, given the complexity of Time Lord tech, there’s a chance that it was simply the Doctor’s consciousness that aged, rather than his physical form.
The next Doctor Who watch-along, organised by Doctor Who Magazine writer Emily Cook and Radio Times, will be for 2008 two-parter.
Russell T Davies and director Graeme Harper will be live tweeting throughout the episode.
The global re-watches of the classic episodes have seen creatives behind the show generate plenty of interesting new content.
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Davies previously revealed a sequel to 2005 series premiere Rose, while current show boss Chris Chibnall wrote a new short story, Things She Thought While Falling.
Stephen Moffat also penned a new scene featuring a young Amy Pond, in a prequel to The Eleventh Hour.
Meanwhile, John Barrowman hosted his own lockdown viewing party of Doctor Who spin off show Torchwood, in which he played Captain Jack Harkness.
Doctor Who is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.