'Doctor Who' Boss Steven Moffat Reveals It Came Perilously Close To Losing Its Christmas Special

‘Doctor Who’ came very close to losing its prestigious Christmas Day slot, according to outgoing boss Steven Moffat. 

The show executive producer was revealed the festive special was thrown into doubt when he announced he was leaving, and faced being dropped from the schedule altogether. 

Steven told Digital Spy that his last episode was originally meant to be the finale to the most recent series, but he was persuaded to stay on when he realised new boss Chris Chibnall would not be starting his tenure with a Christmas special. 

“Then I learned at a drinks event somewhere that Chris didn’t want to start with a Christmas, so at that point they were going to skip Christmas. There’d be no Christmas special and we would’ve lost that slot,” he said. 

“‘Doctor Who’ would’ve lost that slot if we hadn’t [done a special] because Christmas Day is now so rammed. So I said, probably four glasses of red wine in, ‘I’ll do Christmas!’”

Steven added that he then had to persuade Peter Capaldi, who is also leaving his role as The Doctor, that ’s how they would depart the show. 

The Christmas special was later confirmed, and trailer for the episode - which will also feature new Doctor Jodie Whittaker - debuted last month.  

Entitled ‘Twice Upon A Time’, the special will see the Doctor team up with his very first incarnation, who made a surprise appearance during the series finale earlier this month.