‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special: Steven Moffat Reveals Peter Capaldi Helped Write Regeneration As New Trailer Is Revealed

'I’d be banging out new pages each night for us to discuss on set each day.'
BBC

The countdown is officially on for ‘Doctor Who’ fans and with less than a week to go until Peter Capaldi bows out as the Time Lord, a new teaser trailing the upcoming Christmas Day episode has been revealed.

The short clip sees the Doctor and his assistant, Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie), leaping off the top of the Tardis with The Captain (Mark Gatiss) and the First Doctor (David Bradley) as a spaceship takes it away.

And while the foursome initially seem doomed, the First Doctor has a cunning plan…

Steven Moffat has also teased the hotly-anticipated episode, revealing that Peter had a hand in deciding how his character will bow out.

“Once we got into shooting it [the regeneration], however, and especially when we approached filming Peter’s last moments as the Doctor, which were done at the end of the shoot, we did talk more about how exactly he should meet his end,” he said. “We were both very pleased with that final section of the script already, but as we went through piece by piece we thought there were ways to improve it so I’d be banging out new pages each night for us to discuss on set each day.

“That was so enjoyable and exciting to do – to really feel that we were getting his send off right – that in a way it took whatever emotions we were both having about leaving and put them on screen where they belong.

“By the time we got to that part of filming I think Peter and I were probably the least emotional on set because we’d put it all in the show.”

The festive episode will see the Time Lord regenerate, with Jodie Whittaker becoming the first female Doctor, and it also marks Steven’s final one as showrunner, with ‘Broadchurch’ writer Chris Chibnall taking over ahead of the next series.

Anne Robinson

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