SM: Fine. (Laughs). At this moment, I haven’t experiences the monocoly part because I’m still on the job and doing it. Hey! Look where I am. The other part of it is, honestly, when we stopped shooting the Christmas special I hadn’t known how stressed I’d been since 2009. When that all lifted from me I realized I didn’t have my head in a vice anymore. I’m not timing how much of a TV program Im watching, and can I really afford those fifteen minutes or can I go to bed later. Im not scheduling my entire life to death in order to do the work anymore. At the moment Im just quite happy. Sad Im sure in the future, but right now…bloodly hell. Is this how the rest of you live? Its marvelous.

 

 

SM:Well first of all I don’t think that it was Russell saying that. I think that was just what he was writing in the scene, because Russell did want to go. I know he did want to go. He was very clear on the point. I tried to purswade him to stay. 

 

MG: Peter’s final lines don’t quite reflect that. 

 

SM: There is no element of autobiography with writing Doctor Who…one should say. How F***ing could there be? There is nothing about my feelings about leaving the show, if that’s what you’re asking, in what he says. You write the scene. 

 

 

SM: Well not really because I’ve done so many. I wish that maybe I had done more with the Autons because I really like them. I think I should have done more with the Silence, because that was a good idea and I didn’t revisit. Those were good monsters. I did 42 episodes, I wrote more than that, co-wrote, re-wrote and have covered everything. I think it was time to get rid of me. (Laughs). 

 

MG: Bring back the Chumblies!

 

SM: Yes, bring back the Chumblies Chris (not me).

 

 

SM: Emphatically, and it goes on for the rest of your life. You will always be an ambassador for this show. I remember we were saying that when Matt Smith took over, and told him that “you’ve been rude to your last taxi driver”. We don’t mean for the next three years, we mean for the rest of your life. I remember Matt saying, “imagine how awful it would be if somebody had to carry the memory that Doctor Who was rude to them. You would remember it on your death bed and you would be thinking about it”. You have to be Doctor Who forever. But I never thought “am I contractually obliged”? No. It’s a role for life.

 

MG: It shows you how things have changed. I remember distinctly that Tom Baker had given up smoking in the street because he couldn’t bare the idea of children seeing him. Things have slightly changed, but its the same principle isn’t it? It’s an ambassadorial role.

 

 

MG: For me its just being allowed to be part of it. It’s still extradorinaiy to be part of this massive tapestry. It’s like living inside the pages of the making of Doctor Who. To read these   things as a child about Jon Pertwee deciding to leave at the height of his powers, and Barry and Terrance wanted to move on, its just sort of like Holy Writ…and then it happens to you. Then you realize that it’s just people. Just people and friendships and relationships. Just being a part of it is incredible. 

 

SM: I guess all of the shows we made around the 50th. There was some phenomenal television there, I can now say that. Day of the Doctor, Peter Davison’s lovely film, the Night of the Doctor, all of the stuff we did was brilliant. We carried off that 50th and nailed it. No one thought we would and we did and it was great. I am incredibly proud of that. Hell. It was hell. 

 

 

MG: It depends. Im in the Christmas special, which is a huge honor and treat, but it was just a beautiful script. All I had to think about was playing the part and not be squeeling long enough to get the lines out. With something like Sherlock, I’m there all the time anyways as Co-Exec, and sometimes you can easily just massage a line or a scene. Sometimes its quite a practical thing and just depends on the project really.

 

 

SM: A lot of it is incredibly prosaic. Its like handing over any job in that sense. Chris is incredibly fastidicous about not wanting to lurk around behind me and knife me in the back. I never felt that. I always said you are absolutely welcome to be there anytime you want. I have no problem with it at all. He’s a good friend. There was one big glitch which was Christmas. I wanted to leave at the end of series 9, then series 10 and I had my finale planed. I knew what I wanted to do with it and had a good plan, and then I learned at a drinks event somewhere (which probably accounts for the whole thing) that Chris didn’t want to start at Christmas. At that point they (BBC) were going to skip Christmas. No Christmas special…and Doctor Who would have lost that slot if we hadn’t. Christmas day is now so rammed. So I said (four glasses of red wine in) that I’ll do Christmas…and then had to pursade Peter that that’s how we’ll be leaving. I then had to work out how you could get mortally injured in one episode and spend an hour Regenerating on Christmas day. Kill a children’s favorite at Christmas (laughs).

 

…

 

Special thanks to BBC America, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss for this interview.

 

 

The 12th Doctor returns this Christmas for his final installment! Be sure to check back to ComicsOnline for more SDCC coverage, exclusive interviews, and everything geek pop culture!