Writer Mark Gatiss has revealed how writing Empress of Mars is a dream come true, having always wanted to write the story which airs this Saturday.
Speaking on The One Show, Gatiss, who wrote the Mars inhabitants return to the series with 2013’s Cold War, says that he decided to write the story after hearing Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi were leaving the show:
“Steven Moffat’s leaving. Peter Capaldi’s suddenly leaving. I just said to Steven, ‘Can I do the story I’ve always wanted to do?’ He said, ‘Yeah, go on!'”
And Gatiss says that he had to contemplate how exactly the Mars civilisation could be achieved:
“You have to think about how [the story] is going to be achieved, one of the great things about Doctor Who always is that the setting will always tend to be an isolated group of humans under threat. I’ve [thought of] the Ice Warriors on Mars, which I’ve always wanted to do, but it’s a whole civilisation. It’s a sort of isolated Victorian expedition [this time] in a tomb. You’ve got to think about how it’s going to be achieved.”
The BBC have also released a video of Mark introducing his episode, taking us back to 1881 and a new twist for the Ice Warriors… you can watch the video via the official Doctor Who YouTube channel below:
Doctor Who returns this coming Saturday with The Empress of Mars, airing at 7:15pm on BBC One and 8/9c on BBC America.
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