Doctor Who Producer Brian Minchin stated his concern about the inclusion of the Pope in Saturday’s Extremis, worried that the Steven Moffat penned episode might cause offence to Catholics, Moffat himself has revealed.
Speaking with the Daily Star, Show-runner Moffat says that Minchin took his concerns to BBC bosses:
“I did wonder if I’m allowed to do it. And the moment Brian Minchin read the script he had to go to the BBC and say ‘look Steven is doing this. What do we think?’ You have to keep in mind that Catholics with great regard for the Pope will watch this and they will expect not to be sneered at.”
And Moffat revealed that there are limitations on what he can get away with for the character:
“You’re entitled to watch a TV show and not be sneered at if you’re a perfectly kind law-abiding citizen. We can’t just go around saying ‘The Pope is corrupt and God’s just a made up person’. We’ve brought in the Prime Minister and the American President so why shouldn’t the Pope turn up?”
Joseph Long features as the fictional Pontiff as the Vatican seeks out the Doctor’s assistance with Veritas, an ancient text in a forbidden library.
Extremis airs this coming Saturday on BBC One at 7:45pm.
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