Who News: Steven Moffat On Xmas, Specials Boxset Announced

"The Pandorica will open, and silence will fall." The Time is coming, and the moment has been prepared for!

With just over a week to go until the broadcast of its 2013 Christmas Special, the Doctor Who production team are gearing up their marketing strategy so as to prompt the maximum level of anticipation from fans worldwide. Our 'Who News' feature returns today to cover a couple of intertwined news reveals which relate to The Time of the Doctor.

 

Here, then, lies our round-up of all of the key details which you need to know on Doctor Who's immediate future:

• STEVEN MOFFAT TALKS THE TIME OF THE DOCTOR- Executive producer and writer Steven Moffat has unveiled new hints about his Who Christmas Special's narrative to SFX in his latest interview. He had this to say on the matter: "It will be tying up various elements in the Eleventh Doctor's story, some of which people have asked about before, some of which people haven't bothered to ask about! From Matt's first to his last episode, there will be elements. And it should be obvious that they were fairly carefully planned. It's not obstructive- if you didn't remember any of that stuff or care about that stuff it would still be fine. If you've been sitting there saying "Who blew up the TARDIS?", then you'll get it."
• MATT SMITH SPECIALS DVD BOXSET ANNOUNCED- CultBox yesterday confirmed the existence of a new official DVD and Blu-Ray Doctor Who boxset set to be released by BBC Worldwide and 2Entertain early next year. Titled The Time of the Doctor and other Matt Smith Specials, the set will contain The Day of the Doctor and The Time of the Doctor, with a retail launch of The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot not out of the question here either. Expect more details on this compilation in the coming days. Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor and other Matt Smith Specials will retail on DVD for £20 and Blu-Ray for £25 from January 13th, 2014.
• NEW SERIES 8 DIRECTOR ANNOUNCED- Just as this article was going to 'press', Douglas McKinnon confirmed himself to be the third director involved with Doctor Who Series 8. The announcement comes after Sightseers' Ben Wheatley revealed his appointment as the helm of the series' opening two-parter and Trollied's Paul Murphy signed on for Episodes 3 and 6 of the run, with McKinnon stating that he will direct "a couple of eps" next year. This news reaffirms Steven Moffat's statement that Series Eight will commence a return to the continuous annual 13-episode run with a Christmas Special (potentially included as one of those 13) as its conclusion. McKinnon has previously directed Cold War and The Power of Three, both of which were stellar visually, so we look forward to seeing his next work on the show. Series 8 commences filming in January 2014, with an August 2014 launch currently expected by the BBC.

Doctor Who returns with its devestating 2013 Christmas Special, The Time of the Doctor, this Christmas Day on BBC One.