Doctor Who writer reveals even they were sceptical about the Sonic Shades

While the new series of Doctor Who has been generally well received by fans and critics alike, one element has become a fairly major bone of contention – the replacement of the Sonic Screwdriver with the Doctor’s new Sonic Shades. Indeed, as writer Toby Whithouse revealed at this weekend’s NYCC, even he was sceptical when Steven Moffat suggested the idea.

"My initial reaction was scepticism," said Whithouse. "When Steven first said ‘He’s not going to have the screwdriver, he’s going to have sunglasses.’ I was like, ‘Oh, really? No, that’s probably a good idea.’ Actually, hopefully, we’ve pulled it off but it was an interesting departure – and the thing is that Steven knows what he’s doing and I think it’s worked."

"But certainly at the time, myself and a few other people were like, ‘Really?’ I think we really thought, ‘He’ll change is mind, he’ll come around.’ And we’re like ‘No, no, we’ll use the sunglasses! (That’ll go).’ But, sure enough, they stayed."

That said, Whithouse is keen to stress that the idea was always to make the shades a key component of the story, as opposed to just being a new gimmick for Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. "I think Steven was keen to have us find a use for them as opposed to it just being some kind of random prop,” concludes the writer. "I’m pleased they’ve worked out and earned their place." Some would disagree...