Doctor Who movie will not be a reboot

Last month’s announcement of the forthcoming Doctor Who movie was greeted with a mixed response when director David Yates claimed the project would operate entirely independently of the TV show .

Yates had claimed that the film would cast an entirely new Doctor, and would not follow on from the continuity established by the BBC series. However, Who writer Steven Moffat has now refuted those claims, stating that any movie adaptation will in fact work in tandem with the series.

“To clarify: any Doctor Who movie would be made by the BBC team, star the current TV Doctor and certainly NOT be a Hollywood reboot,” said Moffat on his Twitter feed. He went on to put Yates’ comments into context, explaining: “David Yates, great director, was speaking off the cuff, on a red carpet.”

Moffat has also released an official statement making a robust promise to uphold the spirit and storyline of the TV show in any potential adaptation. He also appears to cast doubt over just how soon any such movie might arrive.

“[ Doctor Who ] is a vitally important BBC brand with a huge international audience [ that ] not even Hollywood can start from scratch,” he says. “There simply are no developed plans for a Doctor Who movie at the moment. If and when the movie happens it will need to star television's Doctor Who - and there's only ever one of those at a time.”

“Whatever happens,” he continues, “the BBC and BBC Worldwide will work together to ensure that we don't just get a movie, we get the movie that everyone wants.”