{"id":15454,"date":"2022-05-15T10:00:07","date_gmt":"2022-05-15T08:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1644258"},"modified":"2022-05-15T10:27:23","modified_gmt":"2022-05-15T08:27:23","slug":"steven-moffat-on-doctor-who-and-the-time-travelers-wife","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/steven-moffat-on-doctor-who-and-the-time-travelers-wife\/","title":{"rendered":"Steven Moffat on Doctor Who and The Time Traveler\u2019s Wife"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Claire Webb\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 15 May 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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When Steven Moffat read The Time Traveler\u2019s Wife<\/a>, he\u2019d just written his first episode of Doctor Who<\/a>. Like millions of readers, the Scottish screenwriter devoured Audrey Niffenegger\u2019s 2003 novel about a reluctant time-traveller and his long-suffering wife \u2013 and promptly borrowed the idea.<\/p>\n

The result was The Girl in the Fireplace \u2013 a 2006 episode of Doctor Who in which David Tennant\u2019s Time Lord falls in love with King Louis XV\u2019s mistress, Madame de Pompadour. \u201cIt\u2019s very similar in mood if not in detail,\u201d explains Moffat, who went on to become the showrunner of the sci-fi series and also created the hit BBC dramas Sherlock and Dracula.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about a time-lapse relationship, and I did it quite consciously \u2013 knowing I was doing The Time Traveler\u2019s Wife. In my time on Doctor Who, I was more interested in the time travel aspect than most people probably are \u2013 I loved time conundrums and paradoxes.\u201d<\/p>

Moffat didn\u2019t realise that the Chicago author had rumbled him until she published a second novel, Her Fearful Symmetry. \u201cShe has a character in the book actually watching The Girl in the Fireplace on television, so I knew she was onto me. At which point I could be more obvious, so I made Doctor Who a wife \u2013 River Song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Played by Alex Kingston, River Song encounters several incarnations of her extra-terrestrial husband-to-be \u2013 just as the ill-starred couple in The Time Traveler\u2019s Wife meet at various ages.<\/p>\n

Moffat finally met Niffenegger at the press launch for River Song\u2019s last appearance in Doctor Who and has now come full circle: he\u2019s written HBO\u2019s version of The Time Traveler\u2019s Wife, which marries his penchant for sci-fi and spiky rom-coms such as his pre-Who comedy Coupling.<\/p>\n

He admits he\u2019s \u201cnervous\u201d about comparisons to the novel and the 2009 film adaptation, which cast Rachel McAdams as the long-suffering heroine. \u201cPeople are very invested in the book, and a lot of people love the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rose Leslie as Clare Abshire & Theo James as Henry DeTamble<\/span><\/figcaption> HBO<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The TV show stars two Brits: Theo James is Henry, a Chicago librarian who involuntarily travels back and forward in time, often dropping in on his younger self and wife-to-be Clare. She\u2019s played by Rose Leslie, who made her name as free-spirited Ygritte in Game of Thrones and a housemaid in Downton Abbey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a storm going on inside Clare, and Rose Leslie was the only person who got that \u2013 who made it fiery,\u201d explains Moffat.<\/p>\n

There was a small complication, though: Leslie was heavily pregnant. \u201cWhen we finished the last round of auditions, I said, \u2018Literally the only question we\u2019ve got here is: How do we handle the childcare? We have got exactly one Clare.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

How did they handle the childcare? \u201cI think Kit Harington would like to have a word,\u201d he jokes. \u201cHe handled the childcare. We tried to be as accommodating as we humanly could given the monstrously long hours and sheer size of the part.\u201d Harington is, of course, Leslie\u2019s Game of Thrones co-star and real-life husband.<\/p>\n

While Moffat initially picked up The Time Traveler\u2019s Wife because of its title, it wasn\u2019t the time-defying plot that he found fascinating about the book. \u201cIt\u2019s an ordinary love seen in an extraordinary way,\u201d he explains. \u201cOne of the most difficult things to write about is a perfectly happy relationship because it seems a bit dull. But by viewing it through the prism of time travel, you remind everybody that love and loss are inextricably linked: love means loss.<\/p>\n

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Rose Leslie as Clare Abshire & Theo James as Henry DeTamble<\/span><\/figcaption> HBO<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cIt reminds you that tragedy underpins every love story, and that every day is valuable. There is no such thing as happily ever after \u2013 there\u2019s happy for a bit. I was reading it thinking, \u2018How can Henry stand the fact that he knows he\u2019s going to die? Oh yeah, I know I\u2019m going to die too \u2013 why am I relaxed?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike Doctor Who\u2019s monster-bashing Time Lord, Henry is no superhero. \u201cHe can\u2019t change time; he\u2019s a victim of it. It\u2019s not like Back to the Future \u2013 nothing is going to alter. He\u2019s not got a superpower.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although set in Chicago, HBO\u2019s version was mostly filmed in and around New York. Moffat was only on set for the final week of the six-month shoot, partly because of COVID travel restrictions and partly because he was busy shooting his upcoming thrillers Inside Man<\/a> and The Devil\u2019s Hour<\/a> in Farnborough, which both star former Time Lords.<\/p>\n

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Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue on the set of Dracula (BBC)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

David Tennant is a vicar in Inside Man, which will land on the BBC and Netflix later this year; Peter Capaldi plays a reclusive nomad in Amazon Prime Video\u2019s The Devil\u2019s Hour, which Moffat and Sue Vertue are producing. All three shoots had to be paused due to positive COVID tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly didn\u2019t think we\u2019d get to the end of any of them. There were a lot of challenges, and a lot of the joy, frankly, was taken out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he waits to see if viewers will fall in love with his take on The Time Traveler\u2019s Wife, Moffat is already working on a follow-up: \u201cI\u2019m in optimism writing the second season right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is he a romantic? \u201cI\u2019d like to think so. Are there really people who aren\u2019t? There\u2019s 7.5 billion people in the world \u2013 they came from somewhere. I think there\u2019s still a certain amount of enthusiasm for the subject out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loved this\u00a0Big RT Interview<\/a>? Check out these\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n