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Doctor Who's iconic Blink was a last-minute replacement

Steven Moffat wrote the iconic Doctor Who Blink episode because he was overbooked and had to drop out of writing a two-part Daleks story

A rite of passage for any Doctor Who fan is watching the episode 'Blink' for the first time, and getting scared out of your mind. Written by Steven Moffat and featuring David Tennant's Doctor and Freema Agyeman as Martha, Blink is also known as a "Doctor-lite" episode because of how the Doctor and Martha have minor roles in the episode. Still, despite the scant screentime for the Doctor and Martha, Doctor Who fans still love Blink. 

In an intrview with the Half the Picture podcast, Moffat revealed the trepidation he felt about writing the "Doctor-lite" episode, because he was worried that the episode was not going to be received well by fans. Moffat was put on the "Doctor-lite" episode that would end up becoming Blink because he was taken off writing a two-part episode with the Daleks because he wasn't able to make the deadlines. 

"I was very, very excited about the Dalek two-parter. But, I looked at my schedule. And I was doing [the mini-series] Jekyll at the time, I said, 'I'm never going to make it. I'm never, ever gonna be able to do that.' So I very shamefacedly said, 'Look, I'm really sorry, but I can't. As compensation for jerking you around, I'll do the Doctor-lite this year, the one that nobody likes," Moffat began.  

He continued, "I had already written this short story called 'What I Did On My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow.' And I thought, 'Right, that's good, I'll use that basic structure, make her a bit older, but I'll need a monster.' But I'd already had this idea for a story set in a big library, and in the big library there were going to be these Weeping Angels statues that moved around. And I just thought, 'Well, I'll just borrow that and put the Weeping Angels into 'Blink.''"

Did Moffat have any idea that the episode he volunteered to write "as compensation" would go on to become one of the most revered in the show's history? "I had no idea what was going to happen with 'Blink.' None," Moffat said.

And the rest is history. 


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Jules Chin Greene

Jules Chin Greene: Jules Chin Greene is a journalist and Jack Kirby enthusiast. He has written about comics, video games, movies, and television for sites such as Nerdist, AIPT, and Multiverse of Color.

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