Doctor Who writer "wouldn’t change" divisive episode
An important scene was cut.
Despite having such a hardcore fanbase, every now and then an episode of Doctor Who comes along that massively divides its viewership – and Kill the Moon was definitely one of them,
The season 8 episode starred Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor and Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald. It saw Clara face a moral dilemma about whether to kill a giant creature growing under the surface of the moon, or let it hatch, not knowing what will happen to the people of Earth.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, writer Peter Harness, who is revisiting his season 9 episode The Zygon Invasion for a new novelisation, has insisted he wouldn't change a thing about the episode.
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"I know it's a controversial episode but I wouldn't change a thing about Kill the Moon. I really love that episode," he said. "There was a little bit explaining a bit more about why the big dragon kind of laid an egg which might be nice to clip in again. I love that episode, I wouldn't change anything about it and I can't think of anything I would change about the Zygons."
Harness continued: "I know the Zygons also has some political aspects that are a little bit on the nose and a little bit uncomfortable but I still stand by, essentially, what the Doctor says, that whatever grievance you have with somebody else and whatever battles you're fighting, no matter how terrible somebody has been to you, and how unjust things have been, that the only way to stop it destroying you completely is to reach some form of accommodation or forgiveness about it."
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Speaking about what it was like to revisit his Zygon story arc for the new novelisation, he added: "It was great actually, because I'd had a bit of time away from Doctor Who after doing it and those tweet-alongs during lockdown [were] lovely because I hadn't been on social media or anything at the time of the Zygons because it can be quite good to hide away from those things when your episodes come out so I didn't really know how they'd gone down. But it was a lovely experience.
"I thought, I cannot possibly not do a Target book because those are the books that, like so many others, taught me how to read and gave me a real love of books as well as a pre-existing love of Doctor Who. I thought, I've got to do it and it's a lovely story to do."
The Zygon Invasion by Peter Harness (BBC Books, £9.99) publishes on 13th July. Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer with episodes of the classic series also available on BritBox – you can sign up for a 7-day free trial here.
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Authors
Louise Griffin is the Sci-Fi & Fantasy Editor for Radio Times, covering everything from Doctor Who, Star Wars and Marvel to House of the Dragon and Good Omens. She previously worked at Metro as a Senior Entertainment Reporter and has a degree in English Literature.
