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Former Doctor Who boss Steven Moffat shares early Weeping Angels concept
An email from 2006 contains an early description of the monsters as "Statues that come to life when, but only when they're unobserved."
BBC
- Patrick Cremona
Published: Wednesday, 5 October 2022 at 12:05 pm
More than 15 years on from its original broadcast, Blink remains by far and away one of the scariest episodes from the modern era of Doctor Who – responsible for introducing fans to the terrifying Weeping Angels.
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And now, Steven Moffat – who wrote the episode prior to his hugely successful stint as showrunner – has revealed some early behind-the-scenes details about the monsters' journey to the screen.
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The writer, whose latest drama Inside Man has just finished its run on BBC One, took to Twitter to share an email he'd written to producer Julie Gardner dated 5th October 2006.
The email contains an early description of his new monsters as "Statues that come to life when, but only when they're unobserved."
It continues: "So when we look at them, they look like stone statues – motionless, weather-beaten stone. They are weeping angels, with folded wings on their backs, and their faces always buried in their hands. But when you look away, their hands drop and they look at you. And maybe do a bit sneaking-up."
He then goes on to discuss logistics – explaining they'll need "five or six of them" but adding that "doubling up shouldn't be hard" given that they are motionless whenever seen.
And he adds: "The challenge here will be to make them REALLY look like statues, and not dressed-up people – which is what they'll be, obviously. Quite a lot of cunning freeze-framing involved I'd think."
Although Moffat claimed that he had "no memory of writing" the email, he said it "made [him] smile when [he] realised what [he] was talking about."
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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.
Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.
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Authors
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
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