Earlier this year there was much back and forth in the media between Harry Potter director David Yates claiming he was doing a Doctor Who movie and Steven Moffat saying the same movie was preposterous. Now, Moffat isn’t quite saying “never”, but there are an awful lot of conditions to his “maybe”.

In an interview with New York Magazine’s Vulture Steven Moffat, as can be expected, reveals relatively little about the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special. On the other hand he was rather candid about the Doctor Who movie that is still being touted in some circles.

David Yates attached himself to a Doctor Who film a year ago, one that would not stem from the current series. You’ve since shot that report down, but could it ever happen?

Well, first of all, when? We spend all year making the series. The thing that I would find intolerable is that you get a film instead of the TV series because the TV series is more important. And I don’t think any showrunner or future showrunner of Doctor Who would tolerate the idea that David Yates was talking about, of rebooting it and having a second continuity. That’s just nonsense. Absolutely insane and a straightforward insult to the audience. We’d never, ever do that. The question would be how could we do it without delaying or harming the TV show?

So the idea of a movie isn’t offensive, just the idea of rebooting it?

I think it could be incredibly exciting to see that Tardis fly on the big screen. It would just be how do we arrange it? And how do we make sure we have … no offense, but you suddenly take American money and they expect to tell you what to do and all that. I wouldn’t be happy with that. But it will happen someday, I’m reasonably confident.

As far as the new series is concerned the only bits that Moffat let slip are that we haven’t heard before are that, “We’ve got the best alien planet we’ve ever done. We’ve got a submarine. Seriously. There’s even a proper modern urban thriller in London.”

One thing that Moffat did talk more in length about is old criticism that the show is becoming too complex in its plot lines. Moffat has often stated that he is not about to dumb the series down and that children, to whom the show is primarily marketed in the UK, don’t seem to have a problem with the series’ complexity, only adults do. This is not to say that Moffat is unconcerned about audience response. There is one critique that immediately gets his attention,”…so long as they never say it’s too boring. If anyone says ‘Oh, it was a bit dull this week’ is when the show will start to die.”

In an interview with BBC radio seen below, Moffat gives a glimpse into his busy Doctor Who and Sherlock schedule. When asked to rate the scariness of the Christmas snowmen he gives them a 7.8 on a 1-10 scale. He considers the original appearance of the Weeping Angels to be the top of the scale at a 10.

What do you think about the complexity of the series? Do you think the plot lines are too tough or has Moffat struck just the right note?