Steven Moffat on Doctor Who and The Time Traveler’s Wife – RadioTimes

Its about a time-lapse relationship, and I did it quite consciously - knowing I was doing The Time Travelers Wife. In my time on Doctor Who, I was more interested in the time travel aspect than most people probably are - I loved time conundrums and paradoxes.

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Moffat didnt realise that the Chicago author had rumbled him until she published a second novel, Her Fearful Symmetry. She 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 - River Song."

Played by Alex Kingston, River Song encounters several incarnations of her extra-terrestrial husband-to-be - just as the ill-starred couple in The Time Travelers Wife meet at various ages.

Moffat finally met Niffenegger at the press launch for River Songs last appearance in Doctor Who and has now come full circle: hes written HBOs version of The Time Travelers Wife, which marries his penchant for sci-fi and spiky rom-coms such as his pre-Who comedy Coupling.

He admits hes nervous about comparisons to the novel and the 2009 film adaptation, which cast Rachel McAdams as the long-suffering heroine. People are very invested in the book, and a lot of people love the movie.

Rose Leslie as Clare Abshire & Theo James as Henry DeTambleHBO

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. Shes played by Rose Leslie, who made her name as free-spirited Ygritte in Game of Thrones and a housemaid in Downton Abbey.

Theres a storm going on inside Clare, and Rose Leslie was the only person who got that - who made it fiery," explains Moffat.

There was a small complication, though: Leslie was heavily pregnant. When we finished the last round of auditions, I said, Literally the only question weve got here is: How do we handle the childcare? We have got exactly one Clare.

How did they handle the childcare? I think Kit Harington would like to have a word, he jokes. He handled the childcare. We tried to be as accommodating as we humanly could given the monstrously long hours and sheer size of the part. Harington is, of course, Leslies Game of Thrones co-star and real-life husband.

While Moffat initially picked up The Time Travelers Wife because of its title, it wasnt the time-defying plot that he found fascinating about the book. Its an ordinary love seen in an extraordinary way, he explains. One 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.

Rose Leslie as Clare Abshire & Theo James as Henry DeTambleHBO

It reminds you that tragedy underpins every love story, and that every day is valuable. There is no such thing as happily ever after - theres happy for a bit. I was reading it thinking, How can Henry stand the fact that he knows hes going to die? Oh yeah, I know Im going to die too - why am I relaxed?

Unlike Doctor Whos monster-bashing Time Lord, Henry is no superhero. He cant change time; hes a victim of it. Its not like Back to the Future - nothing is going to alter. Hes not got a superpower.

Although set in Chicago, HBOs 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 and The Devils Hour in Farnborough, which both star former Time Lords.

Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat and Sue Vertue on the set of Dracula (BBC)

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 Videos The Devils Hour, which Moffat and Sue Vertue are producing. All three shoots had to be paused due to positive COVID tests.

I honestly didnt think wed 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.

While he waits to see if viewers will fall in love with his take on The Time Travelers Wife, Moffat is already working on a follow-up: "I'm in optimism writing the second season right now."

Is he a romantic? Id like to think so. Are there really people who arent? Theres 7.5 billion people in the world - they came from somewhere. I think theres still a certain amount of enthusiasm for the subject out there.

The Time Travelers Wife begins on HBO on Sunday 15th May, and Sky Atlantic on Monday 16th May. Find outhow to sign up for Sky TV here.

You can also order the original Time Traveler's Wife book on Amazon. For more, check out our dedicatedSci-Fipage or our fullTV Guide.

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When Steven Moffat read The Time Travelers Wife, hed just written his first episode of Doctor Who. Like millions of readers, the Scottish screenwriter devoured Audrey Niffeneggers 2003 novel about a reluctant time-traveller and his long-suffering wife - and promptly borrowed the idea.

The result was The Girl in the Fireplace - a 2006 episode of Doctor Who in which David Tennants Time Lord falls in love with King Louis XVs mistress, Madame de Pompadour. Its very similar in mood if not in detail, explains Moffat, who went on to become the showrunner of the sci-fi series and also created the hit BBC dramas Sherlock and Dracula.