Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2011/05/11/who_leak/

Steven Moffat fumes over Doctor Who plot leak

Decries net spoiler 'vandalism'

By Lester Haines

Posted in Bootnotes, 11th May 2011 10:05 GMT

Steven Moffat is none too pleased that "crucial plot lines" of the opening two episodes of the new Doctor Who series were made public before the programmes aired last month.

At the launch of the Time Lord's latest outing in early April, Moffat asked those present not to blow the lid on The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon. One invited fan, however, couldn't resist the temptation to post "the entire plot" on an internet forum.

Moffat fumed to BBC Radio 5 live: "You can imagine how much I hate them. It's only fans who do this, or they call themselves fans. I wish they could go and be fans of something else."

He added: "It's heartbreaking in a way because you're trying to tell stories, and stories depend on surprise. So to have some twit who came to a press launch, write up a story in the worst, most ham-fisted English you can imagine, and put it on the internet.

"I just hope that guy never watches my show again, because that's a horrific thing to do."

While presumably mulling a plot involving the Daleks exterminating the entire internet while the Weeping Angels take care of the whistle-blower, Moffat suffered a mild department of the bleedin' obvious moment when he said he "believed that keeping elements of storylines under wraps was an essential element in drama".

He concluded: "Stories depend on shocking people. Stories are the moments that you didn't see coming, that are what live in you and burn in you forever. If you are denied those, it's vandalism." ®