Steven Moffat

"I want people to stop saying it. It is witless. It is appalling that in the face of people's genuine tragedy and traumatic loss, you trot out a stock phrase. What is the matter with you? "Thoughts and prayers?" How about you send money? I mean, how about you send some help? How about you do something? "Thoughts and prayers" is, "Nevermind. Oh, well." I thought that if I can just get it in there like, "Exterminate," as what evil robots say, then maybe people will stop saying that idiotic phrase."

"Everybody knows that everybody dies. But not every day. Not today. Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all. Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair and the Doctor comes to call, everybody lives."

"We saw some amazing actresses for this part. But when Karen came through the door, the game was up — she was funny, clever, gorgeous and sexy. Or Scottish, which is the quick way of saying it. A generation of little girls will want to be her. And a generation of little boys will want them to be her too."

"I'm not a psychopath, Anderson, I'm a high-functioning sociopath. Do your research."

"As we all know, it is the proper duty of every British subject to come to the aid of the TARDIS."

"When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it'll never end. But however hard you try you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies and nobody knows it like the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark if he ever, for one moment, accepts it."

"First there were the Daleks...And then there was a man who fought them. And then, in time — he died. There are a few, of course, who believe that this man somehow survived, and that one day he will return. For both our sakes, dearest Hannah, we must hope these stories are true."

"Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek? Subtract Love, add Anger."

"I think people have come to think a plot hole is something which isn’t explained on screen. A plot hole is actually something that can’t be explained."

"We've kind of got to tell a lie. We'll go back into history and there will be black people where, historically, there wouldn't have been, and we won't dwell on that. We'll say, 'To hell with it, this is the imaginary, better version of the world. By believing in it, we'll summon it forth'."

"What would be the point of having this job if I didn't get to make up some of the maddest possible scenes I've ever had in my head since I was a kid? For him to stand there and take the mickey out of all those monsters — is just hugely exciting."