'Doctor Who' Showrunner Has Message for Journalists: 'Shut Up'

It is the end of yet another era on Doctor Who, as 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi and showrunner Steven Moffat participated in their last panel together at San Diego Comic-Con on Sunday afternoon.

Capaldi and Moffat joined stars Pearl Mackie (Bill), Matt Lucas (Nardole), Michelle Gomez (Missy) and the show’s writer Mark Gatiss in Hall H for a packed panel to say goodbye to their time on the BBC America series. Capaldi will exit the series in this year's Christmas special, making way for the first female Doctor, 13th Doctor Jodie Whittaker, to take over with new showrunner Chris Chibnall, whose hiring was announced just one week earlier.

Unfortunately, BBC America did not take the opportunity to capitalize on the buzz surrounding the historical casting and Whittaker was absent from the panel. Instead, the stars and showrunners used the hour to look back on Moffat's time helming the show and Capaldi's time as the Doctor (the audience even gave him a standing ovation), as well as share some harsh words for anyone, press and fans alike, complaining about the first female Doctor's casting.

"There has been so many press articles about a backlash among the Doctor Who fandom about casting a female Doctor," Moffat said. "There has been no backlash at all. The story of the moment is that the notionally conservative Doctor Who fandom has utterly embraced that change completely. Eighty-percent approval on social media, not that I check these things obsessively. So many people wanting to pretend there is a problem. There isn't. It's been incredibly progressive and enlightened and that's what really happened. I wish every other journalist who is writing the alternative would shut the hell up."

Read the rest of this story at The Hollywood Reporter.

Jodie Whittaker has also appeared in Broadchurch.