Days after the announcement that Jodie Whittaker will become the first female Doctor Who, the 55-year-old television writer and producer admitted that there was one particular scene that will haunt him forever.
Season five’s episode, titled Flesh and Stone, featured a scene that teased a love scene between Amy Pond (played by Karen Gillan) and the Doctor (Matt Smith), but Moffatt admits that his handling of the scene was “just wrong”.
Speaking as part of a fan Q&A, Moffatt said: “I’d change all my mistakes but that would be exhausting.”
He continued: “There’s one mistake that rankles me to this day because it’s just wrong.
“There’s a scene at the end of a season five episode called ‘Flesh and Stone’ where Amy comes on to the Doctor and it’s a very good idea for a series because she’s been through this traumatic experience and she doesn’t quite know who or what the Doctor is or what his interest is in her.
“There’s a brilliant scene to be written there and I entirely avoided writing it. I played it for laughs and it’s so wrong.”
Moffat also told how he was most proud of “not screwing up” The Day of The Doctor episode, given that there were “many opportunities for me to screw it up and screwing it up is something I’m really good at”.
Revealing the best and worst parts of the job, he added: “There are so many great parts to being involved in the show that I don’t know where to start. I’ll know the answer to that when I finish and look back in my days of regret and humiliation.
“But the best part was absolutely everything… if I had to say anything, I suppose the friends I’ve met. I’ve met some really great friends over the years on Doctor Who, many of them, and that is what I get to take away.
“As always the very, very best thing is the people you meet.”
Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall will take over from Moffatt in the new year and is said to have a “five-year plan” for the series, including episodes full of “risk and boldness”.
Doctor Who returns to BBC One on Christmas day.