Doctor Who producer Brian Minchin has teased a little about Series 9 and what’s to come for the Doctor, Clara and Missy.

Speaking in SFX #261 about the opening two-parter and the return of Missy: “Steven had the perfect story. It’s not going to be Missy as you expect her to be. Steven likes to surprise everyone and he’s going to do that with this opening. Missy has an awful lot of sides to her and we’re going to see some new ones in this series. We also learn a bit more about her relationship with the Doctor…”

On what’s in store for the Doctor and Clara: “[The Doctor’s] kind of answered his question of ‘Am I a good man?’ and this year he’s having the time of his life, having dangerous and exciting adventures in time and space. These are the glory days of the Doctor and Clara. They’re having the biggest, most dangerous adventures they’ve ever had and they’re having great fun doing it.

“The mission statement we had was bigger adventures, and to go further in space and time. We’ve got a very confident Doctor, we’ve got a very confident companion and they’re both experts at doing this now so we can tell slightly bigger stories.”

On two-parters Minchin reiterates Moffat’s past comment: “We’re doing more two-parters – and not just conventional two parters. We’re doing linked stories where you might not be sure how they’re going to be connected until you see them. We’re pushing the storytelling that way, to give us more scale of adventure.”