Doctor Who doesn't return until this fall, but showrunner Steven Moffat keeps leaking fascinating semi-spoilers about the show and its characters.

Last week, he explained why the Doctor's companions tend to be of the young, pretty female persuasion, and this week he's shedding some light on River Song's sexual preferences. To wit: River is bisexual.

When fans on Twitter asked Moffat what the Doctor would think about gay marriage, Moffat replied, "You'd have to explain gay to him first. Then straight! Then why you were still talking when there's ALL THESE SPACESHIPS!!"

When a Whovian pointed out that the Doctor might have an idea about gay and straight after being with River and meeting Captain Jack Harkness, Moffat responded that both those characters "are happily bi," and that the Doctor "comes from a world where such narrow views seem so ridiculous they're hard to remember."

It's not clear whether River's romantic tastes will play a role in the upcoming season, but it's also good to know that Moffat has given these things some thought as he continues to flesh out Doctor Who's characters.

[bleedingcool.]

A new clue about the series 7 premiere of Doctor Who has popped up, thanks to the schedule from the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. The festival will be showing the first episode of the series between August 23 and August 25, and its still-unannounced television air date will likely follow in September.

Meanwhile, showrunner Steven Moffat has been talking up new companion Jenna-Louise Coleman, who will make her debut in this year's Christmas Special. Apparently, she's not like all the other companions, despite fitting the "young, attractive female" mold.

Moffat:

I'll answer you in the show about how it's going to be different. But because it is going to be different. It's going to be a shock, I think. In terms of the companions all being 'the same'—that's not as phony or artistically crap a thing to say as it sounds. What is the base group of people who would run away with the Doctor? They're all going to be a bit mad. A bit dislocated. Not happy with where they are. Are they yearning for outer space? They're going to be people who feel like they can take on the Doctor, who's quite an intimidating sort of person. So, they're going to be feisty—they're going to be all those things. He sort of defines the people who are going to travel with him.

Moffat has previously said that the new companion's identity will be quite a shocker and "one of the biggest mysteries the Time Lord ever encounters," so there's definitely more to the story than "she's a bit mad."

Looks like we'll have to wait until Christmas to find out what it is, though.

[nerdbastards.]

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat addressed the topic of Doctor Who spinoffs -- and the current lack thereof -- in a recent interview. And, to make a long story short, the man is simply to busy to oversee something as large as his predecessor Russell T. Davies' Torchwood or The Sarah Jane Adventures.

"I'm not against it. Spinoff shows happen because you think 'That is so good, you should spin it off' - but personally I'm relatively busy," Moffat said last week.

Executive producer Caroline Skinner wouldn't rule out the possibility, though, following up Moffat's comments with a "You never know."

But, as Geeks of Doom points out, Moffat's tenure on Who hasn't exactly provided a wealth of characters who could carry a show on their own. There's Amy and Rory, of course, but an as-yet-unknown tragedy is set to befall them five episodes into the upcoming season of the show.

If Moffat were to create a spinoff, who would you like to see starring in it?

[geeksofdoom]

The first set photos from Elementary, CBS' modern update of Sherlock Holmes may not do much to dispel the impression that the show is attempting to piggyback on the success of the BBC's Sherlock.

Jonny Lee Miller, who plays Holmes, was spotted walking with Lucy Liu's Dr. Joan Watson, and the outfit he was wearing had quite a bit in common with Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock wardrobe -- particularly in the scarf department.

Of course, the BBC can't copyright the idea of wearing a scarf -- they can't even copyright Sherlock Holmes, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories and characters are now in the public domain -- but that doesn't make Sherlock showrunner Steven Moffat any less peeved at CBS.

"It isn't a version of our show," he said. "They've just decided to go off and do one of their own, having been turned down by us to do an adaptation of our version. So how do you think I feel about it? Annoyed is in there."

Moffat admitted that "we don't own Sherlock Holmes" and that updating the legendary detective has "been done before," but he's still on the lookout for anything in Elementary that copies the new elements he and Mark Gatiss have introduced to the Holmes story.

"I hope they know their Sherlock Holmes very, very well indeed because we know what's in our show and wasn't in the original. So if we did discover our material had made it into somebody else's show we would have a problem with that," he said.

On a more positive note, Moffat said that Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch is keen to continue playing the lead role, which bodes well for a fourth series of the BBC show.

[blastr / ontd]

The wait to meet the Doctor's new companion is almost over. The BBC has announced that Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat will hold a press conference tomorrow to introduce the person who will be taking Amy and Rory's place after their exit from the show.

Mark Jeffers of the Daily Mirror says he heard from a source at the BBC that the new companion will be female, and will be "pretty" but "not a household name."

If that's true, it rules out rumored new companion Miranda Hart, whose starring role in the popular BBC comedy series Miranda qualifies her as a "household name" but leaves previous Doctor Who guest star Sophia Myles (Underworld) in the running.

Bleeding Cool reports that the latest hot rumors point to Aisling Loftus, who is currently appearing in Death of a Superhero with Andy Serkis.

Although the next series of Doctor Who won't air until the fall, the early announcement seems to have come about because the new companion is about to appear on set, and the information would get out one way or another.

[bleedingcool]

The third series of the BBC's Sherlock is on schedule to start filming early next year.

Beryl Vertue, mother-in-law of Sherlock showrunner Steven Moffat (and mother of his wife, fellow producer Sue Vertue) confirmed the early 2013 start, but said it was too early to announce actual air dates.

Series 3 picks up after a massive cliffhanger that closed out series 2, and Moffat has said that it will introduce "great new villains" from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes tales.

A year seems like a long time to wait, but it's about as early as could be expected, considering that Moffat has the 50th anniversary season of Doctor Who to plan.

[bbc]