Steven Moffat appeared on Graham Norton’s Radio 2 show today ahead of Series 6’s grand premiere tonight!

During his interview, he answered several fan questions, including one regarding how the production team (try to) keep major plot details underwraps. “It’s really difficult,” he admitted. “One of the problems is we give the scripts out to strangers, and they leave them on trains! Then we peform them out loud in public. But we’ve done not badly. A few hours to go, but we’ve done not badly on this opening one…”

He also commented on how long he intends to stay on as series showrunner. He said: “We’ll see how it goes. It’s genuinely back-breaking work, so at some point my natural laziness will overwhelm me and I’ll go lie down in the garden. For now I’m very happy.”

Regarding Elisabeth Sladen, who passed away on Tuesday, aged 63, he explained: “It’s so achingly sad and genuinely unexpected. She hadn’t aged in 20 or 30 years, so I thought she was going to live forever. It’s just gobsmacking and heartbreaking. It just seemed to break the hearts of the nation. Everyone seemed genuinely sad about it.”

Tonight’s episode will begin with a dedication to the beloved actress, and a tribute programme – aptly titled ‘My Sarah Jane’ – will air afterwards on the CBBC Channel.

The new series kicks off with The Impossible Astronaut, tonight at 6pm on BBC One!