Doctor Who legend made speech at Karen Gillan’s wedding-Pierra Willix-Entertainment – Metro

Doctor Who screenwriter Steven Moffat has revealed he played a special part in Karen Gillan’s wedding.

From 2005 until 2008, Steven worked alongside Russell T Davies on the long-running sci-fi series, before taking over as lead writer in 2010, a role he held until 2017.

During that time, he worked alongside actors Christopher Ecclestone, David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi, as well as their companions.

One of them was fellow Scot Karen, who played Matt Smith’s Doctor’s companion Amy Pond from 2010 until 2012.

More than a decade on, Steven has spoken about his close friendship with the actress, who asked him to take on an important role when she got married two years ago.

The pair worked together on the new four-part ITV series Douglas is Cancelled, which follows national treasure news presenter Douglas Bellowes (Hugh Bonneville) who finds himself in hot water after being overheard making a sexist joke at a wedding.

A Doctor Who legend has revealed he gave a speech at Karen Gillan’s wedding (Picture: Charles Sykes/ Bravo via Getty Images)

His co-anchor Madeline is played by Karen Gillan, who labels Douglas her ‘best friend’, however appears to have motives to speed up his downfall.

Speaking about reuniting with Karen, Steven said it was ‘lovely’.

‘I’ve remained very good friends with Karen since our Doctor Who days. And as you may or may know, she was hugely instrumental in this getting on. She asked to read the play all those years ago, and she loved it and wanted to do it as a film. And in the end we compromised and did a TV show, so that was completely lovely,’ he told Metro.co.uk.

‘I’ve never been out of touch with her, although obviously she’s been living in America, so I haven’t seen as much of her. But, you know, I made a speech at her wedding and so on.

‘I swell with completely unjustified, unearned pride when I see her on a huge poster or on the side of a bus. That all comes down to her talent and her ambition, but I nonetheless give myself a pat on the back for it.’

Steven Moffatt lead the long-running sci-fi series from 2010 until 2017 (Picture: Alan Chapman/ Dave Benett/ Getty Images)

Since appearing on Doctor Who, Karen has gone on to star as Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

She also played Ruby Roundhouse in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019).

A year after marrying her American comedian husband Nick Kocher in 2022, Karen shared a series of photos of their special day on social media.

Alongside a carousel of photos she uploaded to Instagram, including one of herself in her bridal dress, Karen wrote: ‘Last May…’

He worked with Karen for two years, from 2010 until 2012 (Picture: Frederick M. Brown/ Getty Images)

She starred alongside Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams and Matt Smith as The Doctor (Picture: BBC)

The actress, who relocated to Los Angeles in 2012, wore a corseted white gown with a flowing train for the wedding, with matching white heels and a delicate diamante strap while her husband wore traditional Scottish garb with a kilt and sporran in a nod to his bride’s heritage.

Nick is known for his writing work on Saturday Night Live and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, as well as his stand-up double act BriTANicK with Brian Joseph McElhaney.

While chatting to Metro.co.uk, Steven also spoke about returning to work on Doctor Who this year, writing the episode Boom in the most recent season starring Ncuti Gatwa, as well as the upcoming 2024 Christmas Special.

Instead of feeling any pressure to keep fans happy, he said it was a ‘lovely experience’ and he was ‘very pleased’ with his episodes.

‘I think they’re both good ones, but I don’t ever really worry about, you know, are people going to be cross with Doctor Who?,’ he explained.

Karen is now starring in Douglas is Cancelled with Hugh Bonneville, with the show created by Steven (Picture: Sally Mais)

The Christmas Special will mark his 50th script for the series and while he said it was ‘quite possible’ it would be his last, he was at peace with it.

‘I think all that has worked out brilliantly.  I’m really, really pleased with it. It’s a sweet show. It’s a nice, it’s not a mad, dark one like Boom. It’s a lovely Christmas episode of Doctor Who.’

He also joked how Nicola Coughlan, who looks set to play a one-time companion, was giving the episode free press after her success in the recent season of Bridgerton.

‘It’s marvellous that she’s been doing so much accidental publicity for us and she’s as delightful as you’d expect her to be. And I think she’s terrific and heartbreaking in the episode,’ he revealed.

Doctor Who is streaming on BBC iPlayer. Douglas is Cancelled is streaming on ITVX.

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