In an interview with Big Finish, former Doctor Who showrunner, Steven Moffat has alluded to a lack of time as the reason the Paternoster Gang were never given the spin-off treatment on TV.

Moffat created the fun trio – comprised of Silurian, Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), Strax the Sontaran (Dan Starkey), and the human Jenny Flint (Catrin Stewart) – for A Good Man Goes to War and brought them back for numerous Series 7 episodes, before a final appearance in Series 8’s Deep Breath. A spin-off seemed likely – so why didn’t it happen?

Steven says:

“We always thought that we might try and spin them off into something on television but I kept not wanting to fray the output: it’s quite good if Doctor Who is off the air sometimes!

“Also, at the time I had Sherlock as well as Doctor Who going.”

Ah, the old ‘there’s only 24 hours in a day and my fingers are bleeding from writing so much, please call for help, this shouldn’t be happening’ excuse.

The Crimson Horror did feel like a great set-up for a spin-off series, and it seems that ship has sadly sailed.

Still, at least Big Finish have treated us to the Paternoster Gang’s continued adventures on audio. The latest, The Paternoster Gang: Heritage 4, also features Henry Gordon Jago (Christopher Benjamin), introduced in the 1977 classic, The Talons of Weng-Chiang. All four volumes of The Paternoster Gang: Heritage are available now.