The showrunner revealed he hadn’t been truthful over Doctor Who’sanniversary during an appearance at Comic Con. Moffat was asked why the popular character of Captain Jack Harkness (played by John Barrowman) would not be in the anniversary story.

Moffat responded by saying;

You can’t put everybody in the 50th. How do you know what is and what is not in the 50th? I have lied my arse off for months. You know nothing so don’t make presumptions. It’s always story-driven. If we have a great idea for Captain Jack, he’ll come back. If we don’t, he won’t.

Actor John Barrowman stated many times he was willing to return to Doctor Who for the landmark occasion. Barrowman’s last appearance in the sci-fi special was a cameo in 2010 in David Tennant’sThe End of Time but his last on-screen appearance as Jack Harkness was in 2011’s Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Moffat’s comments about lying shouldn’t come as a huge surprise; he is well known for disliking spoilers and has been economical with the truth – regarding storylines – in the past.

So what is officially known about the 50th anniversary? It will be broadcast in 3D and will star Matt Smith and Jénna Coleman alongside David Tennant and Billie Piper. Guest stars include John Hurt, Joanna Page and Jemma Redgrave will reprise her role of Kate Stewart. The speciall will feature the return of the Zygon’s – last seen in 1975 Tom Baker serial Terror of the Zygons – and the Daleks – last seen in Aslyum of the Daleks.

Fans of the series are hopeful that former companions and Doctors will make an appearance in the special but Moffat has previously hinted this won’t happen – though maybe that’s one of the things he’s“lied his arse off” about!

Is there any part of the last two season that you feel extremely satisfied with?

Steven Moffat: Probably the pool scene at the end of The Great Game. And the way it resolved.

Mark Gatiss: All of it! Haha. That's not for us to say, is it? I know how thrilled we were with the end of both series.

What's your favourite Sherlock Holmes story ? – thediscolabirinto

Mark Gatiss: I've always loved 'The Red Headed League' and 'The Bruce-Partington Plans' the most. I think. Today.

Steven Moffat: Favourite story: The Speckled Band.

What's your favorite nod to original/previous canon that you've been able to include in an episode of Sherlock? – Amy

Steven Moffat: Favourite nod: the dogging scene in Baskerville.

Mark Gatiss: Favourite nod? Too many to count. I'm very proud of 'I'm lost without my blogger'!

Which one of you would be Sherlock and who would be John? – Lucy

Steven Moffat: We're both Watson. Nothing happens very fast .....

Mark Gatiss: Although I'm the only one who grows a moustache.

I just want to thank you guys for Molly Hooper. I really believe she's one of the most inspirational and marvelous female characters, hell, characters in general, on television today. Where did you get the inspiration for her? – Emily

Steven Moffat: Molly: she was a one-off idea, to help introduce Sherlock. But Loo was so good - so clear and individual - that we couldn't resist bringing her back.

Mark Gatiss: John Watson is something of a ladies' man so we do see him having lots of girlfriends! Molly is a fantastic character (I can say that as she's Stevenn's creation) and it's great to see Sherlock through her eyes.

 have a theory on how Sherlock faked his death regarding the packets of crisps still in his pockets. Plausible? – Emmy

Steven Moffat: Oh, no more questions about the fall. We're not tellng - the answer WILL come. He did it cleverly. Very cleverly. And we know, we're not telling - next!!

Mark Gatiss: Obviously we can tell you nothing! As Wilkie Collins said "Make them cry, make them laugh, make them WAIT".

The comedy moments in Sherlock are fantastic... what's your favourite quip or moment so far? – Laura

Steven Moffat: Power complex from Scandal. But actually, that was Mark's idea.

Mark Gatiss: I really love the bit in 'Reichenbach' when the judge warns Sherlock to keep his mouth shut and Benedict just takes a deep breath and there's a hard cut to him going to the cells!

Both of you: Does Sherlock realize how much he's hurting Molly or is it just a game for him to get what he wants? – Monika

Steven Moffat: He realises, for the first real time, in Scandal and is instantly gentle. He's not particularly cruel, he just doesn't have the right radar to stop it happening. But he's getting better, and she is one of the few people in the world he rates.

Mark Gatiss: He's gradually learning to behave better around people but he generally doesn't get how much he can hurt others. Sometimes he really does just do it to get what he wants. Like that nice scene in the Bart's canteen when he flirts with Molly...and then his face just...drops. Chilling!

Who wrote up John's blog? It's brilliant, especially the comments – Julia

Mark Gatiss: Joe Lidster writes John's brilliant blog. It's great to parallel the progress of the series in such a funny and interesting way.

Mark, how much does your writing for Sherlock owe to your early days with The League of Gentlemen? Are there any lessons you learned back then that you try to remember when writing Sherlock?

Secondly, how do you go about working on such complex and intertwined plots? Do you have a meticulous, quasi-scientific way of keeping track of everything or is the writing process more organic than that? – BadListener

Mark Gatiss: RE: League. Well, it's a very different discipline but all experience is valuable. I think it's interesting that both of us have a background in comedy. I think it helped us to love Sherlock Holmes without overly worshipping his legend! The plots are obviously quite tricky over 90 minutes and are worked out in great detail. But then the writing of it always takes over and some things do become much more organic. That's the fun part.

London looks so fantastic in Sherlock, like another character. How do you find it filming in the city, especially during the riots last year? – Jo

Mark Gatiss: It's a delight to showcase London. It's one of the greatest cities in the world and is on fine form. We tend to shoot here for about a week per episode. But it's mostly in Cardiff! The riots were genuinely frightening. You can feel a bit silly doing 'showbiz' when stuff like that is going on.

If you could ask sir Arthur Conan Doyle one question, what would it be? – Barbara

Steven Moffat: Sir Arthur: you killed Sherlock, but there was no body. You're a detective writer, you knew perfectly well what you were doing, didn't you? Even though you've never admitted it!

Mark Gatiss: How come you're so bloody brilliant? I asked him one last night through a medium, actually. His answer was "Six and three eighths".

If you could make your own "Sherlock Holmes" story to be published, would you? – John Smith

Steven Moffat: What, you mean a novelisation of our show? We don't really want that - or spinoff books. The written experience of Sherlock should be Doyle.

Mark Gatiss: Well, we're very much doing our own thing, although inspired by Doyle's amazing originals. I'm a big fan of pastiche Sherlock Holmes stories, though. I'd love to have a go at one some day. There are some by a man called Dennis Smith that are simply amazing. As close to Doyle as you can imagine.