Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has admitted that he is unsure when the show's seventh series will air.
The BBC recently confirmed that 14 more episodes of the sci-fi drama have been commissioned.
A piece in satirical magazine Private Eye suggested that the new episodes could be delayed until 2013, but a BBC spokesman later told The Guardian that "a good chunk" of the new episodes will be broadcast next year.
Moffat joked to SFX about the scheduling confusion: "I don't know [when new episodes will air]. If I did know, I wouldn't tell you. When I do know, what I know will change, so I won't really know then either."
He continued: "Then it will change again, so I still won't really know. And if, secretly, I'd really known all along, I'd still be telling you I don't know, because everything I said I knew, could be wrong, so I'd never really have known in the first place."
Moffat quipped that the show's future schedule is protected by "quantum security".
"I don't know and it's [also] a secret," he said. "I'm glad I've been able to clarify this for you."
Doctor Who's current sixth series will continue with six new episodes later in 2011.
Watch a teaser trailer for the late 2011 return of Doctor Who below:
