Peter Wyngarde Peter Wyngarde Peter Wyngarde (23 August 1927 – 15 January 2018) was a British actor best known for playing the character Jason King, a bestselling novelist turned sleuth, in two television series: "Department S" (1969–70) and "Jason King" (1971–72). His flamboyant dress sense and stylish performances led to popular success, and he was considered a style icon in Britain and elsewhere in the early 1970s; Mike Myers credited Wyngarde with inspiring the character Austin Powers. Peter Wyngarde's date and place of birth, his birth name, and his parents' nationalities and occupations are all disputed. According to his own account, he
A Town Called Mercy looking to give each episode of the series a distinct feel, showrunner Steven Moffat pitched the Wild West theme to writer Toby Whithouse, suggesting that the episode could be about a town terrorised by a robot. Moffat was keen on putting Matt Smith in a Western setting, who he called one of the last people one would expect to replace Clint Eastwood. Whithouse had previously written the "Doctor Who" episodes "School Reunion" (2006), "The Vampires of Venice" (2010), and "The God Complex" (2011). Moffat had been planning for the first five episodes of the series to have "movie marquee" themes.