Tuesday 20 May 2008

Steven Moffat to take over Doctor Who

It has been rumoured for some time that Steven Moffat would be the one to replace Russell T. Davies as the lead writer and executive producer (i.e "show runner") of Doctor Who and it was confirmed in this press release this morning:

Steven Moffat to be Doctor Who Lead Writer and Executive Producer

I speculated a while back that this had to be the case. When it was recently revealed that Moffat was the one who wanted to resurrect the doctor's daughter at the end of episode 6 of the current series, it seemed even more likely that this must be the case. Why else would Russell T. Davies have made the change?

Moffat is probably the best of the writers of New Who, alongside Russell T. Davies himself and Paul Cornell. "Blink" is now commonly regarded as one of the best episodes ever. I've been a fan of his for some time, not just Doctor Who but also Chalk, Coupling and other things. Jekyll was quite good too. I think the show will be very safe in his hands; soon we will be saying, "In Moffatt we trust". Highlight of the press release:

Steven Moffat says: "My entire career has been a Secret Plan to get this job. I applied before but I got knocked back 'cos the BBC wanted someone else. Also I was seven.

"Anyway, I'm glad the BBC has finally seen the light, and it's a huge honour to be following Russell into the best - and the toughest - job in television. I say toughest 'cos Russell's at my window right now, pointing and laughing."


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mark, maybe you can explain this... they're going to have four specials next season, instead of a traditional season of one-hour episodes, then return to a traditional season the next year?

And, Blink was an amazing episode. It scared me to pieces!

Mark Goodacre said...

Hi Juti. Yes, four specials next year, presumably all under Russell T. Davies, and then a full fifth series in 2010.