Steven Moffat
Encyclopedia
Steven Moffat (ˌ, born 18 November 1961) is a Scottish
television writer and producer.
Moffat's first television work was the teen drama series Press Gang
. His first sitcom, Joking Apart
, was inspired by the breakdown of his first marriage; conversely, his later sitcom Coupling
was based upon the development of his relationship with television producer Sue Vertue
. In between the two relationship-centred shows, he wrote Chalk
, a sitcom set in a comprehensive school inspired by his own experience as an English teacher.
A lifelong fan of Doctor Who
, Moffat has written several episodes of the revived version and succeeded Russell T Davies as lead writer and executive producer when production of its fifth series began in 2009. In 2008 he scripted the first The Adventures of Tintin film for director Steven Spielberg
. He co-created Sherlock, an adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes detective stories.
Many of the programmes upon which he has worked have won awards, including BAFTA
s and Hugo Award
s for some of his episodes of Doctor Who.
, where he was involved with the student television station
, GUST (Glasgow University Student Television
). After gaining an MA degree in English from Glasgow, he worked as a teacher for three and a half years at Cowdenknowes High School, Greenock
. In the 1980s he wrote a play entitled War Zones (performed at the 1985 Glasgow Mayfest and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe) and a musical called Knifer. His father, Bill Moffat, was a head teacher at Thorn Primary School in Johnstone
, Renfrewshire
; when the school was used for Harry Secombe
's Highway
in the late 1980s, he mentioned to the producers that he had an idea for a television series about a school newspaper. The producers asked for a sample script, to which Bill Moffat agreed on condition his son write it. Producer Sandra Hastie said that it was "the best ever first script" that she had read.
The resulting series was titled Press Gang
, starring Julia Sawalha
and Dexter Fletcher
, and ran for five series on ITV
between 1989 and 1993, with Moffat writing all forty-three episodes. The programme won a BAFTA
award in its second series.
During production of the second series of Press Gang, Moffat was experiencing an unhappy personal life
as a result of the break-up of his first marriage. The producer was secretly phoning his friends at home to check on his state. His wife's new lover was represented in the episode "The Big Finish?" by the character Brian Magboy (Simon Schatzberger
), a name inspired by Brian: Maggie's boy. Moffat brought in the character so that all sorts of unfortunate things would happen to him, such as having a typewriter
dropped on his foot.
By 1990, Moffat had written two series of Press Gang
, but the programme's high cost along with organisational changes at backers Central Independent Television
cast its future in doubt. As Moffat wondered what to do next and worried about his future employment, Bob Spiers
, Press Gangs primary director, suggested that he meet with producer Andre Ptaszynski
to discuss writing a sitcom. Inspired by his experience working in education, Moffat's initial proposal was a programme similar to what would become Chalk
, a sitcom set in a school that eventually aired in 1997. During the pitch meeting at the Groucho Club
, Ptaszynski realised that Moffat was talking passionately about his impending divorce and suggested that he write about that instead of a school sitcom. Taking Ptaszynski's advice, Moffat's new idea was about "a sitcom writer whose wife leaves him". Moffat wrote two series of Joking Apart
, which was directed by Bob Spiers
, and starred Robert Bathurst
and Fiona Gillies
. The show won the Bronze Rose of Montreux
and was entered for the Emmys. In an interview with Richard Herring
, Moffat says that "The sit-com actually lasted slightly longer than my marriage." Fiona Gillies, who played the adulteress Becky, says that she was aware that some of her dialogue was based on what had been said to Moffat during his own separation. Moffat recycled his own dialogue: when he had learned that his wife's lover was a fan of Press Gang, he replied, "Well, did he have to fuck my wife? Most people just write in!". The line, with the expletive replaced by "shagged", was used in the first episode of Joking Apart.
Speaking about the autobiographical elements of the show, the writer jokes that he has to remember that his wife didn't leave him for an estate agent
; his wife was an estate agent. Conversely, his later sitcom Coupling
was based on his relationship with his second wife, TV producer Sue Vertue. Moffat reused the surname 'Taylor', which is Mark's surname in Joking Apart, for Jack Davenport
's character Steve in Coupling.
He wrote three episodes of Murder Most Horrid
, an anthology series of comedic tales starring Dawn French. The first ("Overkill
", directed by Bob Spiers
) was identified by the BBC as a "highlight" of the series. His other two episodes were "Dying Live" (dir. Dewi Humphreys) and "Elvis, Jesus and Zack" (dir. Tony Dow
).
, Moffat met television producer Sue Vertue
at the Edinburgh Television Festival in 1996. Vertue had been working for Tiger Aspect, a production company run by Peter Bennett-Jones
. Bennett-Jones and his friend and former colleague Andre Ptaszynski
, who had worked with Moffat on Joking Apart, told Moffat and Vertue that each fancied the other. A relationship blossomed and they left their respective production companies to join Hartswood Films
, run by Beryl Vertue
, Sue's mother. The couple have two children together: Joshua and Louis.
Before Moffat left Pola Jones for Hartswood, Ptaszynski produced Chalk
, the series that the writer had pitched to him at the beginning of the decade. Set in a comprehensive school
and starring David Bamber
as manic deputy head Eric Slatt and Nicola Walker
as Suzy Travis, the show was based on Moffat's three years as an English teacher. The studio audience responded so positively to the first series when it was taped that the BBC commissioned a second series before the first had aired. However, it was met less enthusiastically by critics upon transmission, who had taken exception to the BBC's publicity department comparing the show to the highly-respected Fawlty Towers
. In an interview in the early 2000s, Moffat refuses to even name the series, joking that he might get attacked in the street.
After production wrapped on Chalk in 1997, Moffat announced to the cast that he was marrying Vertue. When she eventually asked him for a sitcom, he decided to base it around the evolution of their own relationship. Coupling
was first broadcast on BBC2 in 2000, with his wife producing for Hartswood Films
. The series proved to be highly successful, running until 2004 and producing four series and twenty-eight episodes, all written by Moffat. He also wrote the original, unbroadcast, pilot episode for the American version of the same series
, in 2003, although this was less successful and was cancelled after four episodes on the NBC
network. Moffat has blamed its failure on an unprecedented level of network interference.
drama series Jekyll, a modern version of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
, which aired on BBC One in June and July 2007. In an interview with The Age
, James Nesbitt
, who played the eponymous character, called Moffat "an eccentric, shy fellow", while commending his writing as "inventive and dark and funny".
In June 2007 Moffat told The Stage
that he is working on a new sitcom. Provisionally titled Adam and Eve, it concerns a boss and his PA, who are long-term friends but never get together. In October 2007 it was reported that Moffat would be scripting a trilogy of The Adventures of Tintin films for directors Steven Spielberg
and Peter Jackson
. According to The Times
newspaper, Moffat had to be "love bombed
" by Spielberg into accepting the offer to write the films, with the director promising to shield him from studio interference with his writing. He had intended to complete work on the whole trilogy before resuming work on Doctor Who, but the intervening WGA strike
meant he could submit a finished script for the first film only. In July 2008, Moffat was quoted by the Daily Mail
as saying: "I could not work on the second Tintin film and work on Doctor Who. So I chose Doctor Who."
Moffat remains a writer for Hartswood Films even after his appointment as show-runner for Doctor Who. During their journeys from London to Cardiff for Doctor Who, Moffat and Mark Gatiss
conceived a contemporary update of Sherlock Holmes
, called Sherlock. Benedict Cumberbatch
was cast as Holmes, with Martin Freeman
as Dr Watson
. A 60-minute pilot, written by Moffat, was shot in January 2009. The pilot was not broadcast, but three 90-minute episodes were commissioned. Moffat wrote the first of these, "A Study in Pink
", which was broadcast on 25 July 2010 on BBC One and BBC HD. A second series will be broadcast in the first half of 2012.
since childhood. His first professional contribution to Doctor Who was a prose story, "Continuity Errors", which was published in the 1996 Virgin Books
anthology Decalog 3: Consequences
. In 1999 he scripted the parody Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death
, which aired as part of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day charity telethon. The co-producer for that year's Comic Relief telethon was Moffat's then-new wife, Sue Vertue.
In 2004 Moffat was signed to write for the revival of Doctor Who. He became known, according to The Guardian, for writing "the clever, darker episodes" of the first four series of the show. His contribution for the 2005 series was the Hugo Award
-winning two-part story "The Empty Child
"/"The Doctor Dances
". In the DVD audio commentary he says that he waited forty years to see his name appear on top of that theme music. He wrote an episode for each of the two following series of Doctor Who: "The Girl in the Fireplace
" in the 2006 series (which won the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form and was nominated for a 2006 Nebula Award
) and "Blink
" in the 2007 series. In the Doctor Who Magazine
reader poll for the 2007 series, Moffat was voted as best writer and "Blink" as the best story. The episode was also nominated for the Nebula Award
for Best Script. In 2008 it secured him his third Hugo win, again for Best Dramatic Presentation, the BAFTA Craft Award
for Best Writer, and a BAFTA Cymru
Award for Best Screenwriter. He also wrote the 2007 Children in Need "special scene" "Time Crash
".
He wrote a two-part story for series four in 2008, titled "Silence in the Library
"/"Forest of the Dead
". This made Moffat and series executive producer Russell T Davies the only writers to have contributed scripts to all four series of the revived show. In March 2008, Davies said that he often rewrote scripts from other writers, but didn't "touch a word" of Moffat's episodes. Moffat's script for series four secured him his fourth consecutive Hugo Awards nomination, though it did not win.
The BBC announced in May 2008 that Moffat would be taking over from Russell T Davies as head writer and executive producer for the revived show's fifth series, to be broadcast in 2010, although Davies had initiated discussions with Moffat regarding this as far back as July 2007. Commenting on his appointment, Moffat said it was "the proper duty of every British subject to come to the aid of the TARDIS
". Production on Moffat's time in charge of the programme began in July 2009. As executive producer and head writer, he was significantly involved in casting Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor
. Smith first appeared as the Doctor at the end of Davies and David Tennant
's final episode "The End of Time, Part 2
", in a short post-regeneration scene that Davies left for Moffat to write himself. Moffat wrote the scene in "about ten minutes" as "a bit of fun banter" for the new Doctor.
In addition to his television episodes, Moffat has also contributed stories to Panini Publishing's Doctor Who Storybook series, penning the short stories "What I Did On My Christmas Holidays By Sally Sparrow" for the 2006 book (which later formed the basis of his TV episode "Blink
"), "Corner of the Eye" for the 2007 volume and "A Letter From the Doctor" which opens the 2009 Storybook.
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
television writer and producer.
Moffat's first television work was the teen drama series Press Gang
Press Gang
Press Gang is a British children's television comedy-drama consisting of forty-three episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993...
. His first sitcom, Joking Apart
Joking Apart
Joking Apart is a BBC television sitcom written by Steven Moffat about the rise and fall of a relationship. It juxtaposes a couple, Mark and Becky , who fall in love and marry, before getting separated and finally divorced...
, was inspired by the breakdown of his first marriage; conversely, his later sitcom Coupling
Coupling (UK TV series)
Coupling is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to June 2004. Produced by Hartswood Films for the BBC, the show centres on the dating and sexual adventures and mishaps of six friends in their thirties, often depicting the three women and the three...
was based upon the development of his relationship with television producer Sue Vertue
Sue Vertue
Sue Vertue is a British television producer. She has produced many comedy shows, including Mr. Bean and Coupling.Vertue worked for Tiger Aspect, a production company run by Peter Bennett-Jones, where she produced episodes of Mr. Bean, The Vicar of Dibley and Gimme Gimme Gimme.Vertue met writer...
. In between the two relationship-centred shows, he wrote Chalk
Chalk (TV series)
Chalk is a British television sitcom set in a comprehensive school named Galfast High. Two series, both written by Steven Moffat, were broadcast on BBC1 in 1997...
, a sitcom set in a comprehensive school inspired by his own experience as an English teacher.
A lifelong fan of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, Moffat has written several episodes of the revived version and succeeded Russell T Davies as lead writer and executive producer when production of its fifth series began in 2009. In 2008 he scripted the first The Adventures of Tintin film for director Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
. He co-created Sherlock, an adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes detective stories.
Many of the programmes upon which he has worked have won awards, including BAFTA
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
s and Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
s for some of his episodes of Doctor Who.
Early life and Press Gang
Moffat was born in Paisley, Scotland, where he attended Camphill High School. He studied at the University of GlasgowUniversity of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
, where he was involved with the student television station
British student television
Student television in the United Kingdom is about students from universities and colleges around the United Kingdom producing and publishing video content independently, operating in a similar fashion to a small television station...
, GUST (Glasgow University Student Television
Glasgow University Student Television
Glasgow University Student Television or GUST, is the student television station of the University of Glasgow. Founded around 1964, it is one of the oldest student TV station in the world with the first being ICTV in 1954 . The station is run entirely by students and produces programs covering...
). After gaining an MA degree in English from Glasgow, he worked as a teacher for three and a half years at Cowdenknowes High School, Greenock
Greenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
. In the 1980s he wrote a play entitled War Zones (performed at the 1985 Glasgow Mayfest and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe) and a musical called Knifer. His father, Bill Moffat, was a head teacher at Thorn Primary School in Johnstone
Johnstone
Johnstone is a town in the council area of Renfrewshire and larger historic county of the same name in the west central Lowlands of Scotland.The town lies three miles west of neighbouring Paisley and twelve miles west of the centre of the city of Glasgow...
, Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Renfrewshire, the others being Inverclyde to the west and East Renfrewshire to the east...
; when the school was used for Harry Secombe
Harry Secombe
Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
's Highway
Highway (TV series)
Highway is a British television series broadcast from 1983 until 1993. Presented by Sir Harry Secombe, the show was a mixture of hymns and chat from various locations across Britain, produced by their respective regional ITV franchise holders...
in the late 1980s, he mentioned to the producers that he had an idea for a television series about a school newspaper. The producers asked for a sample script, to which Bill Moffat agreed on condition his son write it. Producer Sandra Hastie said that it was "the best ever first script" that she had read.
The resulting series was titled Press Gang
Press Gang
Press Gang is a British children's television comedy-drama consisting of forty-three episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993...
, starring Julia Sawalha
Julia Sawalha
Julia Sawalha is an English actress well known for her roles as Saffron Monsoon in Absolutely Fabulous, Lynda Day, editor of The Junior Gazette in Press Gang and Lydia Bennet in the 1995 television miniseries of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. She also played Dorcas Lane in the BBC's costume...
and Dexter Fletcher
Dexter Fletcher
Dexter Fletcher is an English actor. He is best known for his role in Guy Ritchie film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels as well as television roles in such shows as the dramedy Hotel Babylon, the critically acclaimed HBO series Band of Brothers and earlier in his career, the children's show...
, and ran for five series on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
between 1989 and 1993, with Moffat writing all forty-three episodes. The programme won a BAFTA
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
award in its second series.
During production of the second series of Press Gang, Moffat was experiencing an unhappy personal life
Personal life
Personal life is the course of an individual's life, especially when viewed as the sum of personal choices contributing to one's personal identity. It is a common notion in modern existence—although more so in more prosperous parts of the world such as Western Europe and North America...
as a result of the break-up of his first marriage. The producer was secretly phoning his friends at home to check on his state. His wife's new lover was represented in the episode "The Big Finish?" by the character Brian Magboy (Simon Schatzberger
Simon Schatzberger
Simon Schatzberger is an English television actor of Jewish origin. He has appeared on several television programmes in both guest roles and starring roles, including Your Mother Wouldn't Like It, Press Gang, Audrey and Friends, Comin' Atcha!, Band of Brothers, Black Books, Doctors and The Cottage...
), a name inspired by Brian: Maggie's boy. Moffat brought in the character so that all sorts of unfortunate things would happen to him, such as having a typewriter
Typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
dropped on his foot.
Joking Apart
Press Gang
Press Gang is a British children's television comedy-drama consisting of forty-three episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993...
, but the programme's high cost along with organisational changes at backers Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
cast its future in doubt. As Moffat wondered what to do next and worried about his future employment, Bob Spiers
Bob Spiers
Bob Spiers was a director. He is particularly noted as the director of the early series of Absolutely Fabulous , the musical comedy Spiceworld, and of the second series of Fawlty Towers . He also worked with Steven Moffat on Press Gang and Joking Apart...
, Press Gangs primary director, suggested that he meet with producer Andre Ptaszynski
Andre Ptaszynski
André Ptaszynski is a British theatre producer. He studied English at Jesus College, Oxford.He was Chief Executive of the Really Useful Group from 2005 to 2011 and Chief Executive of Really Useful Theatres from 2000 to 2005...
to discuss writing a sitcom. Inspired by his experience working in education, Moffat's initial proposal was a programme similar to what would become Chalk
Chalk (TV series)
Chalk is a British television sitcom set in a comprehensive school named Galfast High. Two series, both written by Steven Moffat, were broadcast on BBC1 in 1997...
, a sitcom set in a school that eventually aired in 1997. During the pitch meeting at the Groucho Club
Groucho Club
The Groucho Club is a well-known private social club located at Dean Street in Soho, London. Its members are mostly drawn from the media, entertainment, arts and fashion industries....
, Ptaszynski realised that Moffat was talking passionately about his impending divorce and suggested that he write about that instead of a school sitcom. Taking Ptaszynski's advice, Moffat's new idea was about "a sitcom writer whose wife leaves him". Moffat wrote two series of Joking Apart
Joking Apart
Joking Apart is a BBC television sitcom written by Steven Moffat about the rise and fall of a relationship. It juxtaposes a couple, Mark and Becky , who fall in love and marry, before getting separated and finally divorced...
, which was directed by Bob Spiers
Bob Spiers
Bob Spiers was a director. He is particularly noted as the director of the early series of Absolutely Fabulous , the musical comedy Spiceworld, and of the second series of Fawlty Towers . He also worked with Steven Moffat on Press Gang and Joking Apart...
, and starred Robert Bathurst
Robert Bathurst
Robert Guy Bathurst is an English actor. Bathurst was born in the Gold Coast in 1957, where his father was working as a management consultant. His family moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1959 and Bathurst was enrolled at an Anglican boarding school...
and Fiona Gillies
Fiona Gillies
Fiona Gillies is a British actress who has appeared on television and the stage.She first appeared in the 1988 version of The Hound of the Baskervilles as Beryl Stapleton. A year later she appeared in the mini-series Mother Love....
. The show won the Bronze Rose of Montreux
Rose d'Or
The Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40...
and was entered for the Emmys. In an interview with Richard Herring
Richard Herring
Richard Keith Herring is a British comedian and writer, whose early work includes his involvement in the double-act, Lee and Herring...
, Moffat says that "The sit-com actually lasted slightly longer than my marriage." Fiona Gillies, who played the adulteress Becky, says that she was aware that some of her dialogue was based on what had been said to Moffat during his own separation. Moffat recycled his own dialogue: when he had learned that his wife's lover was a fan of Press Gang, he replied, "Well, did he have to fuck my wife? Most people just write in!". The line, with the expletive replaced by "shagged", was used in the first episode of Joking Apart.
Speaking about the autobiographical elements of the show, the writer jokes that he has to remember that his wife didn't leave him for an estate agent
Estate agent
An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting or management of properties, and other buildings, in the United Kingdom and Ireland. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent...
; his wife was an estate agent. Conversely, his later sitcom Coupling
Coupling (UK TV series)
Coupling is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to June 2004. Produced by Hartswood Films for the BBC, the show centres on the dating and sexual adventures and mishaps of six friends in their thirties, often depicting the three women and the three...
was based on his relationship with his second wife, TV producer Sue Vertue. Moffat reused the surname 'Taylor', which is Mark's surname in Joking Apart, for Jack Davenport
Jack Davenport
Jack Davenport is an English actor, best known for his roles in the television series This Life, Coupling and as James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. He has also appeared in many other Hollywood films such as The Talented Mr. Ripley...
's character Steve in Coupling.
He wrote three episodes of Murder Most Horrid
Murder Most Horrid
Murder Most Horrid is a BBC dark comedy anthology series starring comedian Dawn French. It ran for four series runs, in 1991, 1994, 1996 and 1999....
, an anthology series of comedic tales starring Dawn French. The first ("Overkill
Overkill (Murder Most Horrid episode)
"Overkill" is an episode of the British comedy television series Murder Most Horrid. It was written by Steven Moffat, who had worked with director Bob Spiers on Press Gang and Joking Apart.-Plot:...
", directed by Bob Spiers
Bob Spiers
Bob Spiers was a director. He is particularly noted as the director of the early series of Absolutely Fabulous , the musical comedy Spiceworld, and of the second series of Fawlty Towers . He also worked with Steven Moffat on Press Gang and Joking Apart...
) was identified by the BBC as a "highlight" of the series. His other two episodes were "Dying Live" (dir. Dewi Humphreys) and "Elvis, Jesus and Zack" (dir. Tony Dow
Tony Dow
Tony Lee Dow is an American film producer, director, sculptor, and a television child actor of the 1950s and 1960s.Dow is best known for his role in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver, which ran in primetime from 1957 to 1963...
).
Chalk and Coupling
Between marriages, Moffat claims that he "shagged [his] way round television studios like a mechanical digger." According to an interview with The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Moffat met television producer Sue Vertue
Sue Vertue
Sue Vertue is a British television producer. She has produced many comedy shows, including Mr. Bean and Coupling.Vertue worked for Tiger Aspect, a production company run by Peter Bennett-Jones, where she produced episodes of Mr. Bean, The Vicar of Dibley and Gimme Gimme Gimme.Vertue met writer...
at the Edinburgh Television Festival in 1996. Vertue had been working for Tiger Aspect, a production company run by Peter Bennett-Jones
Peter Bennett-Jones
Peter Bennett-Jones is a British TV producer and agent best known as the former owner of Tiger Aspect. He has also represented actors such as Rowan Atkinson and Harry Enfield with his company PBJ Management....
. Bennett-Jones and his friend and former colleague Andre Ptaszynski
Andre Ptaszynski
André Ptaszynski is a British theatre producer. He studied English at Jesus College, Oxford.He was Chief Executive of the Really Useful Group from 2005 to 2011 and Chief Executive of Really Useful Theatres from 2000 to 2005...
, who had worked with Moffat on Joking Apart, told Moffat and Vertue that each fancied the other. A relationship blossomed and they left their respective production companies to join Hartswood Films
Hartswood Films
Hartswood Films is a British television production company, founded and run by producer Beryl Vertue. The company is noted for its sitcom output, which includes Men Behaving Badly, Is It Legal? and Coupling...
, run by Beryl Vertue
Beryl Vertue
Beryl Vertue is an English television producer and media executive. She is founder and chairman of the independent television production company Hartswood Films....
, Sue's mother. The couple have two children together: Joshua and Louis.
Before Moffat left Pola Jones for Hartswood, Ptaszynski produced Chalk
Chalk (TV series)
Chalk is a British television sitcom set in a comprehensive school named Galfast High. Two series, both written by Steven Moffat, were broadcast on BBC1 in 1997...
, the series that the writer had pitched to him at the beginning of the decade. Set in a comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
and starring David Bamber
David Bamber
David James Bamber is an English actor, known for his television and theatre work. He is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.-Early years:...
as manic deputy head Eric Slatt and Nicola Walker
Nicola Walker
Nicola Walker is an English actress, best known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, particularly as Ruth Evershed in the spy drama Spooks. She has also worked in theatre, radio and film....
as Suzy Travis, the show was based on Moffat's three years as an English teacher. The studio audience responded so positively to the first series when it was taped that the BBC commissioned a second series before the first had aired. However, it was met less enthusiastically by critics upon transmission, who had taken exception to the BBC's publicity department comparing the show to the highly-respected Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...
. In an interview in the early 2000s, Moffat refuses to even name the series, joking that he might get attacked in the street.
After production wrapped on Chalk in 1997, Moffat announced to the cast that he was marrying Vertue. When she eventually asked him for a sitcom, he decided to base it around the evolution of their own relationship. Coupling
Coupling (UK TV series)
Coupling is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to June 2004. Produced by Hartswood Films for the BBC, the show centres on the dating and sexual adventures and mishaps of six friends in their thirties, often depicting the three women and the three...
was first broadcast on BBC2 in 2000, with his wife producing for Hartswood Films
Hartswood Films
Hartswood Films is a British television production company, founded and run by producer Beryl Vertue. The company is noted for its sitcom output, which includes Men Behaving Badly, Is It Legal? and Coupling...
. The series proved to be highly successful, running until 2004 and producing four series and twenty-eight episodes, all written by Moffat. He also wrote the original, unbroadcast, pilot episode for the American version of the same series
Coupling (U.S. TV series)
Coupling is a 2003 American remake of the British television sitcom of the same title which aired on NBC.-Reception:It failed to perform in the ratings and was canceled before the November sweeps, with several episodes remaining unaired despite heavy publicity by the network. It was immediately...
, in 2003, although this was less successful and was cancelled after four episodes on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
network. Moffat has blamed its failure on an unprecedented level of network interference.
Jekyll, Tintin, and Sherlock
He wrote the Hartswood FilmsHartswood Films
Hartswood Films is a British television production company, founded and run by producer Beryl Vertue. The company is noted for its sitcom output, which includes Men Behaving Badly, Is It Legal? and Coupling...
drama series Jekyll, a modern version of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the original title of a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson that was first published in 1886. The original pronunciation of Jekyll was "Jeekul" which was the pronunciation used in Stevenson's native Scotland...
, which aired on BBC One in June and July 2007. In an interview with The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster...
, who played the eponymous character, called Moffat "an eccentric, shy fellow", while commending his writing as "inventive and dark and funny".
In June 2007 Moffat told The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
that he is working on a new sitcom. Provisionally titled Adam and Eve, it concerns a boss and his PA, who are long-term friends but never get together. In October 2007 it was reported that Moffat would be scripting a trilogy of The Adventures of Tintin films for directors Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
. According to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper, Moffat had to be "love bombed
Love bombing
Love bombing is the deliberate show of affection or friendship by an individual or a group of people toward another individual. Critics have asserted that this action may be motivated in part by the desire to recruit, convert or otherwise influence....
" by Spielberg into accepting the offer to write the films, with the director promising to shield him from studio interference with his writing. He had intended to complete work on the whole trilogy before resuming work on Doctor Who, but the intervening WGA strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
meant he could submit a finished script for the first film only. In July 2008, Moffat was quoted by the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
as saying: "I could not work on the second Tintin film and work on Doctor Who. So I chose Doctor Who."
Moffat remains a writer for Hartswood Films even after his appointment as show-runner for Doctor Who. During their journeys from London to Cardiff for Doctor Who, Moffat and Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
conceived a contemporary update of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
, called Sherlock. Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch is an English film, television, and theatre actor. His most acclaimed roles include Stephen Hawking in the BBC drama Hawking ; William Pitt in the historical film Amazing Grace ; the protagonist Stephen Ezard in the miniseries thriller The Last Enemy ; Paul...
was cast as Holmes, with Martin Freeman
Martin Freeman
Martin John C. Freeman is an English actor. He is known for his roles as John in Love Actually, Tim Canterbury in the BBC's Golden Globe-winning comedy The Office, Arthur Dent in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dr. John Watson in Sherlock and Mr. Madden...
as Dr Watson
John Watson (Sherlock Holmes)
John H. Watson, M.D. , known as Dr. Watson, is a character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Watson is Sherlock Holmes's friend, assistant and sometime flatmate, and is the first person narrator of all but four stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon.-Name:Doctor Watson's first...
. A 60-minute pilot, written by Moffat, was shot in January 2009. The pilot was not broadcast, but three 90-minute episodes were commissioned. Moffat wrote the first of these, "A Study in Pink
A Study in Pink
"A Study in Pink" is the first episode of the television series Sherlock and first broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD on 25 July 2010. It introduces the main characters and resolves a murder mystery. It is loosely based upon the first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet.The episode was written...
", which was broadcast on 25 July 2010 on BBC One and BBC HD. A second series will be broadcast in the first half of 2012.
Doctor Who
Moffat has been a fan of Doctor WhoDoctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
since childhood. His first professional contribution to Doctor Who was a prose story, "Continuity Errors", which was published in the 1996 Virgin Books
Virgin Books
Virgin Books is a United Kingdom book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Enterprises, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company.-History:...
anthology Decalog 3: Consequences
Virgin Decalog
The Virgin Decalog books were collections of short stories published by Virgin Publishing based on the television series Doctor Who: they gained their name from the fact that each volume contained ten stories...
. In 1999 he scripted the parody Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death
Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death
Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death is a four-episode special of Doctor Who made for the Red Nose Day charity telethon in the United Kingdom, and broadcast on BBC One on 12 March 1999...
, which aired as part of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day charity telethon. The co-producer for that year's Comic Relief telethon was Moffat's then-new wife, Sue Vertue.
In 2004 Moffat was signed to write for the revival of Doctor Who. He became known, according to The Guardian, for writing "the clever, darker episodes" of the first four series of the show. His contribution for the 2005 series was the Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
-winning two-part story "The Empty Child
The Empty Child
"The Empty Child" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 21 May 2005. It is the first of a two-part story. The concluding episode, "The Doctor Dances", was broadcast on 28 May...
"/"The Doctor Dances
The Doctor Dances
"The Doctor Dances" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 28 May 2005. It is the second of a two-part story and saw Jack Harkness, played by John Barrowman, join the Doctor as a companion. The first part, "The Empty Child", was...
". In the DVD audio commentary he says that he waited forty years to see his name appear on top of that theme music. He wrote an episode for each of the two following series of Doctor Who: "The Girl in the Fireplace
The Girl in the Fireplace
"The Girl in the Fireplace" is the fourth episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 6 May 2006, and is the only episode in the 2006 series written by Steven Moffat...
" in the 2006 series (which won the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form and was nominated for a 2006 Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
) and "Blink
Blink (Doctor Who)
"Blink" is the 10th episode of the third series of the new production of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 9 June 2007, and is the only episode in the 2007 series written by Steven Moffat; the episode is based on a previous short story written by...
" in the 2007 series. In the Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
reader poll for the 2007 series, Moffat was voted as best writer and "Blink" as the best story. The episode was also nominated for the Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
for Best Script. In 2008 it secured him his third Hugo win, again for Best Dramatic Presentation, the BAFTA Craft Award
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
for Best Writer, and a BAFTA Cymru
BAFTA Cymru
BAFTA Cymru is the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.Formed in 1991, they hold an annual awards ceremony to recognise achievement by performers and production staff in Welsh-made films and television programmes...
Award for Best Screenwriter. He also wrote the 2007 Children in Need "special scene" "Time Crash
Time Crash
"Time Crash" is a mini-episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on 16 November 2007, as part of the BBC One telethon for the children's charity Children in Need...
".
He wrote a two-part story for series four in 2008, titled "Silence in the Library
Silence in the Library
"Silence in the Library" is the eighth episode of the fourth series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on 31 May 2008. It is the first of a two-part story, followed by "Forest of the Dead", and is the second two-parter Steven Moffat contributed to...
"/"Forest of the Dead
Forest of the Dead
"Forest of the Dead" is the ninth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast by BBC One on 7 June 2008...
". This made Moffat and series executive producer Russell T Davies the only writers to have contributed scripts to all four series of the revived show. In March 2008, Davies said that he often rewrote scripts from other writers, but didn't "touch a word" of Moffat's episodes. Moffat's script for series four secured him his fourth consecutive Hugo Awards nomination, though it did not win.
The BBC announced in May 2008 that Moffat would be taking over from Russell T Davies as head writer and executive producer for the revived show's fifth series, to be broadcast in 2010, although Davies had initiated discussions with Moffat regarding this as far back as July 2007. Commenting on his appointment, Moffat said it was "the proper duty of every British subject to come to the aid of the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
". Production on Moffat's time in charge of the programme began in July 2009. As executive producer and head writer, he was significantly involved in casting Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor
Eleventh Doctor
The Eleventh Doctor is the eleventh incarnation of the protagonist of the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. Matt Smith plays this incarnation, replacing David Tennant's Tenth Doctor in the 2010 episode "The End of Time, Part Two"...
. Smith first appeared as the Doctor at the end of Davies and David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
's final episode "The End of Time, Part 2
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
", in a short post-regeneration scene that Davies left for Moffat to write himself. Moffat wrote the scene in "about ten minutes" as "a bit of fun banter" for the new Doctor.
In addition to his television episodes, Moffat has also contributed stories to Panini Publishing's Doctor Who Storybook series, penning the short stories "What I Did On My Christmas Holidays By Sally Sparrow" for the 2006 book (which later formed the basis of his TV episode "Blink
Blink (Doctor Who)
"Blink" is the 10th episode of the third series of the new production of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 9 June 2007, and is the only episode in the 2007 series written by Steven Moffat; the episode is based on a previous short story written by...
"), "Corner of the Eye" for the 2007 volume and "A Letter From the Doctor" which opens the 2009 Storybook.
Writing credits
| Production | Notes | Broadcaster |
|---|---|---|
| Press Gang Press Gang Press Gang is a British children's television comedy-drama consisting of forty-three episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993... |
|
ITV ITV ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK... |
| Stay Lucky Stay Lucky Stay Lucky is a 1989–1993 British television comedy-drama series. Made by Yorkshire Television and screened on the ITV network, it starred Dennis Waterman and Jan Francis.-Plot:... |
|
ITV |
| Joking Apart Joking Apart Joking Apart is a BBC television sitcom written by Steven Moffat about the rise and fall of a relationship. It juxtaposes a couple, Mark and Becky , who fall in love and marry, before getting separated and finally divorced... |
|
BBC2 |
| Murder Most Horrid Murder Most Horrid Murder Most Horrid is a BBC dark comedy anthology series starring comedian Dawn French. It ran for four series runs, in 1991, 1994, 1996 and 1999.... |
|
BBC2 |
| Chalk Chalk (TV series) Chalk is a British television sitcom set in a comprehensive school named Galfast High. Two series, both written by Steven Moffat, were broadcast on BBC1 in 1997... |
|
BBC1 |
| Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death is a four-episode special of Doctor Who made for the Red Nose Day charity telethon in the United Kingdom, and broadcast on BBC One on 12 March 1999... |
Comic Relief Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief... special (1999) |
BBC One |
| Coupling Coupling (UK TV series) Coupling is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to June 2004. Produced by Hartswood Films for the BBC, the show centres on the dating and sexual adventures and mishaps of six friends in their thirties, often depicting the three women and the three... |
|
BBC Two BBC Three BBC Three BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent... |
| Doctor Who Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior... |
The Empty Child "The Empty Child" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 21 May 2005. It is the first of a two-part story. The concluding episode, "The Doctor Dances", was broadcast on 28 May... " / "The Doctor Dances The Doctor Dances "The Doctor Dances" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 28 May 2005. It is the second of a two-part story and saw Jack Harkness, played by John Barrowman, join the Doctor as a companion. The first part, "The Empty Child", was... " (2005) The Girl in the Fireplace "The Girl in the Fireplace" is the fourth episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 6 May 2006, and is the only episode in the 2006 series written by Steven Moffat... " (2006) Blink (Doctor Who) "Blink" is the 10th episode of the third series of the new production of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 9 June 2007, and is the only episode in the 2007 series written by Steven Moffat; the episode is based on a previous short story written by... " (2007) Time Crash "Time Crash" is a mini-episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on 16 November 2007, as part of the BBC One telethon for the children's charity Children in Need... " (Children in Need Children in Need Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long... mini-episode, 2007) Silence in the Library "Silence in the Library" is the eighth episode of the fourth series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on 31 May 2008. It is the first of a two-part story, followed by "Forest of the Dead", and is the second two-parter Steven Moffat contributed to... " / "Forest of the Dead Forest of the Dead "Forest of the Dead" is the ninth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast by BBC One on 7 June 2008... " (2008) The Eleventh Hour (Doctor Who) "The Eleventh Hour" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD on 3 April 2010.... " (2010) The Beast Below "The Beast Below" is the second episode of the fifth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was written by showrunner Steven Moffat and broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD on 10 April 2010.... " (2010) The Time of Angels "The Time of Angels" is the fourth episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on 24 April 2010 on BBC One. It is the first episode of a two-part story written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Adam Smith; the second episode was... " / "Flesh and Stone Flesh and Stone "Flesh and Stone" is the fifth episode of the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Adam Smith, the episode was first broadcast on 1 May 2010 on BBC One... " (2010) The Pandorica Opens "The Pandorica Opens" is the twelfth episode, and first in a two-part story, in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, broadcast on 19 June 2010. The Doctor's friends send him a warning; he deals with a message on a cliff, a mysterious box and a love story that... " / "The Big Bang The Big Bang (Doctor Who) "The Big Bang" is the 13th and final episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the second part of a two-part season finale started with "The Pandorica Opens", at the end of which The Doctor is trapped, the TARDIS destroyed, and Amy Pond has been shot... " (2010) Space and Time (Doctor Who) "Space" and "Time" are two mini-episodes of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. They were broadcast on 18 March 2011 as part of BBC One's Red Nose Day telethon for the charity Comic Relief... (Comic Relief Comic Relief Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief... mini-episodes, 2011) The Impossible Astronaut "The Impossible Astronaut" is the first episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Toby Haynes, the episode was first broadcast on 23 April 2011 in the United Kingdom, as well as the United States... " / "Day of the Moon Day of the Moon "Day of the Moon" is the second episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Toby Haynes, the episode was first broadcast on 30 April 2011 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on BBC America in the... " (2011) A Good Man Goes to War "A Good Man Goes to War" is the seventh episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 4 June 2011... " / "Let's Kill Hitler Let's Kill Hitler "Let's Kill Hitler" is the eighth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One, Space and BBC America on 27 August 2011. It is the second episode of a two-part story, continuing stories from "A Good Man Goes to War"... " (2011) The Wedding of River Song "The Wedding of River Song" is the thirteenth and final episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One, BBC America and Space on 1 October 2011.-Plot:... " (2011) The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Due to be first broadcast at Christmas 2011, it is the seventh Christmas special since the show’s revival in 2005.... " (2011) |
BBC One |
| Jekyll |
|
BBC One |
| Sherlock |
A Study in Pink "A Study in Pink" is the first episode of the television series Sherlock and first broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD on 25 July 2010. It introduces the main characters and resolves a murder mystery. It is loosely based upon the first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet.The episode was written... " (2010) |
BBC One |
| The Adventures of Tintin |
Edgar Wright Edgar Howard Wright is an English film and television director and writer. He is most famous for his work with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on the films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, the TV series Spaced, and for directing the film Scott Pilgrim vs... and Joe Cornish Joe Cornish (comedian) Joseph Murray "Joe" Cornish is an English comedian, television and radio presenter, director, writer and actor, who along with his long-time comedy partner, Adam Buxton, form the comedy duo Adam and Joe.... , 2011) |
N/A |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | British Academy Television Awards British Academy Television Awards The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:... |
Press Gang Press Gang Press Gang is a British children's television comedy-drama consisting of forty-three episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993... |
Best Children's Programme (Entertainment / Drama) | Won |
| Royal Television Society Awards | Best Children's Programme | Won | ||
| 1992 | British Academy Television Awards | Best Children's Programme | Nominated | |
| 1995 | Bronze Rose of Montreux Rose d'Or The Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40... |
Joking Apart Joking Apart Joking Apart is a BBC television sitcom written by Steven Moffat about the rise and fall of a relationship. It juxtaposes a couple, Mark and Becky , who fall in love and marry, before getting separated and finally divorced... |
Comedy | Won |
| 2003 | British Comedy Awards British Comedy Awards The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:... |
Coupling Coupling (UK TV series) Coupling is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to June 2004. Produced by Hartswood Films for the BBC, the show centres on the dating and sexual adventures and mishaps of six friends in their thirties, often depicting the three women and the three... |
Best TV Comedy | Won |
| 2006 | Hugo Award Hugo Award The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards... |
Doctor Who: "The Empty Child The Empty Child "The Empty Child" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 21 May 2005. It is the first of a two-part story. The concluding episode, "The Doctor Dances", was broadcast on 28 May... "/"The Doctor Dances The Doctor Dances "The Doctor Dances" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on 28 May 2005. It is the second of a two-part story and saw Jack Harkness, played by John Barrowman, join the Doctor as a companion. The first part, "The Empty Child", was... " |
Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially... , Short Form |
Won |
| Nebula Award Nebula Award The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year... |
Doctor Who: "The Girl in the Fireplace The Girl in the Fireplace "The Girl in the Fireplace" is the fourth episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 6 May 2006, and is the only episode in the 2006 series written by Steven Moffat... " |
Best Script | Nominated | |
| 2007 | Hugo Award | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | Won | |
| Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award Writers' Guild of Great Britain The Writers' Guild of Great Britain, established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds .-Activities:... |
Doctor Who, Series Three | Best Soap / Series (TV) (with Chris Chibnall Chris Chibnall Chris Chibnall is a British playwright, television writer and producer. He is best known for his work on the science-fiction series Torchwood.... , Paul Cornell Paul Cornell Paul Cornell is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield.... , Russell T Davies, Helen Raynor Helen Raynor Helen Raynor is a British television and theatre writer and script editor. From 2004 until 2007 she was one of the script editors of the revived version of the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who, working on its first three series... and Gareth Roberts Gareth Roberts (writer) Gareth John Pritchard Roberts is a British television screenwriter and novelist, best known for his work related to the science-fiction television series Doctor Who... ) |
Won | |
| Nebula Award | Doctor Who: "Blink Blink (Doctor Who) "Blink" is the 10th episode of the third series of the new production of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on 9 June 2007, and is the only episode in the 2007 series written by Steven Moffat; the episode is based on a previous short story written by... " |
Best Script | Nominated | |
| 2008 | British Academy Television Award | Best Writer | Won | |
| Hugo Award | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | Won | ||
| BAFTA Cymru BAFTA Cymru BAFTA Cymru is the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.Formed in 1991, they hold an annual awards ceremony to recognise achievement by performers and production staff in Welsh-made films and television programmes... |
Best Screenwriter | Won | ||
| BAFTA Scotland BAFTA Scotland BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1997, the branch holds an annual awards ceremony, the British Academy Scotland Awards , to recognise achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, television and video games... |
Doctor Who | Writing in Film or Television | Nominated | |
| 2009 | Hugo Award | Doctor Who: "Silence in the Library Silence in the Library "Silence in the Library" is the eighth episode of the fourth series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on 31 May 2008. It is the first of a two-part story, followed by "Forest of the Dead", and is the second two-parter Steven Moffat contributed to... "/"Forest of the Dead Forest of the Dead "Forest of the Dead" is the ninth episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast by BBC One on 7 June 2008... " |
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | Nominated |
| Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award | Doctor Who, Series Four | Television drama series (with Russell T Davies) | Nominated | |
| 2011 | Hugo Award | Doctor Who: "The Pandorica Opens The Pandorica Opens "The Pandorica Opens" is the twelfth episode, and first in a two-part story, in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, broadcast on 19 June 2010. The Doctor's friends send him a warning; he deals with a message on a cliff, a mysterious box and a love story that... "/"The Big Bang The Big Bang (Doctor Who) "The Big Bang" is the 13th and final episode in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the second part of a two-part season finale started with "The Pandorica Opens", at the end of which The Doctor is trapped, the TARDIS destroyed, and Amy Pond has been shot... " |
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | Won |
| Doctor Who: "A Christmas Carol" | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | Nominated | ||
| Emmy Award | Sherlock | Best Script for a TV Movie or Miniseries | Nominated |
External links
- Steven Moffat biography at the Hartswood FilmsHartswood FilmsHartswood Films is a British television production company, founded and run by producer Beryl Vertue. The company is noted for its sitcom output, which includes Men Behaving Badly, Is It Legal? and Coupling...
website. - Audio interview with Steven Moffat at the Doctor Who series two press launch. Source:BBC Wiltshire
- StevenMoffat.net The Moff. Thrilling adventures in Time & Space. And Norbridge.