Steven Moffat: 5 Reasons To Love Him and 5 Reasons To Hate Him

By David Andrew McCabe / December 5, 2012

What can one say about Steven Moffat, current head-writer for Doctor Who and co-creator of Sherlock... that hasn't been said a million times before? It hardly surprises me that opinion is still divided on the man considering his controversial actions in the past - for one, he revitalized Doctor Who and took the torch from Russel T Davies just before his writing began to stagnate, only to completely change everything about the series in a manner that is still open to discussion now. For another, he gave us Sherlock, one of the most gripping dramas ever to hit British TV, before resorting to barely making any episodes, trolling the entire fandom and turning a once respected villainess into a dominatrix.

But, no matter what the man's flaws, I still like the Matt Smith era of NuWho and really do appreciate Moffat's work where a lot of people are keen to just say that EVERYTHING he does is of poor quality. Only a Sith deals in absolutes, my friend...

So, why do I defend the man to the death? Well, the truth is, I don't. I do respect him and what's he's been up to but not to the point where I stick my fingers in my ears when people start to criticize him. Moffat may be far from perfect, but at the same time he's not as far away as people make him out to be. So, here are my 5 Reasons to love Steven Moffat and of course 5 Reasons not to.

5 Reasons To Love Him...

5. He Sticks To His Guns (Doctor Who)

You have to at least have some respect for Moffat for never giving up. He's definitely not the kind of man to surrender his integrity when it comes to his creative vision. Call it stubbornness, call it will power, Moffat had a dream to reinvent classic British icons Sherlock Holmes and the Doctor in his own image (with the latter case pleasantly similar to the vision of Russel T Davies), and he's certainly done so, regardless of the criticism he's received since.

Another example of Moffat's steadfastness comes from a news story that came out shortly before they started filming Series Five - Doctor Who was having its budget slashed again. So what did Moffat do? He doubled the size of the TARDIS interior and set his first outer space episode on a spaceship that supposedly held the entire of Britain. It was almost like he was holding up a big ol' middle finger to the BBC and the Gods above us and going, 'Na-na-na-na-na! I'm Steven Moffat!'

It takes guts, and Moffat's got 'em.