10 Incredible Similarities Between Doctor Who And Sherlock

3. The (Really) Scary Villains

Some people will tell you that Doctor Who's a show they grew up cowering behind the sofa from. And some people will tell you that the ludicrous, man-in-a-suit monsters weren't scary, and only indicative of bad production values. But in the 21st Century, Steven Moffat's perhaps contributed more scary monsters to the Who wall of fame than anyone else. It's really quite a simple trick that Moffat uses though: he plays on primal fears of children. A noise under your bed or something moving when you can't see it is frightening to a child. So is the idea that something could be living in shadows, or that you've forgotten an alien incursion: even when the Moff took on the Daleks and visited their asylum, he turned them into crazed relics prepared to suck out your humanity like dementors. Hell, he even tried to make wi-fi scary. He's determined to turn every ordinary thing in the world into something to terrify your kids. The first villain he wrote about in Sherlock was a taxi driver. An ordinary thing, someone you trust. He played on the primal fears of anyone who's ever wandered home alone. He introduced a villain who knew every tiny, secure detail about his hero. And he wrote about a woman that his hero (sort of) fell in love with, only for her to be dangerous, too. He's not just intent on terrifying your kids. He wants you frightened of the ordinary too; he'll prey on anyone's primal fears.