Doctor Who: 7 Most Unfair Criticisms Of Steven Moffat
5. Steven Moffat's Writing Has Gone Downhill Since He Took Over As Showrunner
Back in 2009, readers of Doctor Who Magazine voted for their favourite story of all time. Two of Moffat's stories made the Top 10, with Blink just missing out on the top spot to The Caves of Androzani. His two other stories finished a respectable 11th and 24th. Last year, the survey was repeated to include everything up until the 50th anniversary special. Once again, Blink just missed out on first place. The victor? Not Caves, not Genesis of The Daleks or City of Death... but The Day of The Doctor, penned by, you guessed it, Steven Moffat. His first script as showrunner, The Eleventh Hour, also made the new Top 20. You can't argue with statistics. As showrunner, Steven Moffat has significantly increased his quota of stories and inevitably they will not all reach the ridiculously high standards of Blink or The Empty Child, but there is little evidence to suggest the quality of his stories have suffered because of the extra responsibilities of being the showrunner.
Paul Driscoll is a freelance writer and author across a range of subjects from Cult TV to religion and social policy. He is a passionate Doctor Who fan and January 2017 will see the publication of his first extended study of the series (based on Toby Whithouse's series six episode, The God Complex) in the critically acclaimed Black Archive range by Obverse Books. He is a regular writer for the fan site Doctor Who Worldwide and has contributed several essays to Watching Books' You and Who range. Recently he has branched out into fiction writing, with two short stories in the charity Doctor Who anthology Seasons of War (Chinbeard Books). Paul's work will also feature in the forthcoming Iris Wildthyme collection (A Clockwork Iris, Obverse Books) and Chinbeard Books' collection of drabbles, A Time Lord for Change.
