YEEEEEEHHHAAAWWWWW!
Steven Moffat — the incredible mind behind the best episodes of Doctor Who such as "Blink", "The Empty Child", and "The Doctor Dances" — will be taking over as lead writer and executive producer for Series 5!
This is fantastic news. Moffat is brilliant. Russel T Davies, the current Exec, has done some great things with Doctor Who, and was largely responsible for getting it back on the air. However, I think he’s running out of steam — so far this season only a couple of episodes have really stood out, and the rest have been a bit plodding and silly — and new blood will help tremendously.
I can’t think of anyone better than Moffat to take over (and it’s been widely rumored for months that he would). If you’ve ever watched the UK show "Coupling" you know what I mean. Moffat is extremely clever, and as he gets familiar with a show he takes more risks rather than let things coast. He shows scenes out of order for comedic effect, or teases an idea throughout an episode, or just takes a simple idea and runs it through its complete course, taking no prisoners.
So: yay! The only bad news: Series 5 won’t start until 2010, after they take a year off. That’s a bummer, but I think it’ll be worth the wait.
Tip o’ the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff to Gia. Mwah!
May 20th, 2008 at 10:06 am
YES! THIS is what I’ve been wanting to hear! Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!!!!
May 20th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Being new to Doctor Who (I’ve caught old episodes every once in a while but didn’t watch regularly), I have a question. Why is it only season 5 if the series has been on the air for so long?
Thanks to BA and my DVR, my kids and I have become regular watchers. And I have a lot of catch up to do!
May 20th, 2008 at 10:20 am
It is VERY cool news and just what the Dr ordered. BUT! How will we survive a whole year without the Dr to help us? I hope the news doesn’t get out or every megalomaniac alien mastermind in the universe will be heading for earth to make a bid for domination.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:27 am
RL:
This is the fifth series of the second run of the show. The show took a brief haitus (for a decade or two), to be revived by Russel T. Davies a few years back.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Ugh: fifth SEASON, not series. Sorry (:
May 20th, 2008 at 10:31 am
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!
I’ve been waiting for this moment for a loooooooong time.
This totally made my day!
May 20th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Yeeee-ha! That’s such awesome news!
May 20th, 2008 at 10:38 am
This is indeed awesome news. I was just saying that I was about ready to give up on New Who. But Moffat’s been responsible for most of the really brilliant episodes and has a much better handle on what makes the show tick than Davies.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:45 am
There will be three special episodes in 2009, though, but yeah, no main series
This is awesome news, I was really pleased by it.
~Chris
PS: Totally agree with you about this current series. Some good ones, some not so great. Next week’s two-parter (at least in the UK) is written by Moffat. The library one, not the, erm, other one that you may not have seen yet…
~Chris
May 20th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Outpost Gallifrey has a short post with funny responses from Davies and Moffat:
http://www.gallifreyone.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?id=EkEEkAyuFuDUQWwpTO&tmpl=newsrss&style=feedstyle
May 20th, 2008 at 10:51 am
PS: Can’t believe you haven’t mentioned Brain Cox’s next episode for Horizon he’s working on! “What on Earth is wrong with gravity?”
Just to cover all bases: Can’t believe I missed you talking about Brian’s next episode of Horizon he’s working on
~Chris
May 20th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Actually it’s two Christmas specials (one this year, one next) plus the three specials spread out over 2009.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Um, Chris, that Horizon aired in January. It’s very good, especially by Horizon’s standards. I wish they took that approach more often, letting scientists’ natural enthusiasm keep the readers’ interest, rather than using silly subject matter and sensationalist narration. Similarly, Jim Al-Khalili’s series Atom was superb.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Fantastic!!!!! Moffatt’s episodes are my favorites – hands down.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
For the record, I am glad you mentioned Coupling, one of the
funniest and cleverest comedies I have ever seen on either side
of the pond.
It was wrongly labeled as a British version of Friends, which it
is not, as it remained funny throughout its run and dared to go
where no American series will still go except on cable. Yes, they
actually do and discuss things that most real couples do. Well,
okay, not everything – nobody gets as lucky as some of them
did. :^)
And some of you may remember when they tried to make an
American version of Coupling on NBC a few years ago. Just
too painful, especially when one realizes they copied the first
episode almost verbatim.
But anyway, watch the real Coupling, especially for the occasional
SF thrown in, no doubt by Mr. Moffat, especially in the fourth and
final season.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
… Who’s Doctor Who?
May 20th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Phil, Did you get a chance to see Jekyll? I was one of the best shows ever. As is Coupling. I am THRILLED about Moffat’s taking the helm.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
@Josh: Now, now. Let’s not look to start trouble!
May 20th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Does this mean the next companion won’t have an annoying mother who shows up every third episode?
I mean, Jackie Tyler was okay because it was a departure from the classic series to see a companion’s family, but Martha’s mum, the Tate-beast’s mum, and the annoying mother on the Sarah Jane Adventures are starting to make me think Davies needs therapy more than a writing job.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
2010? Argh, I wish you hadn’t told us now. :p Its like waiting for christmas, except they are skipping christmas next year.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Does this mean the next companion won’t have an annoying mother who shows up every third episode?
And with any luck we’ll be done with evil nuns and angels as well (though Moffatt was responsible for one batch of angels).
May 20th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
2010? Ouch! That means we’ll only have two years of his briliant writing before the world comes to an end! (The Mayan calander runs out, and we get hit in the asteroid!)
Doctor! Save us! It’s got to be a plot by some long dormant adversary who is long overdue for an art direction update… the Rutans maybe?
May 20th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Hey, the next two Doctor Who episodes coming up are Moffat episodes!
And if you really want to see some Moffat TV goodness, watch the Jekyll miniseries!
This is REALLY great news!
May 20th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
They won’t be taking 2009 off per se, simply releasing three special episodes of greater length (sort of like the last Christmas episode, which was longer then normal).
May 20th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My favourite writer on one of my favourite shows! Which reminds me, I’ve got to get my hands on Coupling (and Jekyll, of course). I saw five brief minutes of Jekyll when it was televised here in Australia, but I never got the chance to watch the full run.
May 20th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I love Coupling. It didn’t take off here when they tried to remake it for the US (but then again, it wasn’t as good as the UK version).
I’m glad to see that they’ll be making Christmas specials for this year and next. Gotta say my first thought was, “…but then who’s gonna save us from the aliens on Christmas?! D: ”
I do love Davies for getting the show back on the air, and doing so well at keeping it there. I’m also glad he’s stepping aside for a brilliant writer/director like Moffat.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Mmmm…..Jack Davenport in “Coupling”…mmmmmm……
I think series 4 has been pretty dire, so good news. I’m bored of them going back in human history –Pompeii, Agatha Christie– or the contemporary UK and throwing some aliens in the mix, I want the Doctor and companion(s) to visit other worlds that aren’t Earth, not just riff on historical incidents.
I think this week is postponed until the 31st due to the Eurovision Song Contest (!!!).
May 21st, 2008 at 1:59 am
Indeed, this is absolutely BRILLIANT news!! Moffat’s episodes are GENIUS. I’m still scared of ‘Blink’ and ‘The Empty Child’ even though I’ve seen them several times each… Brilliant.
Chris H – Brian’s doing a Horizon on Time.
And, BA, I can’t believe you didn’t mention that I met ‘Indiana Jones/Han Solo/Deckard’ the other day!!!! (*still swooning*)
May 21st, 2008 at 7:27 am
Don’t forget — Stephen Moffat’s first work with Doctor Who was not “The Empty Child”. It was “The Curse of Fatal Death”, the most brilliant Dr Who spoof ever made, hands down, and probably instrumental in persuading the BBC to go ahead and revive the series. It was produced for the annual charity telethon “Comic Relief”, with cast and crew donating their work for charity purposes, and was so staggeringly successful, bringing in donations from abroad thanks to its online availability, that the BBC eventually released it on video (with sales again going to charity). If you haven’t seen it, it’s out on VHS, and it’s *well* worth watching. And watching again and again, to make sure you catch all the funny bits. Rowan Atkinson plays the Ninth Doctor, Julia Sawalha plays his companion, Emma, and Jonathan Pryce plays the Master. They’re all fantastic, delivering very silly lines with absolute straight-faced aplomb. It’s . . . it’s perfect. And born out of the same mind as “Blink”.
“The Curse of Fatal Death” was probably Moffat’s idea, start to finish; his wife was producing that year’s Comic Relief, so he would’ve been in the right place to suggest it.
(He joked that he got to write it by sleeping with the producer.)
May 21st, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Jesse: Thanks for the answer!
May 21st, 2008 at 11:25 pm
BREASTS!
Gussets.
Theigh.
bra.
Bicycle saddle.
(For those who don’t know, Jeff Murdock was a character in Coupling known for his perverted mind and his lack of luck with the ladies.)
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
You can see Moffat’s Who parody “Curse of the fatal death” on youtube. The final part shows multiple doctors; I don’t want to give more away, but some pretty great choices:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXRmpm0MEMY&feature=related
Who am I kidding? Richard E. Grant would be great!
May 25th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Ah yes, I asked about this during your Live Chat and didn’t realise you’d already blogged about it. Should have been paying more attention!