Tag: Steven Moffat

Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol

Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol

by Steven Moffat; dir. Toby Haynes (BBC, 2010)

DVD cover: Doctor Who - A Christmas Carol

A successful transplanting of Dickens’s novella into the Doctor Who universe, using science fiction to clever effect and adding a twist to the tale. Moffat captures both the Doctor’s exuberant childlike aspect and the seriousness beneath. Matt Smith is in top form.

 

 

The Day of the Doctor

The Day of the Doctor

by Steven Moffat; dir. Nick Hurran (BBC, 2013)

Doctor Who_Day of the Doctor

Like many of Moffat’s ‘big’ scripts, this has a rushed, scattershot feel—not from poor conceptualisation but from trying to cram too much into too little space. That said, there are plenty of nice moments. The interaction amongst Doctors is perfectly pitched.

 

 

Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time

Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time

by Steven Moffat; dir. Rachel Talalay (BBC, 2017)

Doctor Who_Twice Upon a Time

The Christmas special has some touching performances (Mark Gatiss) and ends on a high with Jodie Whittaker’s first scene, yet for the most part spends too much time prepping the audience for the handover and trying—quite shamelessly—to manipulate our emotions.

 

 

Sherlock, Series 4

Sherlock, Series 4

by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat (BBC, 2017)

Sherlock 4

The upping of stakes from series to series has led Sherlock into some very grim territory. The characteristic humour remains, but edges closer and closer to the gallows… before making its peace and dovetailing in the perfectly balanced ending: ‘The Final Problem’.

 

 

Sherlock, Series 3

Sherlock, Series 3

by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat (BBC, 2014)

Sherlock 03

Having cherry-picked the most famous Sherlock Holmes stories, Gatiss and Moffat in series three give themselves even more latitude for creative adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s material, scripting three adventures that rely very much on the telling. Freeman and Cumberbatch remain resplendent.

 

Doctor Who, Series 5

Doctor Who, Series 5

(BBC, 2010)

Doctor Who Series Five

A whimsical, wizardly Doctor; coupled companions; a contrived plot-arc whose conjured finale proves that bigger and bombastic are not better: Steven Moffat overhauled the programme for both good and bad, with the best coming from one-off writers Simon Nye and Richard Curtis.

 

Doctor Who, Series 9

Doctor Who, Series 9

BBC, 2015

Doctor Who_Series 9

Bookended by Steven Moffat’s tulipomaniacal stake-raising and overblown (if ingenious) retrofitting of Doctor Who’s mythology, the other writers of Series 9 have crafted a straight flush of dark, self-contained science fantasy; gothic disturbances in which Peter Capaldi adds depth to his characterisation.