Product Code Database
Steven William Moffat (;As pronounced by Moffat in his 2016 Oxford Union Address. born 18 November 1961) is a Scottish television writer, television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as the second showrunner and head writer of the 2005 revival of the BBC sci-fi television series Doctor Who (2010–2017), and for co-creating and co-writing the BBC crime drama television series Sherlock (2010–2017). In the 2015 Birthday Honours, Moffat was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama.United Kingdom:
Born in Paisley, Scotland, Moffat, the son of a teacher, was formerly a teacher himself. His first television work was the teen drama series Press Gang. His first sitcom, Joking Apart, was inspired by the breakdown of his first marriage. Later in the 1990s, he wrote Chalk, inspired by his own experience as an English teacher. Moffat, a lifelong fan of Doctor Who, wrote the comedic sketch episode The Curse of Fatal Death for the Comic Relief charity telethon, which aired in early 1999. His early-2000s sitcom Coupling was based upon the development of his relationship with television producer Sue Vertue.
In March 2004, Moffat was announced as one of the writers for the revived Doctor Who TV series. He wrote six episodes during Russell T Davies' first era as head writer, which aired from 2005 to 2008. Moffat's scripts during this era won him three Hugo Awards, a BAFTA Craft Award, and a BAFTA Cymru Award. Between episodes, he wrote and produced the modern-day drama series Jekyll, based on the novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In May 2008, it was announced that Moffat would succeed Davies as showrunner, lead writer and executive producer of Doctor Who. Around the same time, he dropped his contract with film director Steven Spielberg for a film trilogy based on artist Hergé's character Tintin. Part of the lone script he wrote was used in Spielberg's film The Adventures of Tintin, eventually released in 2011.
Moffat's work in the 2010s consisted mainly of his period as the head writer of Doctor Who during the fifth through tenth series, in which he won another Hugo, and Sherlock, which won Moffat a BAFTA Craft Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards. In the 2020s, he wrote the BBC and Netflix drama co-productions Dracula (2020) and Inside Man (2022), the HBO sci-fi romance mini-series The Time Traveler's Wife (2022), and the ITV comedy-drama Douglas Is Cancelled (2024). In 2024, he returned to Doctor Who to write two episodes for Davies' second tenure as showrunner.
In August 2025, Channel 4 announced that it had commissioned the drama Number 10, about 10 Downing Street, to be written by Moffat, directed by Ben Palmer, and produced by Lawrence Till.
During production of the second series of Press Gang, Moffat was experiencing an unhappy personal life as a result of the break-up of his first marriage. The producer was secretly phoning his friends at home to check on his state.Steven Moffat & Julia Sawalha, "Yesterday's News" Press Gang: Season 2 DVD audio commentary His wife's new lover was represented in the episode "The Big Finish?" by the character Brian Magboy (Simon Schatzberger), a name inspired by Brian: Maggie's boy. Moffat brought in the character so that all sorts of unfortunate things would happen to him, such as having a typewriter dropped on his foot.Steven Moffat & Julia Sawalha, "The Big Finish?" Press Gang: Season 2 DVD audio commentary
He wrote three episodes of Murder Most Horrid, an anthology series of comedic tales starring Dawn French. The first ("Overkill", directed by Spiers) was identified by the BBC as a "highlight" of the series. His other two episodes were "Dying Live" (dir. Dewi Humphreys) and "Elvis, Jesus and Zack" (dir. Tony Dow).
Before Moffat left Pola Jones for Hartswood, Ptaszynski produced Chalk, the series that the writer had pitched to him at the beginning of the decade. Set in a comprehensive school and starring David Bamber as manic deputy head Eric Slatt and Nicola Walker as Suzy Travis, the show was based on Moffat's three years as an English teacher. The studio audience responded so positively to the first series when it was taped that the BBC commissioned a second series before the first had aired. However, it was met less enthusiastically by critics upon transmission in February 1997, who had taken exception to the BBC's publicity department comparing the show to the highly respected Fawlty Towers. In an interview in the early 2000s, Moffat refuses to even name the series, joking that he might get attacked in the street. Coupling: Behind the Scenes, featurette (2002, prod./dir. Sarah Barnett & Christine Wilson) Couping Season 1 DVD (Region 1), BBC Video,
After production wrapped on Chalk in 1997, Moffat announced to the cast that he was marrying Vertue. Chalk Series 1 DVD audio commentary, ReplayDVD
Between Doctor Who episodes, Moffat wrote and produced Jekyll, a modern-day drama series based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, meaning he nearly missed out on writing for the 2007 series of Doctor Who. Written late in the series' run, he quickly based "Blink" on his previously-written Doctor Who short story from 2005, "What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow", as "a desperate way to keep a toehold" in the 2007 series. Jekyll aired on BBC One from June 2007.
In March 2008, Davies said that he often rewrote scripts from other writers, but did not "touch a word" of Moffat's episodes.
In May 2008, the BBC announced that Moffat would be succeeding Davies as lead writer and executive producer of Doctor Who for the show's fifth series, to be broadcast in 2010, although Davies had initiated discussions with Moffat regarding this as far back as July 2007.Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook, Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale (London: BBC Books, 2008), p. 188, reproducing the initial e-mail Davies sent Moffat addressing the issue. He had intended to complete work on the Tintin trilogy before resuming work on Doctor Who, but delays caused by the intervening 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike meant he could only submit part of a script for the first film. Moffat told The Guardian in 2012 that Spielberg was "lovely" about his decision to walk away from his three-film Tintin contract to return to Doctor Who. The script for the first film in the trilogy, The Adventures of Tintin (released in 2011), was completed by Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, with a part of Moffat's script used in the film.
During their journeys from London to Cardiff for Doctor Who, Moffat and writer Mark Gatiss conceived a contemporary update of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories called Sherlock. Vertue advised them to work on the project rather than spend years discussing it. A 60-minute pilot, written by Moffat, was filmed in January 2009. The pilot was not aired but a three-episode series of 90-minute television films produced by Hartswood was commissioned.
Production on Moffat's time in charge of Doctor Who began in July 2009. As executive producer and lead writer, he was significantly involved in casting both Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor and Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. As Doctor Who showrunner, Moffat won another Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form for writing the two-part story "The Pandorica Opens" and "The Big Bang" (both 2010). As showrunner for Sherlock , he won a BAFTA Craft Award for Best Writer for "A Scandal in Belgravia" (2012), a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special for "His Last Vow" (2014), and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie for executive producing "The Abominable Bride" (2016).
In June 2015, Moffat was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his services to drama. In January 2016, Moffat announced he was stepping down as Doctor Who lead writer and executive producer after the 2017 series, his sixth series as showrunner, with Chris Chibnall succeeding him at the start of the eleventh series for broadcast in 2018. The fourth and final series of Sherlock finished production around August 2016, and aired in January 2017. "Twice Upon a Time"—the 2017 Doctor Who Christmas special, and Moffat's last episode as lead writer and showrunner—finished production in July 2017 and broadcast on Christmas that year.
In March 2024, Moffat confirmed his return to writing for Doctor Whos 14th series. He wrote the Christmas special "Joy to the World", also aired in 2024. On the series 14 episode "Boom" and the special he was credited as both writer and as an executive producer.
| Press Gang | 43 episodes (1989–1993)| rowspan="2" ITV | |
| Stay Lucky | "The Devil Wept in Leeds" (1990) | |
| Joking Apart | 13 episodes (1991–1995)| rowspan="2" BBC Two | |
| Murder Most Horrid |
| |
| Chalk | 12 episodes (1997)BBC One | |
| Doctor Who | ||
| Coupling | 28 episodes (2000–2004) | BBC Two BBC Three |
| Jekyll | 6 episodes (2007)| rowspan="3" BBC One | |
| Sherlock | ||
| Dracula | Miniseries (co-written with Mark Gatiss, 2020) | |
| The Time Traveler's Wife | Miniseries (2022)HBO | |
| Inside Man | Miniseries (2022)BBC One/Netflix | |
| Douglas Is Cancelled | Miniseries (2024) | ITVX |
| + Doctor Who television credits | ||||
| 1999 | The Curse of Fatal Death | Four-part mini-episode. Part of Red Nose Day 1999. | ||
| 2005 | Series 1 | "The Empty Child" / "The Doctor Dances" | 9–10 | |
| 2006 | Series 2 | "The Girl in the Fireplace" | 4 | |
| 2007 | Series 3 | "Blink" | 10 | |
| "Time Crash" | Mini-episode. Part of Children in Need 2007. | |||
| 2008 | Series 4 | "Silence in the Library" / "Forest of the Dead" | 8–9 | |
| 2010 | "The End of Time" Part Two | New Year's Day special. Sometimes known as series 4, episode 18. One uncredited scene by Moffat. | ||
| Series 5 | "The Eleventh Hour" | 1 | ||
| "The Beast Below" | 2 | |||
| "The Time of Angels" / "Flesh and Stone" | 4–5 | |||
| "The Pandorica Opens" / "The Big Bang" | 12–13 | |||
| "Meanwhile in the TARDIS" | Two-part mini-episode created for the fifth series' DVD and Blu-ray | |||
| Series 6 | "A Christmas Carol" | Christmas special | ||
| 2011 | "Dermot and the Doctor" | Mini-episode, also titled "The Doctor Saves Day" and "The Doctor and a galaxy of stars". Part of the 12th National Television Awards. | ||
| "Space" / "Time" | Mini-episode. Part of Red Nose Day 2011. | |||
| Series 6 | "The Impossible Astronaut" / "Day of the Moon" | 1–2 | Also had a prequel mini-episode on the BBC Doctor Who website | |
| "A Good Man Goes to War" | 7 | |||
| "Let's Kill Hitler" | 8 | |||
| "The Wedding of River Song" | 13 | |||
| "The Naked Truth" | Mini-episode. Part of Children in Need 2011. | |||
| Series 6 | Night and the Doctor | Series of five mini-episodes called "Bad Night", "Good Night", "First Night", "Last Night", and "Up All Night". Created for the sixth series' DVD and Blu-ray. | ||
| Series 7 | "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" | Christmas special. Also had a prequel mini-episode on the BBC Doctor Who website. | ||
| 2012 | "Asylum of the Daleks" | 1 | Also had a prequel mini-episode initially released on iTunes | |
| "The Angels Take Manhattan" | 5 | |||
| "The Great Detective" | Prequel mini-episode to "The Snowmen". Part of Children in Need 2012. | |||
| "The Snowmen" | Christmas special. Also had two online prequel mini-episodes, one on iTunes in 2013 and one on the BBC website in 2012. Sometimes known as series 7, episode 6. | |||
| 2013 | "The Bells of Saint John" | 6 | Also had a prequel mini-episode on the BBC website. Sometimes known as series 7, episode 7. | |
| "The Name of the Doctor" | 13 | Also had a prequel mini-episode available on BBC Red Button. Sometimes known as series 7, episode 14. | ||
| "Clarence and the Whispermen" | Mini-episode produced for the Series 7 Part Two DVD and Blu-ray | |||
| "Body Swap" | Mini-episode. Part of the 2013 Doctor Who Prom. | |||
| Series 7 | "Clara and the TARDIS" | Mini-episode created for the complete seventh series DVD and Blu-ray | ||
| "INFORARIUM" | ||||
| "The Night of the Doctor" | BBC iPlayer/YouTube mini-episode | |||
| "The Last Day" | Online mini-episode | |||
| "The Day of the Doctor" | 50th anniversary special. Also wrote a special introduction for cinema screenings of the episode. | |||
| "The Time of the Doctor" | Christmas special | |||
| 2014 | Series 8 | "Deep Breath" | 1 | Also wrote a special introduction for cinema screenings of the episode |
| "Into the Dalek" | 2 | With Phil Ford | ||
| "Listen" | 4 | |||
| "Time Heist" | 5 | With Steve Thompson | ||
| "The Caretaker" | 6 | With Gareth Roberts | ||
| "Dark Water" / "Death in Heaven" | 11–12 | |||
| Series 9 | "Last Christmas" | Christmas special | ||
| 2015 | "The Doctor's Meditation" | Mini-episode and prequel to "The Magician's Apprentice". Shown during cinema screenings of "Dark Water" / "Death in Heaven". | ||
| "The Magician's Apprentice" / "The Witch's Familiar" | 1–2 | Also had an online prologue | ||
| "The Girl Who Died" | 5 | With Jamie Mathieson | ||
| "The Zygon Inversion" | 8 | With Peter Harness | ||
| "Heaven Sent" | 11 | |||
| "Hell Bent" | 12 | |||
| "The Husbands of River Song" | Christmas special | |||
| 2016 | Series 10 | "Friend from the Future" | Mini-episode, also titled "Introducing the New Companion..." Repurposed into part of "The Pilot" | |
| "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" | Christmas special | |||
| 2017 | "The Pilot" | 1 | ||
| "Extremis" | 6 | |||
| "The Pyramid at the End of the World" | 7 | With Peter Harness | ||
| "World Enough and Time" / "The Doctor Falls" | 11–12 | |||
| "Twice Upon a Time" | Christmas special | |||
| 2024 | Series 14 | "Boom" | 3 | |
| Series 15 | "Joy to the World" | Christmas special |
| + Sherlock television credits | ||||
| 2009 | "A Study in Pink" | Unaired pilot | ||
| 2010 | Series 1 | "A Study in Pink" | 1 | |
| 2012 | Series 2 | "A Scandal in Belgravia" | 1 | |
| 2013 | Series 3 | "Many Happy Returns" | Online mini-episode and a prequel to series 3. With Mark Gatiss. | |
| 2014 | "The Sign of Three" | 2 | With Steve Thompson and Mark Gatiss | |
| "His Last Vow" | 3 | |||
| 2016 | "The Abominable Bride" | New Year's Day special. With Mark Gatiss. | ||
| 2017 | Series 4 | "The Lying Detective" | 2 | |
| "The Final Problem" | 3 | With Mark Gatiss |
| Feature film (co-written with Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, 2011) |
|
| The Unfriend |
|
| 1991 | British Academy Television Awards | Press Gang | Best Children's Programme (Entertainment / Drama) | ||
| Royal Television Society Awards | Best Children's Programme | ||||
| 1992 | British Academy Television Awards | ||||
| 1995 | Bronze Rose of Montreux | Joking Apart | Comedy | ||
| 2003 | British Comedy Awards | Coupling | Best TV Comedy | ||
| 2006 | Hugo Award | Doctor Who: "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | ||
| 2007 | Doctor Who: "The Girl in the Fireplace" | ||||
| Nebula Award | Best Script | ||||
| Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award | Doctor Who, Series Three | Best Soap / Series (TV) (with Chris Chibnall, Paul Cornell, Russell T Davies, Helen Raynor and Gareth Roberts) | |||
| 2008 | Nebula Award | Doctor Who: "Blink" | Best Script | ||
| British Academy Television Award | Best Writer | ||||
| Hugo Award | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | ||||
| BAFTA Cymru | Best Screenwriter | ||||
| BAFTA Scotland | Doctor Who | Writing in Film or Television | |||
| SFX Awards | Doctor Who: "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" | Best TV Episode | |||
| 2009 | Hugo Award | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | |||
| Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award | Doctor Who, Series Four | Television drama series (with Russell T Davies) | |||
| 2010 | SFX Awards | Doctor Who (for taking over as showrunner) | Hope for the Future | ||
| 2011 | Hugo Award | Doctor Who: "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang" | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | ||
| Doctor Who: "A Christmas Carol" | |||||
| Primetime Emmy Award | Sherlock: "A Study in Pink" | Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special | |||
| Satellite Award | (shared with Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish) | Best Adapted Screenplay | |||
| 2012 | Annie Award | Writing in a Feature Production | |||
| Hugo Award | Doctor Who: "A Good Man Goes To War" | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | |||
| British Academy Television Craft Awards | Special Award | ||||
| Sherlock: "A Scandal in Belgravia" | Best Writing | ||||
| Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special | ||||
| 2013 | Hugo Award | Doctor Who: "Asylum of the Daleks" | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | ||
| Doctor Who: "The Angels Take Manhattan" | |||||
| Doctor Who: "The Snowmen" | |||||
| 2014 | Doctor Who: "The Name of the Doctor" | ||||
| Doctor Who: "The Day of the Doctor" | |||||
| Nebula Awards | Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation | ||||
| Primetime Emmy Award | Sherlock: "His Last Vow" | Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special | |||
| 2015 | Bram Stoker Award | Doctor Who: "Listen" | Superior Achievement in a Screenplay | ||
| Hugo Award | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | ||||
| BAFTA Scotland | Doctor Who | Writer in Film or Television | |||
| 2016 | Hugo Award | Doctor Who: "Heaven Sent" | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | ||
| Primetime Emmy Award | Sherlock: "The Abominable Bride" | Outstanding Television Movie | |||
| 2017 | Hugo Award | Doctor Who: "The Return of Doctor Mysterio" | Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form | ||
| 2018 | Doctor Who: "Twice Upon a Time" |
|
|
