Doctor Who is one of the longest-running shows in the history of television, but the modern incarnation of the series is more popular than it has ever been before. Of course, with that comes an increased level of scrutiny, as former showrunner Steven Moffat can attest, saying he was “chief Satan of the nation” during his time in charge of the series.
Steven Moffat has been part of Doctor Who since the show returned to the air back in 2005. His most important period, however, was as the showrunner, during the tenures of Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi as the titular Doctor. Speaking with THR Moffat talked about his time as showrunner and the level of hate he says he experienced cannot be understated. Moffat said…
The level of hate you get could down three passenger jets. I mean, seriously, it doesn’t stop. I was vilified endlessly. I was a homophobe, misandrist and a misanthrope and a sexist and misogynist and a racist. I was against so many people I could only be described as an omni- bigot, which I would suggest means I’m treating everybody equally.
When Russell T. Davies originally left as showrunner of Doctor Who alongside David Tennant's decision to leave the series, many fans specifically hoped that Steven Moffat would be the man to take over the show. He had written some of the series' most popular episodes up to that point including “The Empty Child” with Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston and “Blink” with Tenth Doctor David Tennant. Then Moffat got the job, which he would hold through two regenerations before leaving Doctor Who in 2017.
Moffat has spoken about overworking himself on the show, calling one of his seasons one of the worst Doctor Who seasons in recent memory.
While the regeneration into Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor coincided with a new burst of popularity for Doctor Who it must be said that Moffat’s era in charge of the series was somewhat controversial. Certainly, you can’t please everybody, and a lot of Doctor Who fans didn’t like the direction that Moffat took the series.
Moffat has been criticized in the past for the way he has written female characters specifically, but it sounds like the writer received his share of negative feedback regarding people of color and gay characters as well. It seems he’s terrible at writing everybody, which as Moffat himself jokes, means at least there’s equality.
Since stepping down as showrunner, Steven Moffat has returned to Doctor Who writing an episode of the most recent season, starring Ncuti Gartwa. After taking a few years away, and not having all the pressure on him, it seems Moffat couldn’t stay away.
With Doctor Who now on Disney+ the series has reached yet another level of global popularity that it has never seen before. The last season seemed to be pretty well reviewed overall, but I’m sure at some point lots of people will have something new to get mad about.