Gotta say I have a lot more respect for Stephen Moffat. Most writers, producers and directors seem to stick to one genre mostly. Moffat I'd thought was a sci-fi/fantasy guy. So this sitcom was kind of a surprise. Though I guess the dashes of comedy and even romance in DW make more sense now.
Still I wonder, are he and Richard Ayoade related? They both got freaky curly hair.
Don't forget Jekyll.
Unlikely that they are related. Richard Ayoade had curls because his father is of African descent.
Steven Moffat was probably better known for comedies before Doctor Who: Press Gang, Joking Apart (my introduction into the wacky world of Moffat), Chalk (generally loathed for some reason, but I found it very funny), and Coupling.
shareI only just learned that Chalk was penned by Moffat and although I do recall the series my memories of it are rather vague but I do still remember the critical mauling it received. One of the reasons that I do know that it did having done some research on it was the BBC touted it as the new Fawlty Towers. They no doubt took umbrage to the comparison which lent something to the ferocity behind their panning of it. One review of the series in the comments section even cited It's lack of originality in terms of an episodes where school headmaster Eric Slatt is attempting to hide a corpse (The Kipper and the Corpse).
Supposedly Moffat has admitted to the series being terrible and Tom Baker (who I assume Moffat suggested) was offered a part but turned it down having read the script. What's intriguing though is that the BBC commissioned a second series before it aired due to the positive reaction the series received from the studio audience.
I have learned that episodes of the series can be viewed on Youtube so I'll give it a view and judge for myself. It does seem rather odd to me though that the very man behind a brilliant, sublime ingenious comedy series like Coupling could be behind something so critically maligned. Given as well how well received Moffat's later sitcom was.
Theyve only got so much talent at the BBC, so you gotta run with what you got.
What I've found interesting is that Moffat wrote a Doctor Who parody for the BBC, The Curse of Fatal Death, before he did Doctor Who (or Coupling or Sherlock for that matter). It was pretty funny, it had Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor. Then Moffat goes on to actually run Doctor Who.