Doctor Who Wins Fifth Hugo

Monday, 22 August 2011 - Reported by Marcus
Doctor Who has won a HUGO award for the 2010 series conclusion The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang.

Written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Toby Haynes, the story was shown last June when it wrapped up the events of Matt Smith's first series as The Doctor.

The story beat two other Doctor Who stories, A Christmas Carol and Vincent and the Doctor as well as The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan and **** Me, Ray Bradbury by Rachel Bloom, to win the award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form).

The award is the fourth for Steven Moffat, having previously won for The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace and Blink. Last year the award was won by The Waters of Mars written by Russell T Davies and Phil Ford.

The award for Best Related Work was given to Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea and published by Mad Norwegian.

The book is a series of essays which delve into the extraordinary aspects of being a female “Doctor Who” enthusiast. Essays include Carole Barrowman discussing what it was like to grow up with her brother John, columnist Jackie Jenkins providing a Bridget Jones’ Diary-style memoir of working on “Doctor Who Magazine,” and novelist Lloyd Rose analyzing Rose’s changes between the ninth and tenth Doctors.

The Hugo Awards are given every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories.

Hugo Awards have been presented every year since 1955. The 2011 winners were announced on Saturday evening, at Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction convention held in Reno, Nevada.




FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Awards/Nominations - Series 5/31

Steven Moffat enters the Guardian Media 100

Monday, 25 July 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
For every year since 2001 the Guardian has released the Media 100 - a list of who they consider are currently the most powerful people in the UK Media; candidates for the list are judged on cultural influence, economic clout and political power over the course of the last year.

This year sees Doctor Who and Sherlock lead writer Steven Moffat enter the chart as number 92:
Steven Moffat is one of a select band of writers and producers who is almost as famous as the stars who appear in his shows.

Not content with being the showrunner on the BBC's biggest-selling global hit, Doctor Who, he was also the co-creator, along with League of Gentlemen star Mark Gatiss, of one of BBC1's most acclaimed new dramas of last year, Sherlock.

Moffat, a long-time Whovian, began his TV career with the Bafta-winning children's show Press Gang and was best known for BBC2 sitcom Coupling before taking over from Russell T Davies on the time-travelling show. He also co-scripted new Steven Spielberg film, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

BBC executives that have an influence of Doctor Who's future in the list include Director General Mark Thompson (4), Director of Vision George Entwistle (26), and BBC1 Controller Danny Cohen (14)


Moffat's predecessor Russell T Davies was a regular in the chart when he was overseeing Doctor Who, entering the chart strongly for his 2004 involvement in bringing the series back at number 14 in the 2005 list, followed up by 28 (2006), 15 (2007) and 31 (2008). The Doctor himself has also appeared in the past, represented by actor David Tennant who was listed as number 24 in 2007.


The list is drawn up by a panel of judges, which this year included Lorraine Heggessey, the BBC1 controller responsible for the decision to bring Doctor Who back into production during 2003 (and herself ranked 46/54 during that period).




FILTER: - Steven Moffat - People - Doctor Who

New Executive Producer Announced

Thursday, 21 July 2011 - Reported by Marcus
The BBC has announced that Caroline Skinner will join Steven Moffat as Executive Producer on Doctor Who.

Skinner has recently been working as producer on Five Days, a serial for BBC One. She has previously been script editor on productions such as House of Saddam, The Shadow in the North, The Ruby in the Smoke and Bleak House.

Skinner will start work on the series immediately, working alongside departing Executive Producer Piers Wenger on the 2011 Christmas special, before taking charge for the fourteen episodes which form the next series of the show, which leads up to the programme's 50th Anniversary.

Speaking about the appointment, Moffat told the official website:
The exec joining me on Doctor Who is Caroline Skinner - fresh from the wonderful Five Days, and still finishing up on a brand new show called The Fades (a fantasy horror series, written by Jack Thorne - I've seen episode 1, and it's BRILLIANT.) Somewhere between me laughing in a basement and choosing planets to invade, and Marcus Wilson raising armies, there has to be a Prime Minister actually running the whole thing. That's the job Piers Wenger and Beth Willis have been doing so wonderfully for the last few years. Now that Piers is off to movie land, that's the furnace Caroline will be walking into.




FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Production - Caroline Skinner - Series 7/33 - BBC

Radio Times: Moffat talks Daleks

Tuesday, 31 May 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
This week's Radio Times once again features Doctor Who on its front cover - though for once centre of attention falls to the Doctor's companion Amy Pond! (Please note the cover may be considered a spoiler for those who haven't seen the preceeding episode, The Almost People)




The magazine includes an interview with head writer Steven Moffat, who was asked about the future of the Doctor's most popular adversary, the Daleks:
Oh yes, the Daleks. Actually, they aren’t going to make an appearance for a while. What? Yes, we thought it was about time to give them a rest. There’s a problem with the Daleks. How come? I thought they were invincible. They are the most famous of the Doctor’s adversaries and the most frequent, which means they are the most reliably defeatable enemies in the universe. They have been defeated by the Doctor about 400 times. Surely they should just see the Tardis approaching, say, ‘Oh. It’s him again’, and trudge away.

Unsurprisingly the media picked up on these comments, with some suggesting that the Daleks were to be rested indefinitely; Moffat clarified his statements this morning on Twitter:
Daleks: I was talking about THIS series. Stand down.

News links: Radio Times, BBC News, The Sun(1), The Sun(2), Metro, Guardian, Telegraph, Independent, Express, Anglotopia, Aberdeen Press and Journal, On The Box, The Register, NME



Other recent related Radio Times covers featuring Doctor Who/Matt Smith:








FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Series 6/32 - Radio Times

Steven Moffat triumphs at BAFTA

Sunday, 22 May 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Steven Moffat had cause to celebrate this evening as he won the award for Drama Series with co-creator Mark Gatiss for their mini-series Sherlock. The show beat off opposition from Being Human, Downton Abbey and Misfits. Sherlock also garnered an award for actor Martin Freeman, who won Best Supporting Actor for his role as John Watson, but missed out in the YouTube Audience Award to The Only Way Is Essex.

However, neither of Moffat's principle stars were able to walk off with the Leading Actor award - both Matt Smith for Doctor Who and Benedict Cumberbatch for Sherlock were pipped to the post by actor Daniel Rigby, who played the young Eric Morecambe in the BBC's Christmas special Eric and Ernie. The other nominee in this category was Jim Broadbent for Channel 4's Any Human Heart.

Matt Smith's nomination heralded the first time a leading actor for Doctor Who has ever been represented for the award.

The full list of nominees and winners can be found at the BAFTA website.


 

Matt Smith and Catherine Tate - Television Awards Red Carpet in 2011, BAFTA Online, via YouTube






FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Awards/Nominations

Steven Moffat speaks out against spoiler "vandals"

Wednesday, 11 May 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Steven Moffat has been quoted this morning on his thoughts about how some 'fans' feel the need to spoil series surprises ahead of broadcast, something he considers to be 'vandalism'.

The comments come after a recent incident where the plot of series opener The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon was posted online, and the story has been picked up by BBC News and on BBC Radio. Speaking to BBC Entertainment reporter Colin Paterson at a pre-BAFTA TV Awards event, Moffat said:
It's heart-breaking in a way, because you try and tell a story, and stories depend on surprise, stories depend on shocking people, stories are the moments you didn't see coming - those are what live in you and burn in you forever. If you are denied those, it's vandalism.

To have some twit who came to a press launch write up a story in the worst, most ham-fisted English you can imagine and put it on the Internet ... I just hope that guy never watches my show again, because that's a horrific thing to do. It is exactly like that boring man in the pub, who waits until you're nearly finished your joke and jumps in with the punchline, and gets it slightly wrong. You hate that guy, you just hate those guys too - can you imagine how much I hate them?

... It's only fans who do this - or they call themselves fans - I wish they could go and be fans of something else!

Having discussed the item on BBC Radio Five Live earlier in the morning, Paterson then appeared alongside Doctor Who Magazine reporter Benjamin Cook on BBC's Breakfast, where the latter reflected on Moffat's concerns:
I can understand Steven's frustration, because he heads a team of people who work incredibly hard throughout the year to make the BBC's flagship show and it should be their choice in how that story is digested by the viewers: the funny bits make you laugh, the sad bits make you cry, and the twists and turns - of which there are many, and many more coming up later in the series - they should be allowed to shock people. If someone goes online and spoils it for other fans ... but also then often journalists will trawl the Doctor Who forums to find stories to put in the newspaper that can reach the national press, it's a bit of a rubbish thing to do.

But I would say in the fans' defence that it often comes from a place of enthusiasm - it's not malicious, it's because they love the show. They want information about it, they want to share information about it.

BBC Radio Five Live spoke to Sandy Sinclair, senior contributor to Spoiler TV, who commented:
(If) you look at soap operas these days, you know what's happening months ahead. People start to expect these things of programmes. I have to say that people who do come and read these spoilers - specifically the one he (Steven Moffat) talked about - make up approximately 0.00001% of the actual people that are watching the show.

... We get screeners all the time for episodes of shows that haven't been screened yet on TV, they're sent to us and we give a non-spoiler review so that fans then do want to watch it. Obviously you are going to get people who don't respect that, unfortunately. If Steven Moffat is going to invite a number of people to different screenings of the episode three, four weeks before it's been shown on TV, he's going to have this happen. He's invited normal fans along to screenings rather than just the press or a site like us that will respect what he says, and obviously tease people about the episode, rather than give out a full blown, exactly blow-by-blow of what happened.

(the full interview can be heard for the next seven days on the BBC iplayer [2:13:24])

Later in the morning, Moffat wryly commented on Twitter about his interview: "Finally heard my own rant. Grumpy sod. And what a boring, inflection free voice! It's like been told off by the shipping forecast." He also pointed out: "It's the fans who MAKE the screenings - helluva lot of people to punish for one idiot."


 
Doctor Who's brand manager Edward Russell has also entered the fray via Twitter, focussing on those that follow location filming: "It's the people that follow us around on set and post bits of dialogue, film and photos that are the problem. One fan posted the dialogue of a scene from Ep13 recently." Responding to comments about Monday's Today programme, which also featured details of episode 13, he added: "Today didn't give away anything they weren't supposed to. There's a difference between teaser and spoiler."
 






FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Doctor Who - BBC

Doctor Who nominations in 2011 Hugo Awards

Monday, 25 April 2011 - Reported by Chuck Foster
Following a long tradition, Doctor Who is once again been nominated for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form in the annual Hugo Awards. This year sees A Christmas Carol (written by Steven Moffat), The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang (also by Moffat), and Vincent and the Doctor (Richard Curtis) vying for the award, up against The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan and **** Me, Ray Bradbury by Rachel Bloom.

Since its return in 2005, Doctor Who has only been beaten once in this category: Steven Moffat was successful for the first three years with The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (2006), The Girl in the Fireplace (2007) and Blink (2008); 2009 was the 'gap' year with Moffat's Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead and Russell T Davies's Turn Left losing out to Joss Whedon's Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog; last year saw Davies and Phil Ford win the award with The Waters of Mars.

Also nominated for an award in the Best Related Work section is the book Chicks Digs Time Lords, A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, published by Mad Norwegian Press. In the book a host of award-winning female novelists, academics and actresses come together to celebrate the phenomenon that is Doctor Who, discuss their inventive involvement with the show’s fandom and examine why they adore the series.

This year's award winners will be revealed on Saturday 20th August at Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction convention taking place at Reno, Nevada over that weekend.




FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Awards/Nominations

Moffat on Norton

Saturday, 16 April 2011 - Reported by Marcus
Executive Producer Steven Moffat will be a guest on Graham Norton's Radio 2 show next Saturday, 23rd April, just a few hours before the launch of the new series.

The show will have a clip from the first episode. The producers are asking for emails for Norton to put to Moffat during the programme, which can be sent to graham.norton@bbc.co.uk.

Radio 2 is available worldwide on the BBC iPlayer. Moffat will be on the show around 1130 UK Time.




FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Doctor Who - Series 6/32

'Super Follow' Auction for Comic Relief

Thursday, 17 March 2011 - Reported by Marcus
Red Nose DayComic Relief are offering auctioning a chance to be super-followed on twitter by the man behind the series, Steven Moffat. The winner will also get a five minute phone call from Moffat himself along with The Doctor in the form of Matt Smith.

The ‘Super-Follow’ means that Moffat will

1. Follow you on Twitter for 90 days
2. Retweet one of your tweets
3. Send out a tweet including your Twitter @username

In addition he will send you two Doctor Who scripts. One from a previous Doctor Who series, signed by David Tennant, Russell T. Davies and Dan Ryan (who donated it) and one from the last series signed by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan.

You will also get 2 tickets to the Doctor Who Experience at Olympia in London (on 4th April) and 2 tickets to the screening of the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who plus a question and answer session with the key cast afterwards (also on 4th April).

The auction is now open on ebay.




FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Charities

Doctor Who loses out at NTA Awards

Wednesday, 26 January 2011 - Reported by Marcus
NTADoctor Who lost out in the 2011 National Television Awards on Wednesday evening, failing to win an award for the first time since the return of the series in 2005.

The series was beaten in the Best Drama Category by the BBC series Waterloo Road, the contemporary drama series set in a challenging comprehensive school. Matt Smith was nominated for Best Drama Performance, but the award went to veteran actor David Jason.

It was a disappointing night for Doctor Who's showrunner, Steven Moffat, whose other show Sherlock was nominated but failed to win an award.

Doctor Who did play a part in the proceedings when the show opened with a specially shot 3 minute sequence, written by Steven Moffat and staring Matt Smith as the Doctor, trying to get host Dermot O'Leary to the show on time:





FILTER: - Steven Moffat - Doctor Who - Awards/Nominations