Is it easier or harder to take over a show that’s already a big success? You could argue that Steven Moffat was better placed to run Doctor Who than Russell T Davies had been in 2003; he was just as steeped in the programme as Davies, plus he had the experience of writing several acclaimed episodes already. In fact, he’d won three consecutive Hugo Awards for the show. But this also meant that expectations were high.
Moffat had started in TV as sole writer on the Children’s ITV series Press Gang (1989-93) prior to moving into comedy. His interest in Doctor Who became widely known when he scripted the Comic Relief adventure The Curse of Fatal Death (1999), after which his scripts for the revived series provided a way into drama: before taking over Doctor Who he wrote and executiveproduced Jekyll (2007).
Moffat inherited a job that had been defined by Davies. ‘Showrunner’ isn’t an official job title; it’s become appended to writers with executive authority, but what a ‘showrunner’ does isn’t set in stone. In addition to taking charge of the writing side and being heavily involved with production, Davies had taken a very front-of-house role, which Moffat also stepped into. “I never questioned it,” he told Doctor Who Magazine after leaving the job. “And the visibility of it, I think ultimately I found a bit toxic. I don’t think writers should be known for anything other than their writing.”