Dr Who and Sherlock writer Steven Moffat honoured by Bafta
With writing credits on hit tv shows Doctor Who and Sherlock, Steven Moffat is to be given a Special Award at the Bafta awards ceremony next weekend.
On hearing the news, the scottish writer joked:
“Blimey. A Special Award. I didn’t even know I was ill. So thrilled by this – especially after two years of Sherlock and Doctor Who, my two favourite shows ever. Of course the work, and the people I get to work with, has always been all the reward I need – a fact I’m very glad that Bafta has disregarded.”
Moffat who first made his name with the children’s programme Press Gang, has also written Coupling and Murder Most Horrid. The Baftas are held on 27 May at the Royal Festival Hall.
In 2008 he was made executive producer on Doctor Who, and a year later joined forces with Mark Gatiss to create Sherlock.
The Bafta chairman Tim Corrie said:
“Steven has had an outstanding year with Doctor Who and Sherlock, not to mention the feature film The Adventures of Tintin, and we are delighted to honour his contribution to television and the arts at the Bafta ceremony on May 27. He is one of the finest exponents of his craft and his award, presented in honour of the late, great Dennis Potter, is very well deserved indeed.”
Moffat has been criticised in the past for the female characters he creates, with some accusing him of outright sexism, although he has reportedly said that a female Doctor Who is a possibility in the future.
Tom MacRae, also a writer on Doctor Who since 2005, dismissed the charge of sexism, pointing out that in the case of both Doctor Who and Sherlock, Moffat places his female characters “at the centre of what could otherwise be a boy’s world.”
Describing him as “one of the cleverest, funniest, most talented writers I know,” MacRae said his friend was someone with an “incredible mind” who had both a “robotic brain and a very human warm soul that made everything he creates unmissable.”