Steven Moffat
Born	1961 Paisley, Scotland
Occupation	Writer
Writing period	1988 - present
Genres	Comedy/drama

Steven Moffat (born 1961 in Paisley, Scotland) is a British comedy/drama writer who has contributed to television series since the late 1980s. He is married to Sue Vertue, a television producer. Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Scotland. ... For other uses, see Paisley (disambiguation). ... This article is about the country. ... This article is about work. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Paisley (Pàislig in Scottish Gaelic) is a large town, and former royal burgh in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. ... This article is about the country. ... A comedy is a dramatic performance of a light and amusing character, usually with a happy conclusion to its plot. ... For other uses, see Drama (disambiguation). ... A Television producer oversees the making of television penis programs. ...

Early life

After gaining a degree in English, he worked as a teacher. His father, Bill Moffat, was a headteacher at a Glasgow school. When the school was used for Harry Secombe's Highway, he mentioned to the producers that he had an idea for a television series about a school newspaper. The producers asked for a sample script, to which Bill Moffat agreed on condition that it was written by his son.^[1] Producer Sandra Hastie said that it was "the best ever first script" that she had read.^[2] Sir Harry Donald Secombe, CBE (8 September 1921–11 April 2001) was a Welsh entertainer with a noted fine tenor singing voice and a talent for comedy. ...

Writing career

At the age of 28, Steven Moffat produced his first television work. Press Gang, starring Julia Sawalha and Dexter Fletcher, was immensely successful and ran for four years on ITV, with Moffat writing all forty-three episodes. The series won a BAFTA award in its second season.^[3] Press Gang was a British childrens television comedy-drama, which ran for forty-three episodes in five series from 1989 to 1993. ... Julia Sawalha (born 9th September 1968) is a British actress best known for her roles of Lynda Day (editor of The Junior Gazette in Press Gang), Saffron Monsoon in Absolutely Fabulous and Lydia Bennet in the 1995 miniseries of Pride and Prejudice. ... Dexter Fletcher on the set of GamesMaster, of which he hosted only one series. ... Independent Television (generally known as ITV, but also as ITV Network) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK. Since 1990 and the Broadcasting... The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organization that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ...

Working again with Press Gang's primary director Bob Spiers, he wrote some episodes (including "Overkill") of Murder Most Horrid starring Dawn French. Bob Spiers is a British television director best known for his work on various sitcoms and other comedy programmes, particularly noted as the director of the early series of Absolutely Fabulous (1992-2001), and of the second and final batch of six episodes of Fawlty Towers (1979). ... Overkill was an episode of the British comedy television series Murder Most Horrid. ... Murder Most Horrid was a British television comedy starring comedian Dawn French. ... Dawn Roma French[1] (born 11 October 1957) is a BAFTA Award-nominated British comedian and actress best known for starring in her comedy sketch show French & Saunders along with her comedy partner Jennifer Saunders, and for playing the lead role in The Vicar of Dibley as Geraldine Granger. ...

During production of the second series of Press Gang, he was having an unhappy personal life after the break-up of his first marriage. His wife's new lover was represented in the episode "The Big Finish?" by the character Brian Magboy (Simon Schatzberger), a name inspired by Brian: Maggie's boy. Moffat brought in the character so that all sorts of unfortunate things would happen to him, such as having a typewriter dropped on his foot.^[4] Personal life (or everyday life or human existence) is an individual humans personal, private career (including, but not the same as, their employment career), and is a common notion in modern existence -- although more so in more prosperous parts of the world, such as Western Europe and North America... Simon Schatzberger is a British television actor. ... Mechanical desktop typewriters, such as this Underwood Five, were long time standards of government agencies, newsrooms, and sales offices. ...

Sitcoms and Dramas

Inspired by these events, Moffat wrote two series of Joking Apart.^[5] The sitcom was again directed by Spiers, and starred Robert Bathurst and Fiona Gillies. The show won the Bronze Rose of Montreux^[6] and was entered for the Emmys.^[7] In an interview with Richard Herring, Moffat says that "The sit-com actually lasted slightly longer than my marriage."^[1] Joking Apart was a bittersweet comedy written by Steven Moffat and broadcast on BBC Two. ... Robert Bathurst as Mark in one of the fantasy stand-up sequences in Joking Apart Robert Bathurst (born 1958, Ghana) is a British actor. ... Becky (Fiona Gillies) and Mark (Robert Bathurst) discuss their marriage in Joking Apart Fiona Gillies is a British actress who has appeared on television and the stage. ... The Rose dOr (or Golden Rose) is a highly prestigious television award, given annually since 1961 at the Festival Rose dOr in spring each year. ... An Emmy Award. ... Richard Herring performing his show Someone Likes Yoghurt at the Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh, during the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Richard Keith Herring (born July 12, 1967) is a British comedian and writer formerly best known as part of Lee and Herring, a double act with Stewart Lee. ...

In 1997, BBC One aired two series of his sitcom Chalk, set in a comprehensive school. Starring David Bamber as deputy head Eric Slatt, the show was received quite poorly. In an interview in the early 2000s, Moffat refuses to even name the show, joking that he might get attacked in the street.^[8] For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 1. ... Chalk was a British comedy written by Steven Moffat set in the fictional comprehensive school of Galfast High. ... A comprehensive school is a secondary school that does not select children on the basis of academic attainment or aptitude. ... David Bamber as Marcus Tullius Cicero in the television series Rome. ...

As is traditional for many of those in the British sitcom world, he has contributed to the bi-annual Comic Relief charity telethon nights, writing the script for the science-fiction parody Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death in 1999. The co-producer for that year's Red Nose Day telethon was Moffat's new wife, Sue Vertue.^[9] (Moffat, a fan of the series since childhood, had previously written a Doctor Who prose story, "Continuity Errors", published in the Virgin Books anthology Decalog 3: Consequences.) A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... For the origin of the term, see comic relief. ... Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor and Julia Sawalha as Emma. ... Virgin Books is the book publishing arm of Virgin Enterprises, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. ... The Virgin Decalog books were collections of short stories published by Virgin Publishing based on the television series Doctor Who: they gained their name from the fact that each volume contained ten stories (although the last two collections both contained eleven). ...

In 2000 he created and wrote the sitcom Coupling for BBC Two, with his wife producing, for Hartswood Films. The series proved to be highly successful, running until 2004 and producing four seasons and twenty-eight episodes, all written by Moffat. He also wrote the original, unbroadcast, pilot episode for the American version of the same series, in 2003, although this was less successful and was cancelled after just four episodes on the NBC network. Moffat has blamed its failure on an unprecedented level of network interference. Coupling is a British television sitcom written by Steven Moffat that aired on BBC2 from May 2000 to 2004. ... For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 2. ... Hartswood Films is a British television production company, founded and run by the experienced producer Beryl Vertue. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Coupling was an American remake of the British TV series Coupling. ... This article is about the television network. ...

He also wrote the Hartswood Films drama series Jekyll, a modern version of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which aired on BBC One in June and July 2007. Hartswood Films is a British television production company, founded and run by the experienced producer Beryl Vertue. ... Jekyll is a BBC television drama serial. ... Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde[1] is a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1886. ...

In June 2007 he told The Stage that he is working on a new sitcom. Provisionally titled Adam and Eve, "it concerns a boss and his PA, who are long-term friends but never get together."^[10] In October 2007 it was reported that Moffat would be scripting a trilogy of Tintin films for directors Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson.^[11] The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. ... The Untitled Tintin Project is an announced film project of three back-to-back features that are going to be based on The Adventures of Tintin, a series of comic books created by Belgian artist Georges Remi, better known by his pen name, Hergé. Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson have... Steven Spielberg (born December 18, 1946)[1] is an American film director and producer. ... For other persons named Peter Jackson, see Peter Jackson (disambiguation). ...

Doctor Who (2005- )

In 2005 he contributed the Hugo Award-winning^[12] two-part story "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" to the revival of Doctor Who for BBC One. He wrote an episode for each of the two following series of Doctor Who: "The Girl in the Fireplace" in the 2006 series (which won the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form,^[13] and was nominated for a 2006 Nebula Award^[14]), and "Blink" in the 2007 series. Issue 383 of Doctor Who Magazine revealed that he will write a two-part story for series four in 2008, meaning that Moffat and series executive producer Russell T. Davies will be the only writers to have contributed scripts to all four seasons of the revived series. He has also said that he has yet to use the one idea which he has wanted to, and will get the chance to do so for the fourth series. He also wrote the 2007 Children in Need "special scene" "Time Crash". In a recent Doctor Who Magazine survey, readers voted Steven Moffat as best writer and his episode, Blink, as the best story. The 2005 Hugo Award with base designed by Deb Kosiba. ... The Empty Child is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on May 21, 2005. ... The Doctor Dances is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on May 28, 2005. ... This article is about the television series. ... For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 1. ... The Girl in the Fireplace is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... The Hugo Awards are given annually by members of the World Science Fiction Convention for the best science fiction or fantasy works. ... The Nebula is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the two previous years (see rolling eligibility below). ... Blink is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Doctor Who Magazine (abbreviated as DWM) is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Russell T Davies, interviewed for the documentary series Doctor Who Confidential in 2005. ... Time Crash is a mini-episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Doctor Who Magazine (abbreviated as DWM) is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 131st day of the year (132nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the British writer. ... Martin Day (born 1968) is a novelist and screen-writer most known for his work on various spin-offs related to the BBC Television series Doctor Who, and several episodes of the daytime soaps Doctors and Family Affairs. ... Keith Topping (born 1963 in Tyneside) is a writer most associated with his work relating to the BBC Television series Doctor Who, and also for writing several unnofficial guide books to a variety of television and film series. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 60th day of the year (61st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 131st day of the year (132nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 163rd day of the year (164th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 163rd day of the year (164th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Reuters Group plc (LSE: RTR and NASDAQ: RTRSY); pronounced is known as a financial market data provider and a news service that provides reports from around the world to newspapers and broadcasters. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Locus Magazine is subtitled The Magazine Of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field. It reports on the science fiction writing industry, including comprehensive listings of new books published in the field. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 238th day of the year (239th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 239th day of the year (240th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Steven Moffat at the Internet Movie Database
• Steven Moffat biography at the Hartswood Films website.