Doctor Who writers- a spotters guide

Steven Moffat 

Pictured here with a dalek

Which episodes has he written?
1- The Impossible Astronaut
2- Day of the Moon
7- A Good Man Goes to War
Plus episodes 8 and 13 (titles TBC)

What do I know him from?
Being God? Apart from being the current Head Writer, Moffat has written all the best episodes the series has served up since 2005. He’s the co-creator of Sherlock. You all know who Moffat is.

Is he any good?
Is this a trick question?

Stephen Thompson

Steve has the unfortunate affliction of a creepy albino Googleganger. 

Which episode has it written?
3- The Curse of the Black Spot

What do I know him from?
He wrote The Blind Banker. Otherwise known as “the other episode” in the first season of Sherlock.

Is he any good?
He must be. That’s what baffles me. He MUST have something going for him to be asked to write Sherlock. I think the poor guy is getting a bad rap. If The Blink Banker hadn’t been wedged between A Study in Pink and The Great Game it wouldn’t have paled so much. And Curse of the Black spot was GOOD. But it wasn’t great.

Neil Gaiman 

Pictured not blinking.

Which episode has he written?
4- The Doctor’s Wife

What do I know him from?
Neil Gaiman seems to be one of those people. You know. Everyone knows who is his but when asked what he’s actually written people tend to say “He’s Neil Gaiman!”
I know him from an amazing movie called Mirror Mask but he’s written truck loads of cool stuff. Plus he’s married to Amanda Palmer.

Is he any good?
Did you watch The Doctor’s Wife? I don’t feel like I can say Moffat’s written all the best episodes now because he hasn’t. That episode will go down in Who history, it already has.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we see more Gaiman episodes in the future.

Matthew Graham 

Pictured looking rather too much like Gene Hunt

Which episodes has he written?
5- The Rebel Flesh
6- The Almost People

What do I know him from?
He’s the co-creator of Ashes to Ashes and Life on Mars (and yes, I’m aware I’m the only person alive who lists them in that order). So he’s got some serious time travel credentials.

Is he any good?
Yes. That’s the simple answer. I enjoyed The Rebel Flesh enormously. I think its one of the strongest episodes the series has served up this year (can we just take The Doctor’s Wife out of the equation? Its very difficult to talk about the other episodes beside that one). It was scary and witty and clever. I’m impressed.

Mark Gatiss

Pictured here looking frightened. Possibly of his own creepy dolls.

Which episodes has he written?
Episode 9

What do I know him from?
Going way back he wrote The Unquiet Dead (the one in series one with Charles Dickens and Gwen Cooper in it) and The Idiots Lantern (Queen’s coronation, television that wants to kill people, street party). He also wrote Victory of the Daleks. You know, that one with Winston Churchill. Plus he’s the co creator of Sherlock and wrote The Great Game. Oh, and he plays Mycroft.

Is he any good?
Did you just read that? Yes. He’s pretty good.

Speculation?
Its been confirmed that this is the episode with the creepy dolls from the trailer. It was originally in the first block but was moved across. The last I heard it was called something like “What little boys are made of.”
I think it’ll be properly creepy. That might just be my fear of the dolls talking.

Tom MacRae 

Pictured with silly haircut and Transformer. 

Which episode has he written?
Episode 10

What do I know him from?
He wrote Rise of the Cybermen and Age of Steel back in Martha’s day. Those were the ones with all the blimps when Mickey was trying to be a BAMF.

Is he any good?
We don’t really have a lot to go off. Those two episodes were kind of forgettable really. I thought they were silly but I always attributed that to Russel and his parallel universe story arc.

Speculation?
None at all. Maybe Nazis. They’ve got to crush Nazis in there somewhere but I am (for absolutely no reason at all) tipping Gatiss to have those.

Toby Whithouse 

Pictured with a bottle of water.

Which episode has he written?
The God Complex (episode 11)

What do I know him from?
He wrote School Reunion (Sarah Jane and K9) way back and last series he penned Vampires in Venice (remember the one with the vampires? In Venice?). He’s also the creator of the excellent Being Human.

Is he any good?
I’ve got a weird relationship with Toby Whithouse. I really love his work (I retain that Being Human deserved way more attention) but at the same time… he’s a bit rubbish at endings. The finale of every season of Being Human manages to be kind of disappointing. Despite some amazing moments, Vampires in Venice did end up with The Doctor climbing a tower in a storm. I think he’s strongest when he’s writing character based dialogue scenes.

Speculation?
Have you not noticed the running thread in all his writing? There will be vampires. If there is not at least a little bit of vampires then I will eat my fez.

Gareth Roberts 

Pictured looking slightly like an evil mastermind.

Which episode has he written?
Episode 12

What do I know him from?
He wrote The Shakespeare Code and The Unicorn and the Wasp. He then did a massive back-flip from those pretty ok historical episodes to write The Lodger.

Is he any good?
Go watch The Lodger again. It is seriously wonderful. It features Matt Smith feeding someone out of a tea pot. And also being naked. And I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS! If I didn’t have such a fondness for The Eleventh Hour, I’d say it was the best episode in series 5.

Speculation?
This is almost certainly the episode with THAT coat and Craig and the cybermat. Oh and the baby. If you don’t know what I’m on about see this video.
We know this is some kind of follow up to The Lodger. We know Craig Owens will return and there is word that The Doctor will be working in a shop.


Why are there no female writers in this list?
If you type "why are there no female Doctor Who writers?" into Google images you get this picture of Rory looking sad.