Steven Moffat slams "fairly stupid" 'Doctor Who', 'Sherlock' cynics
Published May 21 2012, 18:38 BST | By Paul Millar
© Digital Spy
The BAFTA-winning writer encouraged disgruntled viewers to "pay attention" and "think about" his dramas.
"There's been a weird backlash among, I presume, fairly stupid people about the fact the shows are complicated and clever, but they're both huge international hits," the 50-year-old told BAFTA Guru.
"We make no apology. Don't expect to do the ironing; sit down, pay attention and think about it. Audiences like complexity.
"They follow intricately plotted soap operas all the time. It depresses me when people say, 'It's all far too clever'."
On not having any plans to move on from the two programmes, he added: "The moment it's time to stop on a show is not an ambiguous feeling - you just suddenly think, 'I can't do it anymore; I've had enough'."
Ex-This Morning presenter Fern Britton spoke out against Doctor Who earlier this year, claiming it was "dreary".
> Steven Moffat talks to Digital Spy about Dr Who, Sherlock, BAFTA
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Steven Moffat
Who says Moffat's scripts are too clever? That statement is as pretentious as his writing. Fairly typical and arrogant response and speaks volumes about his feelings towards the viewers. It's not all too clever. It's just self indulgent, messy and lacking in emotion.
May 27th 2012 at 1:12pm
Go and have a look in the forums after an episode has aired. Plenty of people complaining that they scripts are trying to be too clever and are too hard to follow. Not me by the way, I have had no problems following it.
May 30th 2012 at 7:43pm
I'd rather it stays complicated, it's one of the few shows I can't guess the next twist to in about five seconds... take something like eastenders or corrie for example, it's waay to simple most of the time for me.
May 25th 2012 at 6:18pm
Great. So first I'm stupid because I keep losing track of Dr. Who story arch and 8-year olds don't and now I'm stupid because I say so?
I love Sherlock but Doctor Who is losing me. But then, who cares?
May 24th 2012 at 5:39am
Back up a bit, Moffat is getting a lot of stick for saying something which he never actually said. He never said all critics of Doctor Who are stupid. What he did say though, in his own words is that he 'assumes' people who criticise the show purely on the basis that it's 'too clever' or 'too complicated' are 'fairly stupid.' It may not be the most tactful of comments, but then Moffat's critics can say whatever they like about him but the minute he bites back he gets accused of being insensitive or disrespectful to his fans. Many of the fans who fill the forums full of 'too clever' comments, aren't truthful anyway. They are just latching on to every little thing they can find that they think might put Moffat in a negative light when compared to their great, almighty God, Russel T Davies. They're just fan boys who find it hard to accept that since Davies left the show has gone from strength to strength and Moffat is at the top of his game, whereas.......well least said and all that.
May 26th 2012 at 3:34pm(+1 like)
couldnt have put it better sharon.well said
May 27th 2012 at 5:45pm
Three cheers for Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes. Its great television as it doesn't threat its audience as being stupid, need anything explained to them or just being all so simple. Please please television writers, producers etc please make more programs like Who and Holmes. I'm sick of programs like X-Factor, The Only Way is Essex, Big Brother and dancing shows hogged the airways. We WANT to be allowed to think as we veg in front of the telly and not to be filled with programs which fill our heads with nonsense.
May 23rd 2012 at 2:27pm(+1 like)
The problem is, internet trolls are very quick to pick up problems people have. They found out we sometimes struggle to fully understand a plot element - so what to they do? The attention seekers decide to spam Moffat's twitter feed with annoying messages based around the 'I can't understand your show' meme, make demands, ask questions for the sake of being annoying and overall be as much of a pain as possible. Then we all get it in the neck later :(
May 23rd 2012 at 9:52am(+2 likes)