Steven Moffat Talks Influences, His Inspiration and The Future

With end of his tenure, and an era, in sight, Steven Moffat has revealed some of the influences behind his writing and what the future has in store.

Speaking with The Doctor Is In podcast, the Grand Moff says that Doctor Who has always been his primary inspiration:

“Even if I was too scared to watch it, I was fascinated by it. It’s a show that seems to encompass every other genre so it’s your one stop genre-shop.”

Going on to give the nod to Star Trek, Star Wars, Narnia, The Hobbit and Dr Tom’s Midnight Garden, Moffat freely admits to have “been consistently ripping off [the latter] for decades now,” and to be being fascinated by the magic of fantasy and not the hard science of some science-fiction.

“I know that will make some people cross, but Doctor Who has always been more like that, more the magical end of things, it’s about the wizard and the magic flying box which looks like a phone box. It’s got that feel to it, which is why I think it entrances children.”

And beyond the magic, it’s perhaps the Doctor himself that interests Steven the most, alongside how other’s in the universe actually see the ancient and now legendary Time Lord

“I was always quite interested in the idea of, for all we know he’s just a bumbling, attention-seeking, adrenaline junkie running around the universe, but he must appear to everyone else as an awesome god who sorts everything out… Are there places where they worship him, does he have a reputation that’s completely at variance with the feckless thrill seeker we know him to be? I still find that interesting. He’s not really keeping the universe in order, except by default, but people think of him that way, understandably, and sometimes he plays up to the image and he’s not really that at all. I’ve always found that quite interesting.”

While Moffat feels he’s done everything he possibly could on the show, he will still feel sad when the end finally comes:

“I’m sure I’ll feel very sad. Particularly when Chris’s new version of the show goes out and the circus comes to town and I’m not in it anymore… I’m sure I’ll have my moments of ‘what have I done? But that aside, it’s good to have an exciting past to look back on, and it is time to get on with new things…. He’s just starting to realise what it’s all like. He will have the best time and do an amazing job. It’s overwhelming but it is amazing. It is amazing.”

And as for what he’ll do next, Steven suggests he’ll “go on holiday” before getting right back to work on new projects:

“I’m not short of offers and I’m not short of ideas”

You can listen to the full podcast by listening to The Doctor Is In podcast through iTunes or your Apple device.