Doctor Who vs. Sherlock - The Moffat Era

Two Heroes. Two Programmes. One Show Runner.

Steven Moffat.

Steven Moffat is a busy man, not only does he have one hit BBC show to run, but two. Juggling two shows like that must be hard, this is perhaps evident in the fact that there have only been six episodes of Sherlock and Doctor Who now has a bigger gap between series, but which show is better.

Sherlock

In 2008, Moffat gave himself a very difficult task, even by his standards - recreate England's favourite detective. After three 90 minute episodes Sherlock had become a fan's favourite, Moffat and co-creator Mark Gatiss (who also plays Mycroft, Sherlock's older brother) had achieved the impossible. After that series 2 was commissioned, confirming the show's popularity.

Despite being in it's modern day setting, Sherlock still maintains a lot of the traditional style and values of Conan Doyle's classics. Moffat and Gatiss were very successful in bringing in a brilliant cast with the likes of Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs and Benedict Cumberbatch. Something that has been done very well in Sherlock is the visuals, for example in A Study in Pink when he examines the pink lady's body and what he's thinking appears as single words on the screen. Overall, I have really enjoyed Sherlock and I can't wait for series 3. 

Doctor Who

Also in 2010: Moffat took the reigns of Doctor Who and had 47 years of history to compete with. I have to say that I think the 5th series was the best of the three Moffat has done; I did enjoy the other two and Asylum of the Daleks is one of my favourite episode of Moffat's tenure. Like Sherlock, Moffat gets 10/10 for casting with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and Jenna Louise-Coleman. 

                                                                    

 

Unlike Sherlock, Doctor Who has taken a different turn to the original series with the bad guys becoming more unconventional and the Doctor becoming a different man completely. What I have really enjoyed about Doctor Who in recent years is the ethical sides of different episodes and how it touches on issues in our world. I think that Doctor Who just edges it over Sherlock - this is maybe because there are a lot more episodes for us to judge the success on. I think that Moffat is a brilliant runner for both shows and I look forward to more of the programmes I love.