WHEN I was a reporter on the Paisley Daily Express in 1989, I was asked to track down the writer of an award-winning children’s TV programme, Press Gang, who happened to live in the town. I called Steven Moffat, introduced myself and he invited me up to his flat for a chat.
He explained to me that Press Gang was actually the brainchild of his father, Bill Moffat, the head teacher of a local primary school. But after explaining the idea to a TV producer and then being asked to write an episode, Bill had pleaded pressure of work and recommended that his son, Steven, a teacher in a Greenock secondary school at the time, should do it instead. The rest, as they say, is history.
Steven and I hit it off immediately. We had a shared love of Doctor Who, James Bond and numerous other aspects of geekdom. While I worked on the Paisley Daily Express, I interviewed him another couple of times. Then we lost touch and met up again in the mid-1990s, at which point we became drinking pals in Glasgow of a Friday evening and I penned the occasional freelance article about his blossoming writing career.
Then he got The Best Job In The World Ever (executive producer and chief writer of Doctor Who, obviously) and I pretended not to be seething with an intense and bitter fury that was eating me up inside…
So, occasionally Steven and his beautiful wife, Sue (the brains behind the operation and an über-producer of, among many other things, Sherlock), pop in for dinner with me in the Commons and I ask him for inside info on Doctor Who and he laughs in my face and drinks a lot of Rioja.
And last night we recorded this short (about eight minutes) podcast out on the Terrace. Enjoy.
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Tuesday 27 July 2010 at 9:12 pm
When you next cat to your chum, could you ask him to mention to his wife that we thought that Sherlock, which we’ve just watched, was really triffic. Witty, nice locations, well cast and a little bit of tension. Scary that SH looked a bit like a slightly weird and very bright former boss of mine.
And being able to watch it on the iPlayer is pretty triffic too. All well worth a licence fee…
Tuesday 27 July 2010 at 10:59 pm
What;s happened to Jamie Reed MP?
No offence to your friend but I am kinda missing him from the podcasts…
Wednesday 28 July 2010 at 12:48 am
Brilliant Tom!
Wednesday 28 July 2010 at 8:35 am
Ah Press Gang, I loved that as a kid. When I tracked it down on DVD a few years ago, my wife enquired why I wanted to buy a children’s show on DVD. After a couple of episodes she understood. “They made this for kids?” she said. Indeed. It put most other TV programmes at the time to shame.
Wednesday 28 July 2010 at 9:06 am
I like what you said to Katherine Jenkins, you silver-tongued devil you.
Steven Morrissey sends a message through the medium of song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XpjjSKVJkk
Wednesday 28 July 2010 at 10:37 am
I think you should rename that "Two Smug Boys on a Terrace":-)
It was very funny, in an uber-smug sort of way, even with the leching over Katherine Jenkins. I don't think she does ditties, though…….
I loved the bit where you didn't realise you were in Opposition:-)
Wednesday 28 July 2010 at 4:59 pm
Great Podcast, I remember Press Gang, it was great, though I didnt know that Steven did it.
Not sure how many people commenting here (maybe just Caron) could reach over to their bookshelf and pick up a copy of Decalog 3 and say "I forgot Steven moffat wrote that story!" I didnt realise it was his first short story, very well written.
I'll stop now I'm getting too jealous.
Wednesday 28 July 2010 at 6:16 pm
He didn't happen to live in Paisley, he comes from Foxbar (about a mile from where I live), and is currently the most famous former pupil of Gleniffer High (previously Camphill – suplanting Heather the Weather and David Sneddon).
Wednesday 28 July 2010 at 9:33 pm
No, unfortunately, it's wrong to pretend that the last series of Doctor Who has been anything but disappointing. To be fair, so have a lot of the previous series. Problem is they have writers who lack an understanding of science fiction , and they have too many plot holes.
Friday 30 July 2010 at 5:02 am
@James Curran – you’ve got to be kidding.
Doctor Who has never pretended to be hard science fiction. If you want to be disappointed, be disappointed at the travesty called “I, Robot” – what they did to the hard-science king Issac Asimov’s story is unforgivable. Doctor Who has always been about lots of pseduo science with the occasional hard-science/historical fact thrown in for educational value. It’s more Science-Fantasy, but if you look at the dramatic value and the sense of satisfaction gained from the stories of Nu-Who, you’ll be hard pressed to find better on t.v. in the same field. Got to get over that first major non-scientific plot hole that the premise is based on a guy who is an alien, can regenerate, and flies around in a time-space machine that’s bigger on the inside than on the outside and is disguised as a Police Box. Once you get over that plot hole we’ll see if we can stretch your sense of disbelief a little.
Friday 30 July 2010 at 5:35 am
Oh dear, people who think Doctor Who is supposed to be science fiction. it isn’t and never was.
Friday 30 July 2010 at 9:35 am
“Continuity Errors” has been one of my favorites for years, and was my entire basis for approaching “all things Moffat” with fully open arms. I love that someone else drew attention to that passing reference. Just wanted to applaud you for that.
Friday 30 July 2010 at 3:56 pm
Hahaha!
Well to be fair, I forgot that you were the arbiter of all taste for all time ever and ever and no returns. I guess you and the vocal majority who think exactly like you will just have to put up with our small number who like it even though we're not supposed to because you said so.
Sunday 1 August 2010 at 2:14 pm
Right, because the only fantastic genre out there, is ‘science fiction’, isnt it? Never heard of ‘science fantasy’ ?
Been around since HG Wells’ days… if not earlier.
Doctor Who is not science fiction.
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