Ever since he replaced Russell T. Davies as the showrunner, lead writer, and executive producer of ‘Doctor Who’ back in 2010, Steven Moffat has been met with some major criticisms from fans. Whovians have mentioned that his writing on the long-running seminal sci-fi series has been full of plot holes, somewhat sexist, and often ignored established canon and common sense. And though he likely won’t go so far as to acknowledge all of that, he does realize that some of his work during his run with the Doctor hasn’t exactly been up to par.

In the latest issue of ‘Doctor Who Magazine’, Moffat looks back on his body of work on ‘Doctor Who’ and reveals that his weakest efforts on the show can be found in the show’s seventh series. In fact, he calls that season “miserable”:

“I didn’t enjoy my third year as much. It was a bit miserable. The workload was just insane. I wasn’t coping as well. No one else’s fault, all mine. The 50th was looming, and I didn’t know if we could make it work. It was a tough, tough time. My darkest hour on ‘Who’ was that.”

If you don’t recall, Season Seven of NuWho involved a “monster movie of the week” feel with a series of standalone episodes that built up to the departure of Amy and Rory in the midseason episode ‘The Angels Take Manhattan’, the Doctor’s first adventures with Clara Oswald, and the introduction of John Hurt as the War Doctor. But with important moments like these, how could the season have been so generally bad? Well, it sounds like the pressure of Matt Smith leaving the show and the 50th anniversary got to Moffat a little bit:

“Matt [Smith], who was a friend and ally, was leaving – I couldn’t get him to stay. It felt like everything was blowing up around me. I was staggering into the 50th, with no Doctors contracted to appear in it, battered with endless hate mail about how I hadn’t got William Hartnell back and ‘Sherlock’ series three at the same time. I was pretty miserable by the end of it, and I couldn’t bear to let that be the end.”

No, season seven wouldn’t be the end of Moffat’s tenure on the TARDIS, even though many called for it to be. However, that time is quickly approaching. After he finishes his obligations to Season Ten, which will air in 2017, he will step down from the show and hand the reins over to Chris Chibnall for season eleven. Naturally, many fans are celebrating the departure as they crave something fresh and new from the legendary Time Lord, but with any luck, Moffat’s final go with the Doctor will resemble his better days on the show as seen in episodes like ‘The Girl In The Fireplace’, ‘Blink’, or ‘The Eleventh Hour’ rather than the more miserable ones.

What did you think about Steven Moffat’s run on ‘Doctor Who’? Do you agree that season seven was “miserable”? And are you glad to hear that he’s on his way out? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Den of Geek

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