At the risk of DMD becoming the "Steven Moffat Appreciation Society", I'll go ahead and share some comments the Doctor Who writer made to a US newspaper, now Jekyll has begun airing on BBC America.*
On his versatility, moving from sitcom to sci-fi/horror:
"Just because Coupling is typed, as it should be, as a sitcom. The fact is, there's lots of humour in shows like Buffy. There's no reason Joss Whedon couldn't sit down and bang out a sitcom; he absolutely could."
On the similarities of writing comedy and horror:
"I think there's a commonality between writing comedy and writing thriller-based, horror-based stuff. It's about punchlines. Whether it's a funny thing, or a frightening thing, or a surprise, you're setting the audience up for a sucker punch."
On making Doctor Who scary:
"Doctor Who is a slightly homespun show, because the monsters are always things you could see around you, and that's more frightening for kids. The entire point of Doctor Who is to frighten children."
On the evolution of his writing career:
"The first two things I ever wrote, when I was a kid, 7 or 8, I tried writing my own Doctor Who episodes and a stage adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. So I haven't gone really far!"
So there we are, some interesting nuggets there. The Moff (as he doesn't like to be known) also commented that he has an idea for a Jekyll sequel if the BBC asks for one, but is now busy writing a two-part Doctor Who for season 4, and a comedy called Adam & Eve.
* BBC America are showing the six-part Jekyll in four instalments (by combing part 1 with 2, and 5 with 6). It actually sounds like a good idea to me.
UPDATE: A very cool BBC America trailer for Jekyll:
Thursday 9 August 2007
