MAsters of the universe?
137
the Doctor and Holmes have some marked features of the “maverick” or
“trickster” hero in common. 11 However, a more salient reason is that during
Doctor Who’s period off-air between 1989 and 2005 (one is tempted to call
it a Great Hiatus, in mimicry of the period from 1891 to 1894 when Conan
Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes was presumed dead), Gatiss wrote for Virgin Books’
New Adventures of Doctor Who series and contributed radio dramas for Big
Finish Productions, and Moffat wrote a Doctor Who short story for Virgin
Books and a TV parody. 12 This, as Christopher Marlow points out, means
that Gatiss, Moffat, and Russell T. Davies, among others, who contributed
to the Doctor Who universe(s) during the show’s “wilderness years,” have
in later years “achieved the very positions of institutional authority and
expertise that [Henry] Jenkins supposes to be beyond the grasp of the
disenfranchised fan writer.” 13 Such a trajectory makes it even more galling,
for some fans of Sherlock and Doctor Who, that Moffat should at times voice
dismissive opinions about appreciation for the series that goes beyond the
officially branded merchandise. 14 Sue Vertue, manager of Hartswood Films,
which produces Sherlock, makes the series creators’ fan status clear when
she recalls that at the project’s inception, “you [Moffat] and Mark knew
everything about it and I knew nothing about it.” 15 Moffat himself recalls,
in a 2010 interview, his first reading of Sherlock Holmes as a boy and being
“Utterly, utterly, utterly thrilled.” 16
This childhood enthusiasm for the Holmes and Watson stories shared
by Gatiss and Moffat (“this schoolboy infatuation for Sherlock Holmes […]
It’s the Sherlock Homes Club,” says Thompson of his co-writers) 17 at times
manifests itself as a suggestion that the two writers are uniquely placed
to adapt Conan Doyle’s most famous creations. Even at the moment of the
show’s conception, by Moffat’s account, “we just thought of course it should
11 See Charles, “Three Characters,” 83–102.
12 See Marlow, “The Folding Text,” 55.
13 See Marlow, “The Folding Text,” 54–55. This point warrants some qualification. Moffat and
Gatiss were not writing fanf iction in the sense of producing amateur works, as their stories
were commissioned work, and constituted paid labour. Nevertheless, Marlow points out, for
the revived Doctor Who television series from 2005 on, “only those who had written Doctor Who
material that most viewers would consider non-canonical were employed.” See Marlow, “The
Folding Text,” 49. Thus, Moffat and Gatiss can be seen as a new wave of Doctor Who writers who
have displaced the “old guard” of scriptwriters for the original series, which was canceled in
1989.
14 See Robinson, “Do Sherlock and Doctor Who really have a ‘bad fan’ problem?”
15 Mellor, “Sherlock: His Last Vow Q&A.”
16 “Unlocking Sherlock.”
17 Quoted in Tribe, Sherlock Chronicles, 72.
137
the Doctor and Holmes have some marked features of the “maverick” or
“trickster” hero in common. 11 However, a more salient reason is that during
Doctor Who’s period off-air between 1989 and 2005 (one is tempted to call
it a Great Hiatus, in mimicry of the period from 1891 to 1894 when Conan
Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes was presumed dead), Gatiss wrote for Virgin Books’
New Adventures of Doctor Who series and contributed radio dramas for Big
Finish Productions, and Moffat wrote a Doctor Who short story for Virgin
Books and a TV parody. 12 This, as Christopher Marlow points out, means
that Gatiss, Moffat, and Russell T. Davies, among others, who contributed
to the Doctor Who universe(s) during the show’s “wilderness years,” have
in later years “achieved the very positions of institutional authority and
expertise that [Henry] Jenkins supposes to be beyond the grasp of the
disenfranchised fan writer.” 13 Such a trajectory makes it even more galling,
for some fans of Sherlock and Doctor Who, that Moffat should at times voice
dismissive opinions about appreciation for the series that goes beyond the
officially branded merchandise. 14 Sue Vertue, manager of Hartswood Films,
which produces Sherlock, makes the series creators’ fan status clear when
she recalls that at the project’s inception, “you [Moffat] and Mark knew
everything about it and I knew nothing about it.” 15 Moffat himself recalls,
in a 2010 interview, his first reading of Sherlock Holmes as a boy and being
“Utterly, utterly, utterly thrilled.” 16
This childhood enthusiasm for the Holmes and Watson stories shared
by Gatiss and Moffat (“this schoolboy infatuation for Sherlock Holmes […]
It’s the Sherlock Homes Club,” says Thompson of his co-writers) 17 at times
manifests itself as a suggestion that the two writers are uniquely placed
to adapt Conan Doyle’s most famous creations. Even at the moment of the
show’s conception, by Moffat’s account, “we just thought of course it should
11 See Charles, “Three Characters,” 83–102.
12 See Marlow, “The Folding Text,” 55.
13 See Marlow, “The Folding Text,” 54–55. This point warrants some qualification. Moffat and
Gatiss were not writing fanf iction in the sense of producing amateur works, as their stories
were commissioned work, and constituted paid labour. Nevertheless, Marlow points out, for
the revived Doctor Who television series from 2005 on, “only those who had written Doctor Who
material that most viewers would consider non-canonical were employed.” See Marlow, “The
Folding Text,” 49. Thus, Moffat and Gatiss can be seen as a new wave of Doctor Who writers who
have displaced the “old guard” of scriptwriters for the original series, which was canceled in
1989.
14 See Robinson, “Do Sherlock and Doctor Who really have a ‘bad fan’ problem?”
15 Mellor, “Sherlock: His Last Vow Q&A.”
16 “Unlocking Sherlock.”
17 Quoted in Tribe, Sherlock Chronicles, 72.