I'm really interested on peoples thoughts on this. I started watching Doctor Who in the from 2005 and It's one of my favourite shows on the television. Now, with Russel T Davies leaving two years ago and Steven Moffat now in the chair, I can't help feeling a little bit disappointed with the overall tone and direction of the show.

Whilst RTD may have had some turkey episodes on his hands, most of the time, I felt at least that Who was a consistently good show where as under Steven Moffat, there have only been a couple episodes that have given me the same feeling.

I think Moffat's contributions to RTD's era were fantastic and actually some of the best episodes of the new series but I preferred Moffat's writing when it was limited to an episode or two a series.

The overall way that they approach not just the Doctor but the challenges he faces and how he resolves them make RTD a better choice of showrunner than Moffat. They do both have their faults though. Moffat can occasionally try to make things way too complicated and RTD tended to resolve series long issues way too quickly.

I still love the show, I just wish that RTD was still overseeing the project and SM was contributing an episode or two a series. Could have even written the character of River Song in those episodes.

Yep, he's a damn good writer but RTD was a far better showrunner.

IMO of course.

With all due respect there's another thread on the exact same topic just seven posts down the page, did we REALLY need another one?

And no, RTD is not a better show runner than Moffat and vice versa. RTD and Moffat have slightly different views on the overall tone of the show and while individuals may prefer one over the other the viewing figures, AI, iplayer stats, iTunes sales etc etc show that Who is just as strong now as it was under RTD. Ergo both do a fine job as show runners and these topics will ALWAYS devolve into flamewars based on personal preference, especially when no actual examples are given to support those opinions.

To me, I feel his era is just right. As a writer and as a showrunner, I just feel he has got it better than I could have hoped for.

My interest had completely fallen after Series 4 because of RTD's leadership feeling like 'Who by Numbers' and his style at times did just feel ok, but I always felt it could be better.

Under the Moff, my interest has been regained and has surpassed what it ever was. The tone and overall feel is what the show should be like to me (yes I understand it isn't right for some, but it is to me) and I just feel his set-up appears to have got much wider critical acclaim world-wide because of his style.

I feel that his Who is far more consistent with only 2 episodes of this era on my 'not to watch again list' - both of them being Gatiss episodes - compared to the many in the RTD era.

It's just upped its game to me and is now getting consistently better (just my opinion ofcourse) and I always look forward to it now whereas towards the end of RTD, I just watched it because it was there.

It's my perfect era now and I hope it lasts for a long time yet!

Some people will agree, some won't, some people will realise it's down to personal opinion and some won't.

The Moff is The Boss He is an exceptional writer and showrunner.

Both RTD and Moff have loved the show and the same passion dealt with in different ways.

Steven Moffat is like the Bruce Springsteen of Doctor WHo showrunning. Deep, Big, Nostalgic.

RTD is like The Scissor Sisters. Fun, Vibrant, Colourful, guilty pleasure.

I think i prefer RTD as a writer independantly as he had shown on SJA than showrunner. While The Moff in the RTD era showed a great progression and since he became showrunner reignited why i love Doctor WHo in the first place like RTD couldnt do for me.

I'm the exact opposite. I felt the show was far more variable in quality during RTD's tenure. Some episodes were beyond amazing, but some made me physically cringe and wonder why I was watching the show.

Conversely, I think Moffat's tenure has had a more consistent run. This last Christmas special is the first ep since series 5 began that I've been particularly underwhelmed with. Having said that, though, the only xmas eps that I actually like are Christmas Invasion and Christmas Carol. The others all all sub-standard.

The closest I've come to cringing in Moff's term has to be the Bracewell bomb being disarmed through the power of love, though. I felt the same with the resolution to last night's ep, too.

Why are some people being rude?

Everyones entitled to their opinions

Well said

I agree, I think that he's great with individual stories (I liked all of his under RTD), but I think he should stick to them and not the massive 'I'm-so-clever' story-arcs.

Good grief, not another one of these threads...
Anyway, I slightly agree. I love his work as a showrunner, but I do think that some of his stories were better when he only wrote one per series. I wouldn't go as far as saying that RTD was better as I prefer Moffat's finales to RTD's, but you can tell that the huge workload he now has means that his stories are no longer seen as good as the likes of Blink or The Girl in the Fireplace. However, could you write 7 or more full length episodes and bring them to the screen in one year? I doubt it.
While I think his stories were better when he wrote less per year, the difference isn't that huge and I definitely don't think RTD wrote better stories.

All his episodes this season were one story - the River Song story.

Hopefully next year he can just do 5 or 6 standalone or 2 parter stories.