Reading through many of these threads the one consistent thing between them seem's to be praise for Neil Gaiman. I can't be the only one, but I don't understand the basis of it.

Maybe he has done good stuff outside of the show, but based on 'The Doctor's Wife' I don't understand where all the love is coming from, I thought it was a terrible episode...

I am not saying he isn't a good writer, but please can someone explain, based on 'The Doctor's Wife' why he is so popular?

Because 'The Doctor's Wife' is considered a classic, and he has done some amazing things outside of the show. One of the finest authors we have.

Forget Dr. Who and read Gaiman's "Sandman". Then you'll know.

Neil Gaiman is awesome. I love The Doctors Wife, but I think that aside, I love the way his mind works when it comes to telling a story.

Well, from what I've seen most people seem to adore Doctor's Wife. I didn't like it that much whe I first saw it, but after rewatching it several times became one of my favorite episodes and I can easily see why so many people love it. But I would dare to say that the much stronger reason why he is so popular is his non DW work, which they cosider to be indicative of what his DW work could be like.

The Doctor's Wife, in my opinion, is right up there in the top 5 best episodes since 2005 - immensely clever, made you think rather than just telling you what was going on, unravelling the story piece by piece instead of just dumping a resolution out of the blue. He utilised all the main characters brilliantly without having them all together, made a monster scary even though we never saw it and made the TARDIS human in the most intriguing way. What's not to like?

So that's why I think very highly of Neil Gaiman, even though I've actually never encountered any of his non-DW stuff

after that try watching the BBC series "Neverwhere" Gaiman is a giant!

You MUST!!! Neverwhere was my introduction to NG and it was such a cool read; I'd highly recommend it as a starting point. Also, his collaboration with Terry Pratchett on Good Omens was super cool, too!

American Gods is one of my favourite books. Highly recommended! Neil Gaiman is a very gifted writer and has won numerous awards for his work. It's not just a few Doctor Who fans who think he's brilliant.

Also I think the episode benefited from some great acting, especially from Suranne Jones as Idris/the TARDIS, who had great chemistry with Matt. The script was cleverly written with bits and pieces of timey wimey stuff with Idris dealing with how time passes for humans. It had a heartbreaking yet beautiful and greatly acted ending - companions come and leave, but in the end Doctor Who will always be about the boy and his box and I felt that the Doctor's Wife was not only a very inovative idea, but also greatly executed. Also, the villain seemed to be something pretty new to me. And it was one of the rare times we have seen Eleven be very open about his anger after he was given hope and than it got taken away and at that time one of the few times we had see him openly sad instead of his usual happy go lucky facade. Really, retrospectivelly the only part I personally disliked about the episode where the parts with Amy and Rory and House in the TARDIS.

I am not familiar with Neil Gaiman's work other than the episode that he wrote for Doctor Who but I knew that he is a well respected author. The Doctor's Wife did not disappoint for me at all (if I had one niggle it's that it would have been great for them to stumble into the classic control room rather than 10's but I think Neil Gaiman actually intended them to find the classic control room anyway and it was only changed for budget reasons). I look forward to his next episode. It's refreshing to see someone getting praise on the forums rather then usual...

He also came up with the film Stardust, one of the cleverest pieces of fantasy fiction to make it to the cinema in recent times.

I love his Sandman stories! So dark and absurd i love it

ANd The DOctors WIfe is one of the best episodes ever...adored it so much! Cannot wait to see what he does with Nightmare In SIlver!

Did he? I loved that film! Oh well then, I was familiar with his work pre-Doctor Who after all. I just didn't know it

That was one of his novels, turned into a film...wasn't it?

Yeah it's based on his Novel, the film itself was written by Jane Goldman (Jonathon Ross' wife) and Matthew Vaughn.

Good Omens, the Omen meets Just William with hilarious and exciting consequences.

Imagine the Son of Satan being given to an unsuspecting couple to raise but, instead of world domination all he wants is the things that William Brown would have wanted. I.e.an idyllic semi rural existence where they get up to the usual kids malarkey.

Of course the powers that be aren't too pleased and its up to the kids and an Angel and Demon who quite like the status quo to battle against the powers of Heaven and Hell to stop the apocalypse.

Brilliant

Which was co-written with Terry Pratchett, an extremely good author in his own right.

Not by a lot of people though, I can't stand it personaly and I to do not "get" why Garman is so popular amongst Dr Who viewers. When disussing his Dr Who stuff you shouldn't take into account his other works such as his novels, he should be praised or damned purely on what he has written for Who and I must admit he hasn't impressed me but that as usual is purely my opinion.

I'm not a fan of that episode either.

By the way, "considered a classic", as far as this forum is concerned, actually means "Well I thought it was brilliant so everyone else must surely have felt the same"....

Care to offer something to support this claim?

Well people do have different opinions, so obviously even though a lot of people love it equally others won't.

And as for the bit in bold, read my previous post - I've never read anything else Gaiman has done and I still consider The Doctor's Wife to be a classic.

I had incredibly high expectations of the Doctor's Wife because it was written by Gaiman (I'm a huge Sandman fan) and I still loved the episode and watched it again straight after finishing, which I NEVER do. The interplay between the Dr and Idris, the wonderfully creepy servants, and a really tightly woven plot, with the Dr given hope, despair, anger and love in one episode without any of it being forced. My only worry is that it's a difficult one to top, and they were also incredibly fortunate in the casting for that episode, so I feel a bit nervous about having another from Gaiman.

To add to the recommendations above, I would say 'The Graveyard Book' is brill if you like a bit of creepiness in your stories. Neverwhere, the TV show, has dated really badly, but if you watch it, just imagine the few changes it would take for Paterson Joseph's Marquis to become the Doctor...

I was wondering how long it would take for this thread to come alone...

I must be the only one who doesn't think The Doctor's Wife is all that. It was good, but I can think of lots of episodes I like more.

I don't know anything about Neil Gaiman or what he's done, anyway. I'd never heard of him before TDW.