The rumors have been around for ages, but today the BBC has officially confirmed them - multiple-award-winning writer Stephen Moffat will take over as Russell T. Davies steps down from the helm of Doctor Who. Davies will helm the four specials that take the place of a series in 2009 (a deal worked out to allow show star David Tennant to also do a production of Hamlet). After that, the show will return as a regular series in 2010 under the lead of Moffat.

Moffat's response is "I applied before but I got knocked back 'cos the BBC wanted someone else. Also I was seven."

Moffat's Doctor Who credits, which stretch back to charity parody "The Curse of the Fatal Death," which starred Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Grant, and Joanna Lumley (among others) as the Doctor, has been writing some of the most popular episodes of the regenerated series, with Blink's recent BAFTA joining his Hugo awards for The Empty Child and The Girl in the Fireplace.