Along with MTV’s cult hit Teen Wolf, Tumblr fandom is ruled by Superwholock, the catchall tag for Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock. Teen Wolf and Supernatural both rely on the ever-popular topic of hot guys battling the undead, but Sherlock and Doctor Who have longevity on their side. Sherlock brings with it more than a century’s worth of Sherlock Holmes fandom history, and Doctor Who is the world’s longest-running sci-fi show. And both are helmed by Steven Moffat.

Still wondering how a middle-aged Scottish sitcom writer came to be the idol of Tumblr users across the globe? Let us count the reasons.

1) He writes fanfiction for a living.

While Doctor Who is something of a cult favorite in the U.S. and overseas, it’s mainstream family viewing in the U.K. Three generations have grown up with the show, and Doctor Who has now reached the point where most of its cast and crew are lifelong fans of the show. Basically, its writers are filming fanfic of a TV series they watched as kids. And what’s Sherlock if not a modern-era fanfic of the Sherlock Holmes stories?

2) He’s the inmate who took over the fandom asylum.

Moffat’s participation in the early days of online fandom is public knowledge, so it’s easy for today’s fans to see a little of themselves in him. If you do some digging, you can still find his old Usenet posts from the ‘90s—including one thread where he discusses a Doctor Who backstory idea he then wrote into an episode over 15 years later… [READ MORE]