Doctor Who mastermind Steven Moffat was honoured with a top prize at the 2012 Writers' Guild Awards on Wednesday (14Nov12).

The Scottish Tv mogul told of his passion for his work as he picked up the special award for Outstanding Writing at the London ceremony, held by The Writers' Guild of Great Britain.

He told the audience, "Write what you love. I've never loved anything as much as Doctor Who and Sherlock."

However, Moffat and his Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss missed out on winning the prize for Best Tv Short-Form Drama as screenwriter Neil MCKay's Fred West-inspired two-part film Appropriate Adult scooped the prize.

Acclaimed Hollywood film We Need to Talk About Kevin won Best Screenplay for Lynne Ramsay and Rory Stewart Kinnear at the event, which recognises writers working in theatre, Tv, books and radio.

Moffat took over as Doctor Who's lead writer and executive producer in 2009, while he also masterminded the creation of Britain's Sherlock Holmes-inspired Tv show Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.