The British actor who played the original Darth Vader in Star Wars has dismissed the more recent prequel trilogy as a series of "really bad movies".

Dave Prowse, who portrayed the deadly Sith Lord onscreen for Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), said he was unimpressed by creator George Lucas's oft-maligned attempts to tell the story of how Jedi Anakin Skywalker was turned to the dark side.

Prowse, whose voice was dubbed over with that of James Earl Jones in post-production, told the Hull Daily Mail: "I didn't like Star Wars I, II and III at all. I think the common opinion now is they were really bad movies." He added: "There's no comparison with the original movies. They had a much more believable story."

Prowse did say he would be open to returning in Disney's forthcoming Episode VII, which is being directed by Star Trek's JJ Abrams, but not as the evil Emperor's right hand man. "Unfortunately, Darth Vader was killed off," he said. "But it would be nice to come back and do another character, because no one's ever seen my face. I was never unmasked."

While Jones provided Vader's sinister tones for the original Star Wars films, fellow Briton Sebastian Shaw appeared briefly as the Sith Lord for his final moments in Return of the Jedi, and later as a "Force ghost" alongside Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobe. Fans of the series were upset when the image of Hayden Christensen, the Canadian actor who played Anakin in the prequel series, was subsequently edited into the latter scene. Unfortunately for Prowse, no one has ever demanded his West Country tones be reinserted into the films' audio track.

Meanwhile, fanboy blog Latino Review has hinted that Ewan McGregor, who played Kenobe in the prequel trilogy, might be set to return as another "Force ghost" in Abrams' film.