Writer Neil Gaiman appears to have ruled out contributing a story to Series 9 of Doctor Who due to his time commitments, but he says he is still determined to pen something for Peter Capaldi before he departs.

The Doctor’s Wife and Nightmare in Silver scribe told the Radio Times: “I’m not writing for Series 9 right now, just because of ridiculous work commitments I’m trying to get out from under. I am determined to write for Peter Capaldi. As long as Peter is Doctor Who, I will write for him. And every time I’m in the UK, I go and see the Doctor Who people. I go see [producer] Brian Minchin and Steven Moffat, and none of us are going to let me go off the boil.”

He adds: “The problem for Doctor Who for me is it’s an enormous time commitment, partly because you’re reinventing an entire world with every episode. And you’re trying something that’s never been done before with every episode. Then you write it, then you give in a script, then they tell you how much it would actually cost to shoot your script as written. Then you write a different script, then they tell you how much that script would cost, but they tell you you’re in the right direction. Then it’s the third script…”

“How Steven Moffat does it and Sherlock, and retains his sanity, I do not know. I just look at him and I am in awe. Here’s me going, ‘Look at me! I am so proud of myself! Every two or three years I do an ep of Doctor Who!'”