With his final series of Doctor Who about to begin its run, outgoing showrunner Steven Moffat is free to be even more candid than usual about the process of making BBC One’s sci-fi spectacular.

“There’s a cultural sense sometimes that Doctor Who is the little engine that could, it’s this plucky little British show. But it’s actually one of the giants”, The Moff said to The I in a new interview.

“It’s one of the least well-funded of the giants but it’s operating at that level. Why? It’s a massive show,” he added. “We have a pretty good budget. But we have a smaller budget than other shows that look cheaper. We don’t have the top budget, not by the standards of a colossus of the TV world.

“I don’t think it’s as good as it could be. I want more than three monsters on screen at a time”, Mr Moffat admitted.