Quotes

[in 2014] I criticise EastEnders (1985) more in sorrow than anger. I'm a traditional, old school EastEnders (1985) fan and I just think too many of the plot lines don't make any sense.

[on The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: Beyond the Pale (2014)] Paddy Considine, great actor, fine cast, perfectly OK story although I thought a bit stretched out and slow, but your problem was this was TV's first ever radio drama. It was so dark you couldn't see a damn thing. Memo to the lighting man, here's an idea, turn the lights on.

[on Deep Breath (2014)] Thrust into the thick of it, the new guy struggled with the Doc's requisite irritating eccentricity and had zero chemistry with Clara. This odd couple are time zones apart.

[on the rape storyline in Downton Abbey (2010)] I wish television channels wouldn't resort to violence against women to get ratings.

[on Broadchurch (2013)] I think that the first series was the best whodunit I've ever seen.

I've never understood a word Steven Moffat's ever written.

[reviewing Managing England: The Impossible Job (2018)] England's football failure since 1966 has been nothing short of a national disgrace. We've had five or six teams that should have done very well in World Cups, European cups, and we've always failed.

[on Doctor Who (2005) in September 2012] The thing about Doctor Who, I think, although it's not exactly ever going to be the most grown-up thing you've ever seen, I think it has descended back into being a straight children's programme, and they ought to remember that not everyone is seven years old who's watching it.

[on Doctor Who (2005) in September 2012] This has been a so-so series that I think the Whovians, the purists, have not really liked. They've found it too silly and childlike and I can see where they're coming from. Last Saturday got a record low of 5.5 million.