Peter Davison criticises modern Doctor Who episodes for "huge gaps in the narrative"

Speaking on The Lewis Nicholls Show, he said: "As the special effects got even better, there's a danger that it becomes just about special effects."

Likening modern Doctor Who to modern superhero movies, he went on: "They're terribly worried now about people’s attention spans. If something isn’t happening every two minutes, they think people are going to turn off, which I don’t believe is true."

While he praised modern detective dramas and police procedurals for keeping viewers gripped with slower pacing, he added: "For some reason, in science fiction, they feel like they need to go at 100 miles per hour and that makes it, to me, like trailer television.

"There are huge gaps in the narrative because they're just leaping onto the next bit and your brain is meant to fill in the [gaps].

"Maybe if you're young and healthy, you can do that, I don't know. I just find it almost like you're watching a trailer for a Doctor Who show you'd like to watch later."

However, Davison wasn't wholly negative about modern Who, praising showrunner Russell T Davies, who rebooted it in 2005, for "curing" some of the issues that the classic show faced – particularly, the role of the companion.

Pointing to Billie Piper's Rose Tyler as a "great character", Davison recalled how there would often be complaints about classic companions being underused, while modern companions have a much greater role.

Recently, Davison also weighed in on the major twist that ended Ncuti Gatwa's reign on the show – when he regenerated into Piper.

Notably, Piper wasn't introduced as "The Doctor" in the credits, leading fans to wonder what her role will turn out to be.

"I don’t know what Billie Piper is doing," he told Starburst magazine. "I have just read about it, and I don’t know what it’s about. It’s a completely mad idea.

"I don’t think she is the Doctor. I think it’s kind of just a hand grenade thrown into the final episode to try and go, 'Whoa, what’s this?' And then it’s almost like, 'Get out of that.'"

He added: "I thought she was a fantastic companion, but she’s got a great career, and she’s got options galore. I don’t know why she would voluntarily choose to go back to Cardiff for a year."

Doctor Who is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

Dive into our Doctor Who story guide: reviews of every episode since 1963, plus cast & crew listings, production trivia, and exclusive material from the Radio Times archive. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.