'Doctor Who' star Peter Capaldi has criticised the BBC for treating the show "as a pawn" in a the Saturday night ratings war. The current series airs around on 8pm Saturday nights, after 'Strictly Come Danicng', but Capaldi thinks it would be better suited to a 7.30pm time slot, to make it easier for families to watch together.

Peter Capaldi Doctor WhoPeter Capaldi has criticised ‘Doctor Who’s’ timeslot.

"I feel it's slightly used as a pawn in a Saturday night warfare. I feel as if it should go out at 7.30pm or around that time,” Capaldi said. "I see a lot of kids and a lot of families and these families who all love ‘Doctor Who’ want to sit down and watch it together.”

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“I used to do that with my daughter when it came back so it has to be on at a time that's reasonable for them to do that. And once you get past 8.15pm, you're getting yourself into adult territory and although a lot of adults really like it, at its heart, it's designed to do a lot of entertaining of children as well."

So I think it begins to move into a zone it doesn't quite belong in. I feel it's a shame they're not given that opportunity," the actor added. Showrunner Steven Moffat also spoke out against the time slot, calling it "not smart". "I don't think 8.25pm is brilliant for 'Doctor Who',” Moffat said.

"I'm not blasting the BBC or getting cross or anything, but that's not smart. I don't think anyone thinks that's smart. If there's a slight, and it's only a slight, drop-off, it's I think, that's not where 'Doctor Who's' meant to be.”

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Speaking about the current series’ ratings, Moffat added, “'Doctor Who’'s not designed and built to go out at 8.25pm - that's 'Sherlock' o'clock. It's for earlier in the evening. We're doing fine, once you put the consolidated and then if you do the wicked thing that you're not supposed to do of adding on iPlayer as well, we're doing fine."