Steven Moffat has admitted that he wanted Peter Capaldi to stay on for the next series of Doctor Who – if only to avoid the trauma of watching him quit the show.

Speaking ahead of this Saturday’s series 10 finale, Moffat admitted that it was painful to know that he would have to witness the end of yet another Doctor on his watch.

“I was hoping he would stay on,” he told The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2. “There’s only so much emotional trauma you can bear. I have had three versions of my childhood hero hand in their resignation to me, and there is no specific therapy for that; it is really quite difficult. [It’s like] Santa Claus quitting in front of you.”

Moffat said that when he and Capaldi both discussed their decision to leave it was characterised by “a curt exchange of nods and suppressed emotion”.

“We are Scottish and we do not discuss emotion,” he said.

Moffat said that he decided to leave the show partly because he was tired.

“It’s been a long time and it completely fills the sky when you are doing Doctor Who; there’s no time for anything else. It’s so dominant.”

He added, “I just thought, ‘I’m just tired I want to try something else, I want to do other things.’”

He also added that he expected there would be more Sherlock, although he said that he and Mark Gatiss have not yet had time to discuss it properly.

“I sort of assume we will; I sort of assume we will come back,” he added.

The Doctor Who series 10 finale airs Saturday 1st July at 6.30pm on BBC1