Peter: 'Why must all good ideas turn into soaps?'

Peter Davison has slammed TV producers who 'turn every good idea into a soap'.

The former Doctor Who star appears in the next series of Law & Order: UK (ITV1, Sunday), and revealed he was already a fan of the series, which follows cases from the perpetration of the crime, through the police investigation and court proceedings.

He said: "It's a series that's about what it's about. There's no nonsense. You don't see their private lives, so there's more time to go into detail about the convoluted way cases work, and the twists and turns you go through to get a guilty verdict.

"I think there's a terrible tendency to turn every good idea into a soap. For instance, you have a series set in a hospital, but it's not about who's working in the hospital, it's about who's having an affair with who."

He's enjoyed the chance to work with Freema Agyeman, who he'd met at various Doctor Who events. "It was a bit like being back in the Doctor Who family," he said.

The family has been extended now as his daughter, actress Georgia Moffett, is engaged to David Tennant, who played the 10th Doctor.

But while there are nuptial plans afoot, Peter is very reluctant to give anything away. "There is definitely a plan," he said.