He told CultBox: “It’s a difficult one for any show creator to brace himself for people who won’t like it. But I’m quite interested in reviews that are critical, in a way – unless they’re “I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!”. So I’ve found even the negative comments really interesting.”

He added: “Doing the first episode of a genre show is really difficult. Doing it as a British genre show, where there’s a tendency for critics to go in hard, makes it even more difficult.”

The show’s first episode aired on BBC One last night.

He continued: “…it’s very rare that somebody says they’re absolutely gripped by Episode 1 of a show. I think with sci-fi, you have to allow a bit of time to get to know the characters. I appreciate that people have said there are problems with the opening, but on the whole, that’s a long-winded way I’m happy with the reaction so far.”