Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffat has briefly discussed the task of finding his replacement, “when the time comes” for him to leave.

Speaking at this year’s Edinburgh International Television Festival following a fan screening of Season 9’s opener, ‘The Magician’s Apprentice’, Moffat was asked if he was “grooming somebody else to take over” from him in the future.

He commented: “Am I grooming people?! I didn’t expect it to go so dark.”

The audience member then joked: “Are you just making sure everyone else is a little bit shit so you look good?”

Moffat replied: “That went from grooming people to deliberately sabotaging them. I can confirm that I’m doing neither of those.”

He added: “When the time comes, it will all be taken care of, it’ll all be marvellous but no, part of my job is not about grooming people [laughter] … or deliberately sabotaging them. ‘Right, I’m going to change all the spelling in this script, they’ll never give him a job now!’ I do that sometimes.”

The Sherlock writer also told the Daily Record this week: “If it were difficult to come up with ideas for Doctor Who it’s time to stop doing it. You have the whole universe to blow up so I’ve not run out yet.”

Being Human creator Toby Whithouse recently confirmed that there had not been talks “on any official level” about him becoming Doctor Who showrunner.

Steven Moffat will return as showrunner for Season 10, although there have been reports that this will not be airing next year.

> Buy Season 8 on DVD on Amazon.

> Buy Season 8 on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Season 9 has been filming in Cardiff since January and begins on Saturday 19 September on BBC One.

> Here’s everything we know about Season 9 so far.

Who do you think should be the next Doctor Who showrunner? Let us know below…