Steven Moffat has heaped praise on the first two episodes of Doctor Who.

The show runner is looking forward to the premiere of the sixth series of the hit BBC show next Saturday night and told Radio Times that the opening two parter titled ‘The Impossible Astronaut’ and ‘Day of the Moon’ feels just as exciting as a series finale.

He told the publication:

“I said to our genius director Toby Haynes, ‘Start like it’s the finale’, and my God, that’s just what he’s done. I’m not sure Doctor Who has ever felt bigger, bolder or madder.”

He added: “[There's] The Doctor, Amy, Rory and River in the Valley of the Gods, Nixon’s White House, Area 51 and a strangely familiar spaceship. Oh, and there’s Alex Kingston diving backwards off a skyscraper.”

The sixth series will be split into two parts, with the second half returning later in the autumn. At the end of the initial seven episode run, Moffat confirmed that there will be “a cliffhanger that changes everything”.

“By Lake Silencio, on the Plain of Sighs, a story will begin and end,” he teased. “A good man is going to die [and] an impossible life will begin.

“Our heroes will set out on the long road to the deadliest secret in the universe, and when it stares you in the face, you might just discover you’ve known about it all along.”

The new series of Doctor Who premieres on April 23 on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US.