Richard Curtis has told BBC Newsbeat about the joy of working on Doctor Who.

The rom-com genius behind Love, Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral and one of the scriptwriters of Bridget Jones’s Diary said how relaxed he felt taking on the daunting mantle of writer on one the BBC’s flagship shows.

“I just love being taken on as a hired hand. Very relaxing. I must do it more.”

Richard also extended the love fest towards the Doctor himself Matt Smith:

“He’s fantastic. We did a really long read-through in Cardiff. We got to the end and said, ‘Oh… I was rubbish’. So we went back through the whole thing and did it again!”

Curtis’s episode Vincent and the Doctor, sees the bow tie twiddling Doctor travelling back to Provence after spotting a mysterious figure and possible alien figure in one of Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, to meet the great man himself.

“I think there’s a really great bunch of young actors around at the moment.

“Matt is great. Tom Sturridge, Aaron Johnson. There’s a whole generation of young guys and I’m very optimistic for them.”

Head over to Newsbeat to read about filming in Trogir, Croatia, which also served as Venice in Vampires in Venice, and Karen Gillan’s jealousy over Matt Smith’s props.

Vincent and the Doctor airs this Saturday 5th June at 18:40 on BBC1 and BBC HD.