The Mark of Cain writer Tony Marchant has accused UK television dramas of being "badly written and unoriginal."

In an interview with The Stage, Marchant said TV commissioners were dictating the development of more imaginative scripts and stifling writer's creative freedom.

He told the publication: "TV drama is pretty lame at the moment. Is that because commissioners have created such a risk-averse atmosphere writers don’t feel confident or liberated with their own material?"

"That is what you would think if you watched television. You would have to say the vast majority of work that is put out there is badly written and unoriginal," he added.