STACK NZ Magazine November Issue 57

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Scottish actor Peter Capaldi finds himself in the thick of it once
again, this time at the controls of theTARDIS
as the 12th DoctorWho.
W
Peter Capaldi?
TORCHWOOD
In Children of Earthhe plays John
Frobisher, a civil servant assigned to
negotiate with a malevolent alien that
has sinister plans for our planet’s kids.
THE THICK OF IT
As Malcolm Tucker, the volatile and
foul-mouthed Director of Communications
for the British Government, Capaldi‘s
expletive-laden tirades are f–ing brilliant!
WORLD WAR Z
As a scientist with the World Health
Organisation, Capaldi assists Brad Pitt
in stopping the zombie apocalypse.
He’s credited as playing ‘WHO Doctor’ –
spooky coincidence or destiny?
THE FIRES OF POMPEII
Capaldi appears in this Doctor Who
episode from the fourth season, as a family
man who is saved by David Tennant’s
Doctor prior to the eruption of Vesuvius.
hardcoreWhovians have never been comfortable with)
did prove instrumental in the success of the new series.
Attend an Oz Comic-Con or similar pop culture expo
and you’ll find a legion of teenaged girls wearing Matt
SmithT-shirts and/or a fez – an audience that the classic
series had never reached. But will they embrace an
older Doctor?
Fortunately, both Capaldi and Coleman are adamant
that there is no potential for romance between their
characters. Instead, Clara has been given a love
interest this season in the form of Danny Pink (Samuel
Anderson), a former soldier turned schoolteacher.
Not only is Capaldi’s Doctor older, he’s also more
alien, enigmatic and angry, once again inviting
comparisons with Hartnell’s original.
“He doesn’t quite understand human beings or really
care very much about their approval,” Capaldi explains –
a fact that frequently exasperates travelling companion
Clara Oswald (Coleman). “In the scripts, the Doctor
and Clara think they’re ok, but the Doctor can change,”
Coleman notes. “Clara is still trying to
work out who the new Doctor is.”
Season Eight reflects the Doctor’s edgier,
unpredictable new persona, which Capaldi describes as
“more mysterious and not as user-friendly”.The mood
of opening episodes Deep Breath and Into the Dalek,
directed by British filmmaker BenWheatley (Kill List,
Sightseers), is both ominous and grim; the jokey and
sometimes frivolous tone that flavoured the Matt Smith
adventures has been replaced with a darker approach.
It’s a welcome new direction that highlights the
programme’s ability to continually regenerate itself.
“It’s unmistakably Who, but there are less larks,”
offers Capaldi. “Tonally it’s representative of
where the series is going, but you never know with
Doctor Who.”
W hen it was announced on 4 August 2013 that
the 55-year-old star of BBC political comedy
TheThick of It would be replacing the youthful
Matt Smith as TV’s Time Lord, the first thing that sprang
into Doctor Who fans’ minds was his previous
involvement with the long-running programme. Capaldi
is no stranger to theWhoniverse, having appeared in the
2008 story The Fires of Pompeii and also Who spin-off
Torchwood: Children of Earth (2009) – a fact that wasn’t
lost on writer and showrunner Steven Moffat, who
included a subtle reference to the Doctor’s “familiar”
new face in the Season Eight opener Deep Breath.
A longtime fan of the show, Capaldi admitted that
playing the Doctor “wasn’t something I ever thought I’d
end up doing”, during a recent world tour with co-star
Jenna Coleman to promote the new series. “But it’s
a huge privilege and very exciting,” he added. He also
revealed that, prior to the official announcement of his
casting, he mingled with unsuspecting fans in London’s
sci-fi store Forbidden Planet, slyly acknowledging that
“they didn’t realise they were standing next to
the new Doctor”.
Capaldi’s casting as the Doctor harkens back to
the series’ beginning; first Doctor William Hartnell
was also 55 when he took on the role in 1963. It’s a
refreshing change from the more youthful actors –
Christopher Eccleston, DavidTennant and Matt Smith
– who have played the part since the series’ return in
2005. However, having a younger Doctor plus a hint
of romance with his female companion (something
JB Hi-Fi
[Playing the Doctor]
wasn’t something I ever
thought I’d end up doing.