STACK NZ Nov #57

visit www.stack.net.nz Who is Peter Capaldi?

DVD&BD

FEATURE

Scottish actor Peter Capaldi finds himself in the thick of it once again, this time at the controls of theTARDIS as the 12th DoctorWho.

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.”

TORCHWOOD In Children of Earth he plays John Frobisher, a civil servant assigned to negotiate with a malevolent alien that has sinister plans for our planet’s kids.

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

[Playing the Doctor] wasn’t something I ever thought I’d end up doing.

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!

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 .”

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?

JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.co.nz

22