Since it was announced that Matt Smith was set to depart from the lead role in the British science-fiction series Doctor Who at the beginning of June, rumours have been rife, as they constantly are whenever it comes to casting a new Doctor, as to which actor will have the honour of playing the Time Lord next.
A live television event was broadcast on BBC One titled Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor yesterday, revealing the identity of the next actor set to play the Doctor. The one-off event featured interviews with two of the Doctor's previous incarnations, Peter Davidson (the fifth) and Colin Baker (the sixth), as well as the Doctor's current portrayer, Matt Smith, and head writer and executive producer Steven Moffat. It was then revealed that Scottish actor Peter Capaldi, 55, will play the twelfth Doctor.
Capaldi is probably best known for his work on the British television comedy series The Thick of It, in which he played Malcolm Tucker, a foul-mouthed spin-doctor working for the government. He's no stranger to the Doctor Who universe either, having already appeared in the fourth series episode 'The Fires of Pompeii' back in 2008 playing an Italian sculptor/merchant named Lucius Caecilius. He also featured in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood: Children of Earth as John Frobisher, the permanent secretary to the home office.
Capaldi is set to first appear as the Doctor in the upcoming 2013 Christmas special, which will see Smith's incarnation regenerate into Capaldi's new Doctor in the episode. He will join actress Jenna Coleman on the show, who currently plays the Doctor's travelling companion Clara Oswald.
As a fan of the show I'm happy with the choice, but I'm remaining cautiously optimistic. I honestly never thought I'd see the day where I recognised an actor that would be announced as the next Doctor. Since the shows return in 2005, I hadn't heard of any of the three actors each of the times they were revealed to be taking over the role. I assumed that a rather unknown British acting personality would always be chosen (as to not have a previous role define them), and while I wouldn't call Capaldi well-known worldwide (I didn't know his name before today), his face is a familiar one, and I have seen him in quite a few things. It's his role as partial antagonist John Frobisher in Torchwood: Children of Earth really excites me in regards to his acting ability, and I hope that he is able to bring the same amount of emotion to the Doctor.
I very much applaud the decision to cast an older Doctor as well. At 55, Capaldi is as old as William Hartnell, who played the first Doctor when in began in 1963, and was in the role for three years until 1966. Since the shows return each of the actors playing the Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith, were aged 41, 34, and 27, respectively, when they started in the role. While youth is generally associated with a fresh face, I think the producers have made a bold and respectable decision is casting someone much older. The new series has often been accused of glamorising the Doctor's looks, as well as his romances, all in an attempt to skew to a younger demographic and start to branch out to American audiences. Choosing an older Doctor doesn't necessary mean they are trying to change anything about the show, it just demonstrates that they aren't being subservient to what the new fans might want in a younger Doctor. If anything, fans getting what they want doesn't usually equate to good television, so bring on an older Doctor who will have to rely on more than good looks and charm to captivate audiences attention.
What makes Capaldi an even more appealing choice to play the Doctor is that he is a long-time fan of the show. During the television event in which he was named Matt Smith's predecessor, Capaldi was interviewed and it was revealed that in the 1970's he persistently sent the BBC a barrage of letters asking for details about how Doctor Who was made, information of upcoming episodes and memorabilia, he even nominated himself to be the secretary of the official Doctor Who fan club. Below is a clipping from Radio Times' February 1974 issue in which a then fifteen year old Capaldi praises an article the magazine wrote about Doctor Who. That's not to say actors who don't know the show all that well don't deserve to play him, but it is exciting knowing that Capaldi has extensive knowledge of the show and the characters history. This will no doubt allow him to bring a little extra something to the role, which is exciting for other long-time fans.
All this being said, it must be remembered that a new face doesn't mean a better show. In my opinion the seventh series of Doctor Who was plagued by some very problematic creative and production issues. It saw Moffatt and the other writers take a more episodic approach to storytelling for the series, and while this created memorable stand-alone episodes, overall the episodes tended to lack depth. Airing of the show continued to spread out the seasons thirteen episodes, so that five episodes aired throughout September of 2012, and the remaining eight episodes aired from March to May 2013. The decision to split up the series has lead to an inconsistently between the two lots of episodes, and this makes it difficult for Doctor Who to gain any momentum. Series seven also saw the departure of beloved husband-and-wife companions Rory Williams and Amy Pond. Just as when a Doctor departs, fans are just as passionate when his traveling sidekicks leave the show. The pair were replaced by Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald midway through the season, and she is yet to leave a lasting impression as a companion, mostly being used as a plot device by writers rather than being developed as a character.
Peter Capaldi taking the reigns as the titular Doctor will not necessarily solve these problems, but Doctor Who has the unique opportunity, as it does every time the Doctor regenerates, to change the show along with him. Whether or not this will happen remains to be seen, but I look forward to what the show has in store for fans of Doctor Who.
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