Malcolm Tucker Dalek Killer

On Sunday, the BBC revealed that Peter Capaldi, best known for his role as Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It, will take over from Matt Smith to become the 12th Doctor when Smith leaves the role this Christmas. Below, the TV Team clamour give their two-cents on Capaldi’s appointment.

Daniel Cope

We were told that the BBC studio for the live announcement was completely full and no more fans would be allowed into it. Two hundred Doctor Who fans were utterly disappointed. I was stood in a tweed jacket and a Stetson demanding entry to the BBC. I ended up in the BBC’s cafeteria watching the announcement on telly alongside these fans. The atmosphere was tense but then Zoe Ball announced with utter delight “PETER CAPALDI”. I jumped up with joy! Capaldi gave a stunning performance in Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood’s Mini-series Children of earth as the doomed civil servant John Frobisher. If you want to see evidence of a man who can make you feel every iota of emotion, then I recommend you give this series a watch. Peter Capaldi is going to be a sensational Doctor. A more mature Doctor, after the boundless youth of Tennant and Smith, seems a wise course for the show to take. It will certainly be interesting to see him spar with Jenna Coleman’s Clara. Also a fact for fellow Whovians: at 55 years of age, Peter Capaldi is the exact same age as when the first Doctor, Willam Hartnell took the role. Here is to another fifty years of Who, with Capaldi starting the voyage. I am thrilled.

Sam Steiner

I have to say, I feel a little queasy. This could be due to the sudden revelation of a long, drawn-out mystery and the exciting prospect of a truly new interpretation of a dated role. Or, it could be the unsettling nausea of doubt – the worry that one of British Television’s greatest actors may not be suited to British Television’s greatest role. In Peter Capaldi, Stephen Moffatt has chosen an unquestionable talent. He is indubitably, comedically, dramatically and (to use a completely phantom word) televisually gifted. However, a part of me, clearly the part that governs my stomach, wants Peter Capaldi to remain, in my mind if not in reality, a miserable basterd. Malcolm Tucker will go down along with David Brent, Basil Fawlty, Edmund Blackadder and the parrot from Monty Python as one of the most quotable and vivid British comedy characters of all time. And Capaldi became that role so much that even seeing him interviewed on Doctor Who Live on Sunday felt odd. I was expecting and, subconsciously willing him, to explode into a tirade of creatively-manipulated profanities. Thus, imagining him as the week-on-week ,benevolent, saviour of mankind does jar a little.

Part of me, a part that does not control my stomach muscles, hates myself for writing this. I am encouraging type-casting, an ailment that is surely amongst the most virulent and toxic in television. And this same part believes that Capaldi will prove me wrong; that he’ll throw himself into a show that he has loved since childhood immersively and courageously; that he’ll make a great Doctor. But this is an opinion piece and, at the moment, my opinion seems rooted in the queasiness in my lower gut.

Chiara Milford

As we said fuckety bye to the majestic Matt Smith the internet exploded with foul-mouthed tributes to Peter Capaldi, awash with montages stitching Doctor Who with his role as the ever eloquent Malcolm fucking Tucker (seriously, YouTube it, it’s brilliant).

The whoverse awaits with baited breath to see if he finds his sonic screwdriver as useful as a marzipan dildo and how often he fires his assistants, while I wonder if my Who crush will stretch to accommodate a 55 year-old with a strange face and wispy grey hair.

We forget that Capaldi himself is a genuinely lovely man and hardcore whovian; the universe will be in good hands as he takes to the TARDIS console. He won’t dismiss a catastrophe as N-O-M-Fu-P (Not My Fucking Problem), any omnishambles will be cleverly mopped up.

The only question which remains is what his thing is going to be. Every doctor has his thing – generally some form of neckwear; bow-tie, normal tie, stripy scarf, cape, ad nauseam – so what will Capaldi’s be? Mink stole? Feather boa? Politically neutral necktie? Either way I can’t wait to see him strutting around the cosmos, belligerently destroying any fucking cunt of a dalek that gets in his way.

Jonathan Pitman

The day every Whovian was waiting for came on Sunday and it transpires that Peter Capaldi is the new time travelling hero. Personally, I was hoping for Moffat to change things up a bit with a female Doctor, or even one that isn’t Caucasian. My money was on Miranda Hart… such fun. Anyway, Capaldi certainly looks the part, with his piercing eyes and grey hair that hints at wisdom and experience. However, without being indelicate, his age might mean that the new series will rely less on physical humour as it did with Matt Smith. For most people, Peter Capaldi is synonymous with The Thick Of It, the deeply satirical political comedy. Capaldi’s character is known for foul-mouthed tirades against his colleagues, not something that the Doctor is really known for. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see how he will interpret the role, and what personal quirks he will bring to it, perhaps a sombrero instead of a fez. I’m expecting big things from him.

Faizan Sadiq

After a 35-minute long pointless exercise in Whovian sycophancy, we finally found out who the next Doctor was going to be. It’s nice that they have chosen an older actor, but are people forgetting that Peter Capaldi already played two huge roles on Doctor Who and Torchwood? How are they going to get around that one? Needless to say, it will be refreshing to see an accomplished actor play the role, rather than the unbearably excitable turns of Tennant and Smith. But the question remains: will the poor writing of Steven Moffat and co end up letting him down…?