Tune in for a new time lord

As someone who spent his childhood glued to the Time Lord’s adventures, becoming the new Doctor Who was a bit of a scoop for Peter Capaldi. In fact, in some ways he felt over-qualified.

“I had to be very patient [on set], because there were always very nice prop guys telling me how to work the Tardis, and I was like, ‘I know how to work the Tardis. I’ve known for a very long time how to work the Tardis. Probably longer than you, so you don’t need to tell me’,” he jokes.

But the actor still can’t quite get his head around the fact that he’s the chosen one.

“I’m constantly amazed that it’s me,” says Capaldi, 56, who lives in London with his wife, actress and producer Elaine Collins, and their teenage daughter, Cecily.

“I wake up in the morning and I go, ‘I’m Doctor Who! I’m playing Doctor Who, I’m Doctor Who’. It’s a huge privilege and hugely exciting, and it’s funny, because I’ve known the show since I was a kid.”

Although he hasn’t consistently watched the series as an adult, it has always been part of his life.

“There was definitely a time I grew apart from it, because you reach 17 or 18 and you start getting into sex and drugs and rock and roll and off you go, you leave the programme behind,” he says, grinning. “"I grew up in the Sixties, so I grew up with Doctor Who and The Beatles and Sunday Night At The London Palladium, school milk and bronchitis and smog and all this stuff, so it’s part of my DNA.

“So although one goes away, the prodigal son returns.”

While this prodigal son is obliging and polite, there are still moments when ruminating over the right word, his eyes locked on yours, you momentarily expect Capaldi to launch into a foul-mouthed (and fiercely funny) tirade, as per his The Thick Of It character Malcolm Tucker.

He’s often stopped by fans of the satirical comedy, who ask him to swear at them. That probably won’t happen with Dr Who – though it would be a delight to watch him let rip at the Daleks in full Tucker mode – but Capaldi, who studied art and was lead singer in a punk rock band during his younger years, is aware that this role will likely escalate his global appeal.

Viewers, of course, will have to wait until the new series kicks off, to find out what the new Doctor is like, but Capaldi will reveal that he is a “slightly more mysterious figure”, who “struggles to find himself”.

“He’s different from the others and yet he’s the same,” says the actor, shrugging. “That’s useless isn’t it? It’s basically useless but it’s true.”

What we do know is that he will arrive in Victorian London, to find dinosaurs in the Thames and a spate of deadly spontaneous combustions.

Previous Doctor Who, Matt Smith, made his departure in last year’s 50th anniversary special, where Capaldi made his first appearance. But his companion Clara, played by Jenna Coleman, remains, and the first episode of the new series sees the two finding their way with their friendship amid an alien conspiracy.

Whether his performance and the storylines are enough to win over the show’s throng of fans is something Capaldi is feeling philosophical about.

“You do your best,” reasons the actor, who also played Cardinal Richelieu in BBC One’s family action series The Musketeers earlier this year.

Mindful that taking on such a popular character will mean aggrieving some fans – somewhere in The Whoniverse – Capaldi has a clever way of putting things in perspective.

“I think the nice thing about Doctor Who is whether people like it or don’t like it, somewhere, someone loves you and will always love you – and the more everyone hates you, the more they’ll love you," he says. “‘He was my Doctor Who’, they’ll say.”

The new Doctor Who series airs on BBC One tomorrow at 7.50pm

THE DUCHESS'S LOVE SONG FOR THE DOCTOR

The Duchess from Space Elevator explains why she wrote I Will Find You (Gallifrey Dreams), a love song to The Doctor “THE song is a tribute as I have a Time Lord crush in all his incarnations.

“There’s something there for every woman! He’s strong, intelligent, unobtainable (crucial), he will fight Daleks and Cybermen, he has two hearts...

“Or maybe I’m the only girl that dreamt of what her own Tardis would look like inside?” says Julie Maguire, who has been watching his adventures since she was a child in Crowmarsh Gifford, near Wallingford.

Like The Doctor, she likes to keep an air of mystery and is usually just known as The Duchess when performing with band Space Elevator, formed a year ago. (She’s pictured, above, with guitarist David Young) “Our debut album is all about space and would not be complete without a Dr Who song,” she says.

“Being a huge Time Lord fan, I can’t wait for the new series with the new Doctor and wrote I Will Find You simply as a love song to the Doctor.

“It speaks to anyone who has that one special person in their life who they have lost but can’t ever forget. You know you can’t make it work together for whatever reason but you’ll always be thinking of each other. That has to be the most heart- breaking of all kinds of love.“ Julie is a mine of information about music and Doctor Who.

“You will find a lot of music artists are fans, like Brian May of Queen, Noel Gallagher, Toyah Wilcox, Meatloaf, Marc Almond, Bruce Dickinson and bet you didn’t know that the Tardis appears on a couple of Iron Maiden sleeves. How cool is that?” she says.

“Bob Dylan even gave permission for his music to be used in a series but in the end it wasn’t used.

“Pink Floyd used the Dr Who theme on One Of These Days, a great track with a bass line that hits you right in the groin. That’s one of the better Dr Who related songs, unlike the really awful I’m Gonna Spend My Christmas with a Dalek and fun but naff Doctorin’ the Tardis by The Timelords.”

The Daleks, Zygons and Cybermen still rule as the scariest monsters for Julie, with Tom Baker and Paul McGann among her favourite Time Lords.

“Matt Smith was really cool too... how else could he pull off wearing a bow tie, a fez, being James Cordon’s lodger and attacking Daleks with Jammie Dodgers?” she says.

And she thinks Peter Capaldi will be “amazing”. “I would like to send my love and kisses to Peter and hope he likes I Will Find You,” she says.

I Will Find You (Gallifrey Dreams)

Try to remember where I belong
Is it December...the days go by so long
While I was learning about letting go
The planet was turning
The summer sky she closed her eyes
And turned to snow

[Chorus]
I know I will find you
Wherever you are
Run from the darkness inside you
Let me guide you
Right back to my star
I know that you love me
Whatever love means
I know you’re out there thinking of me
Cause you touch me
In far away Gallifrey dreams.

I nearly make it but keep breaking down
I can't seem to fake it since you’ve not been around
Desperate measures in disparate times
Yield thankless treasures
The hands can’t feel the soul can’t heal the hearts can’t find

[Chorus]
Don’t you find your life is leading you on
To somewhere you don’t want to go
You’ve got all this time but don’t know what it’s for
And all of the pieces don’t fit any more
And all you can see when you look out the door is stars

[Chorus]
And I will find you
And I will love you
And I will bring you home

Here is the video of I Will Find You (Gallifrey Dreams)

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