STACK #121 Nov 2015

Who is Peter Capaldi?

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.

Left: Deep Breath dino

Into the Dalek

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

“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 .”

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.

Coleman are adamant that there is no potential for romance between their characters. Instead,

It’s unmistakably Who , but there are less larks.

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.

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!

Doctor Who: The Complete Eighth Series is out on November 19

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?

Robot of Sherwood

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