Peter Capaldi reveals his ‘little regret’ over time leading Doctor Who
In a frank interview about inhabiting the Time Lord part, actor Peter Capaldi has admitted he has “a little regret” about his time leading Doctor Who.
Peter Capaldi has “a little regret” about his time leading Doctor Who.
Admitting the pressures of the role forced him to change his personality, the actor, 67, who played the Twelfth Doctor from 2014 to 2017 after taking over from Matt Smith, said the expectation of embodying the character in public reshaped how he behaved.
Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC, he described the intensity of the role and the responsibility he felt towards fans encountering him off-screen, saying: “I think I have a little regret about it. Because it's great fun being Doctor Who, but the pressure of it is quite intense.
“You're sort of on all the time, and you don't want to disappoint anyone because, even though I'm not Doctor Who, if people are meeting me, they'd rather meet the version of me that is Doctor Who. So you try not to let them down.
“That was one of the big changes in my life, I guess, which happened quite late. I'm quite miserable, really, but I thought, you can't be miserable if you're Doctor Who. You would disappoint people. So I had to become cheerful all the time!”
Peter added: “It's nice to sit in the TARDIS, it's nice to go to work and blow up Daleks. That's fun!”
The actor has previously said he would not return to the role, although he has spoken positively about the experience.
In a separate interview with Radio Times, he said: “It was just an incredible experience. Suddenly, you're in the middle of this fantastical world, surrounded by people who love Doctor Who.
“I was watching (former Doctor Who star) Tom Baker, talking about something, and he said that when he was Doctor Who he would do tons and tons of publicity and stuff, because being Doctor Who was much more fun than being Tom Baker, and I would say the same, probably, being Doctor Who is much more fun than being me.
“Certainly, you're in a very privileged position, because you receive the affection for that character. It is a character, it's not me, and it's a delightful place to be.
“It would be a hard part to sustain, I think, forever, but you do see the best of people, which is lovely.”
Doctor Who is due to return this Christmas following the departure of Ncuti Gatwaas the Time Lord, with the Doctor regenerating into Billie Piper in a special written by the series’ show runner Russell T Davies.
