Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has been talking to Radio Times about the future of the Doctor, given the character is now dangerously near the end of his regeneration cycle as spelled out in the 1976 story The Deadly Assassin.

The story stated a Time Lord can only regenerate twelve times, and Moffat considers the Doctor is now in his thirteenth and final body. John Hurt is now officially a Doctor, sitting between the Eighth and Ninth Doctors, and David Tennant used up an extra regeneration during his stay. The writer was clear about the future, and how the Doctor is now at the end of his cycle - something that could cause problems when Matt Smith turns into Peter Capaldi in the 2013 Christmas episode. "The 12 regenerations limit is a central part of Doctor Who mythology - science fiction is all about rules, you can't just casually break them.."

To add to the confusion and despite the number of bodies the Doctor has had, Moffat is clear that Matt Smith is still the Eleventh Doctor. He told a press conference at London's Excel arena that the addition of the John Hurt Doctor to the series does nothing to alter the numbering of the other incarnations.

"He's just The Doctor, Matt Smith's Doctor is the 11th Doctor, however there is no such character as the 11th Doctor – he’s just the Doctor – that's what he calls himself. The numbering doesn't matter, except for those lists that you and I have been making for many years. So I've given you the option of not counting John Hurt numerically - he's the War Doctor."

Moffat also talked of how he found it irresistible to put Tom Baker into the 50th Anniversary story. "Tom didn't want to come and do a long thing and he didn't want to put the old costume on. He didn't want to do any of that, but his agent said that he wasn't against the idea of doing a short appearance."

Baker was the longest-serving Doctor, appearing from 1974-1981. Moffat said it would have been impossible to include all the surviving Doctors in the episode. "You can't have scenes around 11 or 12 people - you can't do it. To have the longest-standing Doctor make an appearance and be the one who briefs the new Doctor on where to go . . . well, it's irresistible, isn't it? You get to hear that voice again! It was just wonderful."

As part of the annual fundraising effort for the BBC Children in Need Appeal, a set visit to watch a day's production on the first episode of the next series of Doctor Who has appeared in the charity's set of e-bay auctions.

The auction, which is open until 9.17pm on Sunday 17th November, offers the winner the following:


Doctor Who has had a long association with the BBC's annual Children in Need campaign, particularly on the night of the main BBC One telethon. The Five Doctors had its début UK broadcast as part of Children in Need in 1983, and since then various events, special episodes and previews have been associated with the campaign during November.

Principal photography for the Christmas Special was completed today, as announced by producer Marcus Wilson:



In just eighty-one days the final adventure for Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor will be broadcast, and we get our first glimpse of the Twelfth TARDIS dweller, aka Peter Capaldi!

Global ratings are now available for last weekend’s broadcast of Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor, with the BBC estimating over 1.5 million fans around the world joined the 6.2 million who watched the show in the United Kingdom.

In the United States, BBC America reported 895,000 total viewers for the show which was broadcast at 2pm Eastern Time. This made it the best telecast ever outside of primetime among the 25-54 demographic, and it was only beaten by The Royal Wedding as the best non-prime telecast ever on the channel.

According to Trendrr.TV the 30-minute TV event was the most talked about TV show, apart from sport, on social media in the US, beating the likes of Justin Bieber: Never Say Never on MTV and Keeping Up With The Kardashians on E. On Tumblr, there were 11.84 million views of the Official US Doctor Who Tumblr since the show’s announcement, and fans created 3 million Doctor Who-related reblogs on the day of the show. Twitter activity around the special was double the sci-fi series’ season average for BBC America and at the peak of the activity, six out of the ten trending topics in the US were related to the announcement. Doctor Who continues to be the highest rating programme on the network.

In Canada the show was broadcast on SPACE, which reported 412,000 viewers at its peak for the special, making it the number one network for the key 18-54 demographic during that time.

While in Australia, 40,000 sacrificed sleep to tune into the live broadcast at 4am ET with a total of 200,000 watching the show or its repeat on ABC2. An additional 41,000 have so far watched the programme on iview, ABC’s catch up service.

The BBC has revealed the extent to which Sunday's announcement of the next Doctor took over the twitter-sphere, with the Corporation counting a total of 542,000 tweets reacting to the news that Peter Capaldi would be taking on the role come Christmas.

During the live show, Doctor Who Live; The Next Doctor, the number of tweets averaged 9,000 per minute, jumping to 22,081 a minute as the new Doctor was revealed, the highest TV tweet minute peak recorded this year.

The tweet with the first photograph from the official site was re-tweeted over 25,000 times.

For most of Sunday, during the build up to the announcement, #DoctorWho trended in the UK. Showrunner Steven Moffat trended number 1 in the UK and worldwide while former Doctor David Tennant trended at number 3 worldwide. The Twitter domination continued and at one point 7 of the ten UK’s trends were Doctor Who-related.


The audience for the live show peaked at 6.9 million in the UK and scored an Appreciation Index of 73.

As mentioned in earlier articles, Peter Capaldi is a self-confessed fan of the show. With the Radio Times report of his letter from 1974 posted last week, Doctor Who News reviewer and correspondent Matthew Kilburn has discovered in his own fanzine archive an article by Capaldi dating from May 1976.

Peter Capaldi has won the coveted role of the Twelfth Doctor, but who exactly is the man who will take over the role of television's most famous time traveller when Matt Smith departs at Christmas?

Peter Capaldi was born in Glasgow, Scotland on Monday 14th April 1958. His mother's family was from Killeshandra, County Cavan, Ireland, and his father's family was from Picinisco, Italy. He was educated in Scotland attending the Glasgow School of Art.

While at school Capaldi joined The Antonine Players, an amateur theatre group based in Bishopbriggs, Dumbartonshire, as well as singing vocals for a punk rock band called Dreamboys, where the drummer was future comedian and fellow Doctor Who fan Craig Ferguson. Capaldi tried his hand at stand-up comedy and was invited to support Spandau Ballet on their first UK tour in 1982. The band did not want the usual rock support act and decided a comedian would add piquancy to the uniqueness of their own approach to new music. It was at the band's gig in Glasgow that Capaldi was spotted by film Director Bill Forsyth.


The chance encounter led to Forsyth casting Peter Capaldi in the role of Danny Oldsen in the 1983 feature film Local Hero. Starring Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster, the film told the story of an American executive working for Knox Oil, sent to the fictional village of Ferness on the west coast of Scotland to purchase the town and surrounding property for his company. Capaldi played the local Knox representative.

Other movie roles followed, with Capaldi appearing as Angus Flint in the Ken Russell film The Lair of the White Worm and playing Azolan in Dangerous Liaisons. Television roles included parts in Crown Court, Minder and Rab C. Nesbitt. He played George Harrison in the TV Movie John and Yoko: A Love Story.

In 1992 he played Luke Wakefield in the BBC drama series Mr Wakefield's Crusade. It was his first starring role on television, and saw him portray a closeted gay man who imagines he has witnessed a crime.


In 1992 he helped write and star in the comedy film Soft Top Hard Shoulder, a 1992 British comedy drama film. Capaldi played Gavin Bellini a Glaswegian artist living in London. The story follows him on his journey home in a 1971 Triumph Herald. The film won the Audience Award at the London Film Festival, and Capaldi won the Scottish BAFTA for Best Actor.

In 1993, Capaldi wrote and directed Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life, a 23 minute comic film for BBC Scotland, which also starred Richard E Grant and Barry Letts's son Crispin. In 1994 the film won a BAFTA award for Best Short Film and following year it jointly won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.


More Television roles followed with parts in Chandler & Co, The All New Alexei Sayle Show, Neverwhere and The Crow Road. He made two appearances in The Vicar of Dibley playing Tristram Campbell, a Songs of Praise producer who brings the show to Dibley. He played Lord Fellamar in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dr. Ronnie Pilfrey in Fortysomething and Raymond Carter in Foyle's War. In 2007 he played a university professor in the sitcom Peep Show.

It was in 2005 that he won the role that, prior to the Doctor, he would be most closely associated with. The Thick of It is a British comedy television series created by Armando Iannucci that satirises the workings of modern British government. Capaldi played Malcolm Tucker an aggressive, profane director of communications for the government, who terrorised most of Whitehall. Over 24 episodes and 4 series Capaldi created a comedy icon playing a role that would win him the 2010 BAFTA Television Award for Male Performance in a Comedy Role as well as the British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actor. He repeated his performance in the 2009 feature film In the Loop.


In 2008 Capaldi made his first appearance in Doctor Who, playing Caecilius in The Fires of Pompeii. He returned to the Doctor Who franchise in 2009, playing civil servant John Frobisher in Torchwood: Children of Earth. Frobisher was the Permanent Secretary to the Home Office who was later appointed informal ambassador to the 456.

Other recent roles include Mark Jenkins in the E4 teen comedy/drama Skins, Balthazar in the TV mini series The Nativity, Randall Brown, the new Head of News, in the cold war drama The Hour and Samuel Kent in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: The Murder at Road Hill House. His most recent role has been that of Cardinal Richelieu in the BBC production of The Musketeers, currently still under production.

The news of Peter Capaldi becoming the Twelfth Doctor made the front pages of several Monday editions of British Newspapers, including the Times, Guardian, i, Telegraph, Express, Mirror, Sun and Daily Mail (with the latter two focussing on the betting patterns over the last week).


Mark Lawson of the Guardian said:
Serena Davies of the Telegraph:
Jon Cooper of the Mirror:
James Legge of the Independent:

Other general media coverage includes the BBC, Independent, Telegraph, Metro, Independent, Guardian, Mirror, Belfast Telegraph, Daily Mail, WalesOnline, NME, MTV, Herald Scotland, The Sun (paywall), USA Today, Los Angeles Times, CNN, Entertainment Weekly, Empire, CBC, TVNZ.

On Twitter:

A selection of comments on Capaldi's casting from Doctor Who names and celebrity fans.

• Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor): "Delighted to hear Peter Capaldi is the new Doctor, very good choice. Another Scot eh? Nice to have a more mature Doctor too. Bring it on!!"
• Sophie Aldred (Ace): "Fantastic to have another fan on board as the Dr. I think he will be ace!"
• Bonnie Langford (Mel): "Have to break my #twittersilence to congratulate Peter Capaldi on his new role. Xx"
• Karen Gillan (Amy): "CAPALDI! Superb choice. Swear I've seen him in Pompeii..."
• John Hurt ("The Doctor"): "Congratulations, Peter Capaldi. I'm suboth and we will have a lot of fun."
• Richard E Grant (Dr Simeon): "Bravo on the brilliant BBC choice to Tardis the talents of Peter Capaldi as the 12th Dr Who!!"
• Nicholas Briggs (Dalek voices): "Well I'm over the bloody moon. Worked with him in Torchwood and he was brilliant and a lovely man. He will be brilliant!"
• Mark Gatiss (writer/actor): "Thrilling, moving, beyond exciting. Cometh the hour, cometh the man! Peter Capaldi is the PERFECT choice. Welcome, Doctor!"
• Andy Pryor (casting director): "I broke #twittersilence but it had to be done after a night like this. New Doctor is very happy and dealt with his unveiling with class"
• Stephen Fry (actor/fan): "Well, at least they’ve chosen a wonderful actor..."
• Craig Ferguson (presenter/fan): "Great news that Peter Capaldi is the new Doctor. A spectacular talent and a beautiful man."
• Armando Ianucci (writer of The Thick of It): "There can't be a funnier, wiser, more exciting Time Lord than Peter Capaldi. The universe is in great hands."
• Ben Daniels (in the booking odds): "Peter Capaldi will ROCK!! Fab fab choice!"
• Aneurin Barnard (in the booking odds): "Huge great congratulations to master Peter Capaldi he's going to be a wonderful #DoctorWho"

Peter Capaldi - the one and only:

Steven Moffat has revealed that Peter Capaldi was always his choice in mind for the Twelfth Doctor.

Speaking to Sky News after last night's show, the executive producer said:
The Radio Times added:
During Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor Moffat had commented on the then unknown actor's eligibility when casting for the Twelfth Doctor:

Peter Capaldi is to play the Twelfth Doctor, it has been revealed tonight.

In a live show that featured a number of studio and recorded guests chatting about Doctor Who and what it meant to them, Capaldi was introduced to millions of viewers from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Australia in the special live programme Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor.

Met with resounding applause from the studio audience, the actor then went on to discuss with presenter Zoe Ball his enthusiasm for being the new Doctor. When asked how he found out about the role, he answered:
Talking about the differences between the Doctor and the role he's most known for - currently - Malcolm Tucker from The Thick Of It, he said:

As Doctor Who News reported on Wednesday, he has been a life-long fan of Doctor Who, making a confession to SFX back in 2008. When asked about his audition for the Doctor, he observed:
Also this week, the Radio Times reprinted a letter from a fifteen year old Capaldi congratulating the production team on another successful series.

When asked what he thought about the show's endurance and its fans, he answered:

Matt Smith also had a special message for his successor:

You can watch the interview with Peter Capaldi below (may not play outside the United Kingdom):

Biography:

Peter Dougan Capaldi was born in Glasgow on 14th April 1958; his mother's family hailed from Killeshandra, County Cavan, Ireland, and his father's family from Picinisco, Italy. He was educated at St Teresa's Primary School in the city's Possilpark district, St Matthew's Primary School in Bishopbriggs and at St Ninian's High School, Kirkintilloch, before attending the Glasgow School of Art.

Prior to his announcement tonight, the actor was best known for playing the acerbic political spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in the political satire series The Thick of It and the affiliated feature film In the Loop. In 2006, he was nominated for the BAFTA and RTS Best Comedy Actor Awards, and later won the 2010 BAFTA Television Award for Male Performance in a Comedy Role. He also won the 2010 British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actor.

As well as The Thick of It, Capaldi has appeared in over forty films and television programmes since his debut as Danny Oldsen in 1983's Local Hero. Lead film roles came in 1988 with The Lair of the White Worm Dangerous Liaisons, and then on television in the BBC drama series Mr Wakefield's Crusade. In 1995 he won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film for Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life which he wrote and directed (it also starred Richard E Grant as Kafka and Barry Letts's son Crispin as Gregor Samsa). Other notable roles have included the fictional Songs of Praise producer Tristan Campbell in The Vicar of Dibley, a university professor in Aftersun, a prime suspect in Waking the Dead, Mark Jenkins in Skins, and the Angel Islington in Neil Gaiman's gothic fantasy Neverwhere. He has most recently been seen on television as BBC boss Randall Brown in The Hour, and in the film World War Z as the coincidentally named W.H.O. Doctor! As mentioned earlier he is due to appear as Cardinal Richelieu in the new BBC adaptation The Musketeers.

A life-long fan of Doctor Who Capaldi has played two roles previously, as Roman merchant Lucius Caecilius in The Fires of Pompeii, and more prominently as the Home Office Permanent Secretary John Frobisher in Torchwood Children of Earth: Day One.

A more comprehensive biography of Capaldi's career can be found in our followup article here.

BBC Press Release:

Today sees special Royal Mail stamps going on sale to mark the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.

Each of the 11 TV Doctors is represented on his own first-class stamp (60p), as is the TARDIS, while four enemies – Dalek, Cyberman, Ood, and a Weeping Angel – feature on second-class stamps (50p). The enemies and TARDIS are on a five-stamp miniature sheet, while the stamp design for the Doctors sees the face of each one set against relevant opening title sequences along with a relevant logo. Since the first two Doctors' eras were broadcast in monochrome, the first two stamps are also black and white.

As well as the stamps - which are being sold at more than 9,000 Post Office branches in the UK, online, and via phone (08457 641 641) - a wide variety of associated products is also available, ranging from first-day covers and postcards to stamp sets and stamp strips plus a pin badge of the TARDIS stamp. Some of the items on sale include series information penned by Doctor Who writer, director, and script editor Gary Russell.

Royal Mail - which said it had had an unprecedented number of pre-registrations for the stamps since they were unveiled in December - is also creating unique postmarks in the home towns of the actors to have played the 11 TV Doctors. All stamped mail sent from those locations will have a special postmark celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who, with the name of the actor who played the Doctor plus the length of time they were in the role.

Andrew Hammond, the managing director of the stamps and collectibles division at Royal Mail, said:
Fiona Eastwood, the product development director at BBC Worldwide Consumer Products, said:
Royal Mail's Special Stamp programme has been commemorating and celebrating events and anniversaries relevant to UK heritage and life for nearly 50 years itself. All UK stamp designs are approved by the Queen before they are printed.

The stamps are available to purchase from the Post Office.

Pre-issue event:

A special public affairs event marking the issue of the anniversary stamps was held by Royal Mail at BAFTA in London earlier this month, with Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Paul McGann, Steven Moffat, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Jon Pertwee's son Sean Pertwee, and William Hartnell's granddaughter and biographer Jessica Carney mingling among the invited guests, who included MPs, stakeholders, and key Royal Mail customers.

Speeches in praise of the show and the stamps were given by Moya Greene, Royal Mail's chief executive, and Steven Moffat. The showrunner also introduced a video message from Matt Smith, as the actor had been unable to make it to the function, plus an extended trailer for Series 7b.

Props made by the officially-licensed company Rubbertoe Replicas were on show, as were displays of the stamps, with Daleks and a police box also adding to the atmosphere.

Competition to follow:

Doctor Who News will shortly be running a competition connected with the release of the stamps and there's a fabulous prize to be won, courtesy of Royal Mail, so keep checking back for details!