THE TWELFTH DAY
Peter Capaldi decks the tardis halls
What can you tell us about this special?
It’s festive, it’s light-hearted, it’s a big, rollicking Doctor Who adventure, but with a festive and comic edge to it. The Doctor is sought out to perform a task, to help a king. But he’s not quite up to the task. And the king is unhappy with him. But this is all in a very futuristic way, with flying saucers and robots. So it touches on a lot of Christmas themes, but remains very Doctor Who-ish.
We’ve seen a warmer and more open Doctor this year. Was that driven by the scripts or you personally?
I think both. When you come into it in the first season, you’re sort of exploring and trying to find out who this particular Doctor is, and that carries on. We did feel he’s a little more used to himself now. So let’s warm him up a little. Let’s see him have some fun. Because I always felt he actually loved the position he was in, that it was really exciting to travel through time and space.
Do you know where you want to take him next?
There are so many colours and you want to combine those colours. It’s ironic because I’ve been telling you how this person came to be more at ease. But then the events of the programme crush him. He was right. He was right to be distant and suspicious. Being cheerful and warm and funny is all very well but the dark still comes. I think that’s an interesting place to be going into. I think he will be more committed to his crusade.
Did you get any Doctor Who Christmas presents as a kid?
There wasn’t much Doctor Who merchandise when I was growing up. I grew up during the Dalekmania period. My parents, god bless them, bought me a Dalek costume. The box had a much more convincing illustration of what it was supposed to be. When you opened the box it was a dome with like a plastic skirt, with circles drawn on it, and with two holes that you stuck your hands through. It was a kind of abstract version of a Dalek. My mother always used to buy me the Doctor Who annual. In fact she did until quite recently as a sort of joke! Which is why I have this huge collection of Doctor Who annuals… Nick Setchfield