Doctor Who arrives to soothe pain
Doctor Who touched down in Auckland to meet his fans — and console a few too.
The Who fanbase across the world is reeling from the death of the Time Lord’s companion Clara Oswald, played by Jena Coleman, in the latest episode which screened in Britain on Saturday and in New Zealand on Sunday night.
Though Peter Capaldi, who plays the 12th incarnation of the sci-fi character, hinted that, as it has been for more than 50 years, things in the show aren’t always clear-cut.
“My message for them would be life is tough,” Capaldi joked to the Herald about fans upset by Clara’s passing.
“But Doctor Who is never quite what it seems. We haven’t told a lie. The story is the story but the Doctor is not going to rest. He is not going to accept that that is the last time he will see Clara.”
The current series has two more episodes this season before Capaldi caps off the year with a Christmas special.
Capaldi was to host an evening for fans at Auckland’s Civic last night. One local Doctor Who superfan unlikely to be attending was Sir Peter Jackson, whose name has frequently come up as a possible guest director of an episode of the BBC show.
“I think that would be great,” says Capaldi about Sir Peter’s possible involvement.
Would he worry the episode would be three hours long?
“I am sure three hours in his hands would be wonderful. I believe he has his own Daleks which he can provide for us.’’
Before arriving in Auckland, Capaldi was guest of honour at a fan convention in Sydney.
There, he and writer Mark Gatniss and showrunner Steven Moffat came third in a Doctor pub quiz against teams of local “Whovians”.
See tomorrow’s TimeOut for the full interview