Capaldi sympathetic toward crass Tucker
MALCOLM Tucker and the Time Lord may appear to have little in common, but Peter Capaldi has said that his starring role in Doctor Who has made him much more sympathetic to the foulmouthed spin doctor.
The Glasgow actor, 56, shot to fame as the feared government communications boss in Armando Iannucci’s hit political satire, The Thick Of It.
And he said his Doctor Who role, which was like “effectively joining a boy band or the Beatles”, had given him a better understanding of what it was like to be under constant scrutiny.
“No-one was particularly bothered about what I said before,” Capaldi said.
“What’s now shocking is I can’t say anything publicly without it having a life. Not because I have extraordinary views but because people are keen on conflict, so they’ll make that the story.
“They love to make out that (showrunner) Steven Moffat and I have disagreements. But that’s business as usual.
“It made me realise how awful it must be to be a politician. I’m a lot more sympathetic to Malcolm Tucker’s views now.”
Unlike the Doctor, Capaldi said that he cannot operate any technology.
“My family know not to get me any tech for Christmas. I can never get it to work and it all becomes very tearful. If you put me in a Tardis, I dread to think what would happen to the universe,” he said.