‘World War Z’ actor Peter Capaldi revealed the new ‘Doctor Who’ as 50th anniversary celebration continues
On an elaborate, worldwide broadcast, actor Peter Capaldi was revealed to be the new Doctor Who. The role was vacated earlier this year when the 11th doctor, Matt Smith, decided to leave after three seasons. Doctor Who, which follows a heroic time traveler, has exploded in popularity over the past decade and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
Capaldi starred in this summer’s blockbuster World War Z (as a “W.H.O Doctor” fans are finding that odd) and is widely known for his roles on In the Loop and Thick of It.
Peter Capaldi
“It’s so wonderful not to keep this secret any longer, but it’s been so fantastic,” Capaldi said after the news was revealed on a live BBC One show.
The 55-year-old had been the bookmakers favorite to take on the role and had suspended all betting on the star on Friday.
The cult show debuted in 1963 with star William Hartnell and the fourth Time Lord since executive producer Russell T Davies rebooted Doctor Who in 2005, following Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Smith.
Executive producer Steven Moffat had considered Capaldi when they were casting the 11th Doctor. “There comes a right time for the right person to play it,” he said.
“We all had the same idea and it was a quite different idea,” Moffat added. When he and his team made a video with Capaldi, “everybody saw it and was like, ‘That’s the Doctor.’ ”
He’ll next appear in The Fifth Estate, Disney’s Maleficent and is the 12th actor to play the iconic BBC role.
[…] — say, in North Korea with David Morse and James Badge Dale, or in Scotland with, er, WHO Doctor…Who. So all in all, no harm, no foul. I just wish they’d sprung for the original bizarro […]
You’ll probably also notice at 01:35.00ish in World War Z that when the Peter Capaldi W.H.O. character secures the doors a TARDIS sound is played.