Earlier this month, Doctor Who‘s tenth season came to a close. It’s always sad for fans when the latest season ends, but this one is more traumatic than ever. That’s because it was the last season to star Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, ahead of his regeneration in the upcoming 2017 Christmas special.
The character journey of the Twelfth Doctor has been a bumpy one, it has to be said, as he’s gone through some extreme changes over the years. But Capaldi himself has never been less than exemplary. A lifelong fan of the show, the actor has relished the part with gusto and has clearly given it his all. Your personal favourite version of the Doctor is up to you, but there’s no denying that Peter Capaldi is one of the finest actors to take on the role of the Time Lord to date.
So, imagine the shock then when he announced that he’d be departing. After all, playing the Doctor sounds like a dream job, especially for someone as big a fan as Capaldi, but it turns out that he actually has a very good reason for leaving. Speaking at San Diego Comic-Con last weekend, here’s what he had to say when asked about why he’s walking away from the iconic sci-fi show.
“Last season we did 10 months—and that’s 12 hours a day, every day. So how many different ways can you find to say, ‘There’s gonna be a paradox split in the galaxy unless we blow up that model spaceship over there’? So it’s hard keeping it alive, even though I love it. And that’s my job! If I can’t keep it alive, then I shouldn’t be there. So that’s why I decided to leave because I thought, well, I’ve probably done as much as I can do, keeping it fresh.”
He’s got a point, right? Continuing on, Capaldi spoke about what life after Doctor Who is going to be like. After all, the show’s been such a massive commitment for the past several years and according to the actor, he’s just excited to watch it as a fan again.
“I think it’ll be really exciting. It’s great to see what Jodie’s going to do, she’s always brilliant. It’ll be great just to be able to watch it, and enjoy it. Because I always watched it before. When the show came back, I sat my daughter down—she didn’t know what it was—and I said, ‘This is Doctor Who and you’re gonna watch it whether you like it or not.’ [laughing] And we sat down as a family and we watched it and we thoroughly enjoyed it, so it’ll be nice getting to go back to that.”
Doctor Who returns to our screens on Christmas Day, when Capaldi will step into the TARDIS for the last time before handing over the keys to Jodie Whittaker.
