Doctor Who Showrunner Calls Peter Capaldi “The Most Emotional Doctor”

Doctor Who fans, get ready to turn on the waterworks.

Last week’s episode, the penultimate installment of season 10, teased that the oncoming regeneration of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor might happen in this weekend’s finale. We’d expected it to occur in the Christmas special but, likely due to some timey-wimey reason, the Twelfth Doctor looks set to meet his maker one episode early.

With Capaldi’s tenure on the show nearing its end, then, showrunner Steven Moffat paid tribute to the actor during a Facebook live Q&A this weekend. He spoke about how, despite his grouchiness, Capaldi “is the most emotional Doctor.”

“Peter only has to think at the screen and you know what he’s thinking. He only has to move his face and I know the particular blend of Scottish torment he’s feeling right now. Despite trying to fight his emotions, he has given us the most emotional Doctor.”

Moffat then went on to explain that he thinks that the whole show is “hugely emotional” for a piece of sci-fi and it even affects him when he’s writing it.

“It’s a hugely emotional show, which is odd for a science fiction show. It’s a massively emotional show. If you don’t laugh or cry when you’re writing it, you can’t expect anyone else to cry.

“Of course you go through those emotions. You look like an absolute idiot when you’re writing it. When I get to the end sequence of a Doctor Who episode when it’s all getting very exciting, I stand up for the end of the episode because it’s all so exciting that I can’t write sitting down, so I throw the chair back and I type standing up because it’s all got so frantic.”

Of course, Moffat himself is also bowing out soon, with the Christmas special being his final episode in charge before Chris Chibnall takes up the reins for season 11. After that, the showrunner is moving on to a new adaptation of Dracula, which he’ll write with his Sherlock partner Mark Gatiss.

We’ll get to see for ourselves if Capaldi really is the most emotional Doctor when the Doctor Who finale, titled “The Doctor Falls,” airs this Saturday on BBC America.