2017 marked a historic year for Doctor Who.
Not only did outgoing Time Lord Peter Capaldi bid farewell to the hit sci-fi show, but Jodie Whittaker was selected as his replacement, which means season 11 will herald the first female Doctor at long last. It’s an exciting time for the Who universe, then, and while in attendance at the Regeneration Who convention over the weekend in Baltimore, the now former Doctor revealed an idea he had for an episode of the show that unfortunately, never got made.
If you recall, in season 9, Capaldi’s Time Lord took on a bit of a rock star persona, playing the electric guitar and jamming out on a few occasions. But as it turns out, we actually could have seen this side of the character explored even further. And that’s because the Doctor almost met Jimi Hendrix.
“I always wanted a story where he met Jimi Hendrix and said, ‘Jimi, your sound’s good, but… what you really need is a sort of wah-wah sound,'” Capaldi revealed.
“I’ll find a little thing here, and some valves, and an old bit of shoe, in some shoe box thing, and say to Jimi, ‘Here’s a wah-wah pedal.’ And of course there would have been aliens channelling themselves through Jimi’s music, to try to capture the brains of the adult population of the UK at the time.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, the actor explained how the whole guitar thing came about in the first place, saying:
“I thought it would be funny if he could play the guitar, sort of like a teenager,” he continued. “You know, a guitar that he’d made himself, an amp that it looked like he’d made himself. I thought [the Doctor] should play really badly.
And I thought it’d be great if he plugged it into the TARDIS control panel. I never thought they’d take it seriously, but [Steven Moffat] did! And somehow I was amazed to read this thing of me arriving on a tank playing the TARDIS.
While it’s always fun to reflect on the past, the Capaldi era of Doctor Who is now done and it’s with great anticipation that we look forward to seeing Jodie Whittaker step into the iconic role. Speaking of which, recent reports have suggested that the key word for the upcoming run will be “family,” reflecting the dynamic of the four-strong TARDIS team and the renewed intent to aim the show at a family audience. Beyond that, we don’t know too much more about what to expect, but we’ll be sure to keep you informed as more comes to light.
