Dr Who news causes social media mayhem, says Twitter The announcement of Peter Capaldi as the 12th actor to play the title role in Dr Who caused a massive spike in social media activity. DR Who isn't just a travelling time lord who, frequently, saves the world. He's also someone who has been smashing social media records this week. The news that Peter Capaldi would be the 12th actor to play the title role in Doctor Who was only the second time a new Doctor has been announced in the Twitter age. The Twitter UK Blog said there were millions of messages during the day when the news broke early Monday morning Australia time. At the peak of the Twitter activity in the UK, Dr Who fans made 16,198 tweets a minute. At one stage on Monday, seven of the top 10 trends on Twitter in the UK were Doctor Who related and the top trend worldwide was Dr Who related. A tweet by @bbcdoctorwho announcing the casting of Capaldi got more than 30,000 retweets and favourites. Before the announcement, Capaldi was best known as the foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker on the British comedy The Thick of It. The Dr Who obsession was not restricted to Britain. The topics trending on Twitter in Australia on Monday morning included "tucker," "#petercapaldi," "#drwho," "@bbcdoctorwho" and "daleks." At the peak, six of the 10 trending topics in the US were Dr Who related. The Doctor Who Live announcement was the BBC America's second most watched non-prime time show in the US, with only the royal wedding ahead of it. The network said the Dr Who Twitter activity in the US around the time of the announcement was double the average. There have been more than 11.8 million views of the Official Doctor Who Tumblr posts since the announcement.