Doctor Who: why Peter Capaldi is perfect for the role So, for once the bookmakers were right. The Doctor in his latest incarnation will be bookies' favourite Peter Capaldi, best known as the expletive-spewing spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It. This is a safe, and sensible choice from the BBC. Their selection of an older, quirkier actor than the last three Doctors (Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith) harks back to the days of Jon Pertwee and Sylvester McCoy. But Capaldi's outstanding acting talent should guarantee that he makes more of the part than those two performers. Capaldi is not only a skilled comedian, he is an actor with real gravitas (check out his marvellous portrayal of Charles I in Channel 4 drama of a few year's back The Devil's Whore if you're looking for evidence, but also the film Local Hero, and TV programmes The Hour, and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher). He also, crucially, has a US profile: he starred in The Thick of It feature film spin-off In the Loop. The BBC has never managed to persuade the American market of the vital significance of the Tardis, perhaps Capaldi's arrival will herald the moment when this breakthrough is made. Capaldi is also immensely appealing as an individual, a crucial thing in this media saturated age: he is personable and outgoing to interview, as well as blessed with a wry sense of humour. When interviewed by my colleague Ben Lawrence shortly before his spoof documentary Cricklewood Greats, about a fictitious film studio, Capaldi pretended the studio, and along with its invented actors, were real. Best of all, Capaldi not only has a track record with the programme, having guest starred in an episode in 2008 but is also a devoted Whovian. He even wrote a letter to the Radio Times about the Daleks in 1974, at the tender age of 15. It's a match made in heaven - or Gallifrey.