Peter Capaldi , the bookmakers' choice by a wide margin , will take over for the retiring Matt Smith , the Doctor since 2010 .
Peter Capaldi
peter capaldi bookmakers' choice wide margin retire matt smith doctor 2010
<m> Peter Capaldi </m> , the bookmakers' choice by a wide margin , will take over for the retiring Matt Smith , the Doctor since 2010 .
http : / / herocomplex . latimes . com / tv / peter - capaldi - as - doctor - who - a - return - to - distinguished - tradition /
Peter Capaldi as 'Doctor Who' : A return to distinguished tradition ?
Aug . 05 , 2013 | 2 : 47 p . m .
And as the world ( or one obsessed subset thereof ) watched , the name of the person to play the Twelfth Doctor - though not , of course , the name of the Doctor , which shall remain unspoken - was revealed .
<m> Peter Capaldi </m> , the bookmakers' choice by a wide margin , will take over for the retiring Matt Smith , the Doctor since 2010 .
Smith's Doctor will regenerate into Capaldi's - same character , just a different body - this Christmas .
The new star of "Doctor Who" is best known to Americans , which is not to say well known , as the F - bombing spin doctor in Armando Iannucci's political comedies "The Thick of It" ( BBC series ) and "In the Loop" ( film spinoff ) and , reaching back through the foggy mists of time , for Bill Forsyth's gentle comedy of Scotland , "Local Hero . "
He is , at any rate , better known to us than were his immediate predecessors , Christopher Eccleston , David Tennant and Smith , when they assumed the role .
He has twice appeared in the Whoniverse , as a first - century businessman in "The Fires of Pompeii" and a tragic figure at the center of the spun - off "Torchwood" miniseries , "Children of Earth . "
He also appears in "World War Z" as a World Health Organization , or WHO , doctor .
You felt a little chill then , didn't you ?
The announcement came Sunday , after months of public speculation and wish - listing , conspiratorial sifting of coincidence and readings of tea leaves , near the end of "Doctor Who Live : The Next Doctor , " a BBC special that aired here simultaneously on BBC America .
It is not to be confused with the big 50th anniversary special set for November .
With Fifth Doctor Peter Davison ( the cricket - sweater Doctor ) and elderly companion Bernard Cribbens as its main in - studio star power and a floating Tardis ( police - box shaped time machine , for the uninitiated ) introduced as a "special guest , " it was , global interest aside , a small - scale , essentially local , even provincial , event .
Because whatever else the new Doctor would turn out to be - and , if recent history was any guide he would turn out to be tall , thin , white , clean - shaven , not bald and unconventionally attractive ( check , check , check , check , check and check ) - it was going to be somebody British .
As does James Bond , "Doctor Who" posits a world in which the U . K . is still at the center of things .
It's where the aliens arrive , and the Earth is repeatedly saved .
Some had hoped for a black Doctor ( Idris Elba was often named ) , or a female Doctor ( Olivia Colman , perhaps ) , and as with other great and important offices , it does seem only right that it be open to anyone , regardless of gender or color .
Indeed , if it seemed just possible this time , it's hard to believe the next Doctor won't break one of those lines , or both .
That Capaldi is an award - winning actor of great reputation does not necessarily mean that it will be any easier for him to take control of the Tardis .
Every new Doctor represents a testing of the brand and a testing of the faithful ; there are viewers still mourning the loss of David Tennant ( No . 10 ) , and undoubtedly some who feel nothing's been as good since Tom Baker ( No . 4 ) quit , back in 1981 .
It is also , and not incidentally , a test of the show runner , Steven Moffat , who came in with Smith , following series - rebooter Russell T Davies .
Show runners are a thing we know about now ; we know whom to blame , and Moffat draws a fair share .
Still , first reactions seem on the whole approving , though some younger online commenters bemoaned Capaldi's age - 55 , the age of William Hartnell when he created the role , back in 1963 .
Fangirls who crushed on the younger Eccleston , Tennant and / or Smith wondered how they would adapt to a Doctor old enough to be their dad .
There is , of course , plenty of precedent for gray - haired swashbucklers ( your Gandalf , actually called Gray , your Obi - wan Kenobi , your very vibrant Third Doctor , John Pertwee ) .
And Moffat can always create companions for raw youth appeal , as was the original custom .
( Hartnell's Doctor traveled with a granddaughter . )
Certainly , Capaldi represents a change from Matt Smith - thought by some to be too young for the part when he took over , ironically - but he also offers a range of new tonal possibilities , some of which are also old possibilities .
Moffat may be more of a "Who" classicist than Davies , who brought sex , romance and a will - they - won't - they element to the series .
It may be time for the return of a more fatherly Doctor .
If you look back across the whole life of the series , Capaldi seems very much in the tradition - a likely , almost obvious choice .
He has the authority , the madness , the sweetness .
At the same time , we don't know how Moffat plans to write him .
The doctor is as constant as the stars and as changeable as the wind ; he is a warrior clown , comical and stern , a thousand - year - old child , a tenderhearted soul who loves humanity and yet is renowned across the universe as the scourge of worlds .
( Typically , these are worlds that deserve a scourge . )
There is a lot of room to play in there .
Fans - especially British fans , whose allegiance spans decades and generations , speak of "my Doctor" as if every citizen needs to have a favorite - do have strong ideas about what the Doctor should be .
But variety is in his nature , and in choosing to take this ride , we agree to accept the authenticity of the latest anointed choice - a choice no more in our hands , after all , than it is in the Doctor's .
He is always surprised by who he next finds himself to be .
For most viewers the Doctor shapes himself to the actor , even as the actor shapes the part .
You want to honor the tradition , naturally , and you can't afford to alienate your audience .
Still , fear of change is a poor basis for creative decision - the point , Moffat told Hero Complex recently , was to bring the world around : 'You want people to go , 'No , that would never work ! ' . . .
And they always get wrenched out of their comfort zone , and then they find the Doctor again .
And there's such a range of what the Doctor can be . "
I'm excited .