Peter Capaldi, known for his work on The Thick of It and The Hour, has been announced as the Twelfth Doctor by the BBC in a live broadcast simulcast in America, Canada and Australia. Capaldi will replace the current Doctor, Matt Smith, at the end of the show’s Christmas Special.
The choice was not entirely a complete shock, with Capaldi suddenly becoming the bookies favourite in the last week or so.
Capaldi, like Tennant before him, is a fan of the show with the BBC managing to find a letter written by him requesting for more episodes in 1988. He has appeared in Doctor Who before in The Fires of Pompeii, but is more famously known in Doctor Who canon as John Frobisher in Torchwood: Children of Earth.
“Being asked to play The Doctor is an amazing privilege. Like the Doctor himself I find myself in a state of utter terror and delight. I can’t wait to get started,” Capaldi said in a BBC statement.
Executive Producer Steven Moffat also adds – in a BBC statement, “It’s an incendiary combination: one of the most talented actors of his generation is about to play the best part on television. Peter Capaldi is in the TARDIS!”