With Peter Capaldi currently receiving rave reviews for his performance as the 12th Doctor, we asked Doctor Who supremo Stephen Moffat about his inspired piece of casting…
Tell us why you chose Peter to play the Doctor?
"When it came to choosing the right actor to take over from Matt Smith, I never contemplated anyone other than Peter. I’d known him for quite a long while, and he would often loom at me from the dark at BBC parties, so he popped quite quickly into my head."
Did you seek anyone's advice?
"I wondered if I’d gone mad, so I tried it out on everyone else, and everyone thought it was a brilliant idea. We elected not to tell Peter that he was the only person under consideration. It’s quite fun to invite a famous actor to your house and give them some rather random scenes and make them perform it on video tape and think, 'He doesn't even know he’s got it!’"
What was Peter's reaction when you offered him the role?
"He instantly accepted. He was on set of The Musketeers in the Czech Republic when he heard and was not allowed to tell anyone. So he found himself wandering the streets of Prague secretly humming the Doctor Who theme tune to himself."
Do you enjoy the process of bringing in a new Doctor?
"It’s always fun. There are certain things that always happen with a new Doctor. Like people will always walk into the TARDIS and say, 'It’s bigger on the inside.' You never get bored of that! It’s like James Bond introducing himself. You want to see it happen again. So a new Doctor is just exciting."
When did Peter know he had made the right decision to take on the part?
"I know the exact moment when Peter felt it. It was the moment when he first said, 'Cyberman!' That’s when I thought, 'Oh yes, this man is happy.'"
Doctor Who continues with Kill the Moon on Saturday on BBC1
