‘Doctor Who’ actor Peter Capaldi has just announced he’s quitting the show

By Trevor Mogg January 30, 2017

doctor who peter capaldi — BBC

Peter Capaldi shocked Doctor Who fans on Monday when he suddenly announced during a live interview that he was quitting the lead role.

Capaldi, who’s been playing the Doctor since 2014, told the BBC’s Jo Whiley that a one-off Christmas special at the end of this year would be his last show.

The Scottish performer is the twelfth actor to have played the Time Lord in the British sci-fi show’s 54-year history.

Speaking on BBC Radio about the forthcoming season, the actor told Whiley, “The big thing about it for me is that it’ll be my last … this’ll be the end for me.”

He continued, “I feel sad, I love Doctor Who, it’s a fantastic program to work on and it’s been a huge pleasure … I can’t praise the people I’ve worked with more highly but I’ve always been somebody that did a lot of different things … I’ve never done one job for three years … and I feel it’s time for me to move on to different challenges.”

The BBC, which has produced the show since its launch in 1963, had tried to persuade him to stay on, but the Glasgow-born actor said he’d decided not to renew his contract. “I love this but I don’t know how long I can do it and give it my best, and if I’m not giving it my best, I don’t want to do it,” he said.

Sounding emotional, Capaldi told Whiley that it’d been a great privilege to have played the Doctor.

“Sometimes I walk into a room and children gasp, and it’s not because of me … it’s because Doctor Who just walked in. That’s an incredibly wonderful place to be,” he said, adding that the BBC had been a true pillar of support for both him and his colleagues in the industry.

The 58-year-old performer confirmed that the cast and crew were now working on the latest season — his last — and were “about four episodes from the end.”

Capaldi’s final season as the Time Lord will launch in the U.K. on April 15, a day after the actor’s birthday. It’s also the final season for Doctor Who’s head writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat.

Fans of the show, however, needn’t worry. The Doctor, as always, will ~~return~~ regenerate.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Entertainment

7 most overrated Netflix shows of all time, ranked

Eleven, Will, Mike, and Jonathan standing and staring in a still from Stranger Things Season 4.

Netflix is home to great television. The best shows on Netflix usually dominate the pop culture discourse, earning positive praise from critics and fans alike. Some even make it all the way to the Emmys, with projects like The Crown even claiming the top prize.

However, not every show from the streamer is a home run. Even those that are widely acclaimed can easily be blown out of proportion. The quality of these shows has been severely exaggerated by both critics and audiences, and while they remain worthy and entertaining additions to the streamer's ever-increasing library, they might not be the masterpieces some consider them to be.
7. Stranger Things (2016-present)

Entertainment

25 years ago, The Matrix led a mini movement of sci-fi simulation thrillers

A man walks into a simulation in The Thirteenth Floor.

One way to grasp how fully our relationship to computers changed over the 1990s is to look at the cyberthrillers Hollywood made during that time. Mass surveillance, identity theft, the hacking of the soul — all the nascent technological anxieties of this new era were uploaded to movie screens like a virus. But there was no stopping what was coming, and over just 10 years, a world merely flirting with mass connectivity went irreversibly online. By the end of the decade (and, by extension, the century and millennium), the internet had become a major part of everyday life for many people. In turn, the word of warning evolved at the movies. Suddenly, computers weren’t just threatening your safety, your privacy, and your humanity. They were replacing life itself.

In the spring of 1999, the American multiplex was inundated with variations on that scary conclusion. First came The Matrix, a savvy sleeper blockbuster that used irresistible pop philosophy as the Krazy Glue of its spirited genre pastiche. Mere weeks later, eXistenZ, a weird Canadian thriller, dabbled in similar ideas, while bending them into the less mainstream shape of a drolly deranged espionage movie. And a few weeks later still, on Memorial Day weekend, we got The Thirteenth Floor, a twisty neo-noir about realities within realities that had the misfortune of opening in the wake of not just Matrix mania, but also the box-office event that was Star Wars: Episode 1—The Phantom Menace.

Entertainment

7 best 2010s fantasy movies, ranked

Neville, Hermione, Ron, and Harry inside a dark tunnel in HP and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

For the fantasy genre, the 2010s were a time of both bittersweet endings and exciting beginnings. Dominated by epic franchises that would captivate fans across the globe, there were significant contributions to the genre and cinema as a whole from that era. Of course, there were also acclaimed standalone fantasy movies from talented directors who would use the best aspects of the genre while pushing its boundaries.

From the magical clash within Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to the captivating story of The Shape of Water, the best fantasy movies of the 2010s offer spectacular and otherworldly viewing experiences for audiences of all ages. Full of rich fantastical realms, well-written heroes and foes, and spell-binding stories, these films have cemented their place in cinematic history as must-see significant entries in the fantasy genre.
7. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)