The teaser trailers for Doctor Who season 8 have been frustratingly vague—the last one had only one word!—but new Doctor Peter Capaldi has spilled some hints about Twelve’s upcoming adventures in a new interview. (It’s about time, considering the series returns on August 23!)
Capaldi told The Sunday Times how they landed on his stark black-and-red costume (and which piece they threw out), creeping on fans before his role was announced, and why everyone who squeed over Eleven/Clara should prepare themselves for disappointment now.
Though Capaldi continues the Doctor’s long-standing tradition of wearing suits, his stark ensemble is a far cry from Ten and Eleven’s styles:
I think it’s quite a hard look. I always wanted him to be in black—I always just saw The Doctor in dark colors. Not tweed. Matt’s a really young cool guy—he can wear anything, but I wanted to strip it back and be very stark.
Apparently the worst-looking costume option had him in a moldy old cardigan. Yeah, we can’t see that.
In developing his take on the Doctor, Capaldi collected a book (aww) of images and quotes from people “[he] thought were Doctor Who-ish.” He wouldn’t name names, partly because of the recent script leaks, but also because he wants fans to have the fun of spotting the influences.
What fans shouldn’t be on the lookout for is the kind of romantic banter we’ve seen between past Doctors and companions. Even though Clara (Jenna Coleman) and the Eleventh Doctor had flirtatious moments with each other over the last season, that’s not the way things are going to go now:
There’ll be no flirting, that’s for sure. It’s not what this Doctor’s concerned with. It’s quite a fun relationship, but no, I did call and say, “I want no Papa-Nicole moments.” I think there was a bit of tension with that at first, but I was absolutely adamant.
Not that viewers won’t have plenty of fun! Capaldi promised, “We still blow shit up.” Though even those scenes, he cautioned, will be slightly more grave. We also really dig this quote he gave about the Doctor’s multiple sides, and what parts of the universe still surprise him:
One thing the show does well is balance the epic and the domestic. You can go from the edge of the universe to a pedestrian precinct. This Doctor loves watching stars being born in Andromeda; he’s also thrilled to see litter blowing across the supermarket car park at dawn.
Like David Tennant, Capaldi considered himself quite the afficionado before he got cast. To that end, he’d like to bring back the Cybermen—not the ones who got rebooted in 2006, but the 1960s-era Mondasian Cybermen.
If that weren’t delightfully nerdy enough, get a load of what he did back when he was one of the few people who knew about his new gig:
When I was Doctor elect, before it was announced, I used to go to Forbidden Planet [a sci-fi superstore in the West End], and just hang around. It would amuse me that people wouldn’t know they were standing next to the next Doctor Who. That’s all past now. I can’t do it any more.
You can read the entire interview here.
Photo: Paul Stuart/The Sunday Times
