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Doctor Who Peter Capaldi says he was born to play the Time Lord and the role is “in his DNA”.

In his first interview since taking on the sci-fi role, the former Thick Of It star said the show has always been a huge part of his life.

Capaldi said: “I was five when the show started. I don’t remember Doctor Who not being part of my life, and it became a part of growing up, along with The Beatles, National Health spectacles, and fog. And it runs deep. It’s in my DNA.”

The 55-year-old told the February issue of Doctor Who Magazine that he was most looking forward to “getting on with it” and said the way he was unveiled as the 12th Time Lord on a special BBC1 show in August last year was a baptism of fire to his new found level of fame.

“Admittedly, it was somewhat outside of my comfort zone to be revealed in that way, but that’s the way it fell. I was nervous about the ‘Tonight, Matthew, I’m going to be Doctor Who’ element. It seemed a million miles away from the actual job. However, in the end, I kind of enjoyed it. A little showbiz never hurt anyone. And Zoe Ball was great.”

Capaldi, who wrote a fan letter about Doctor Who to Radio Times in 1974, went on to say he “can’t stop” watching old episodes of Doctor Who as he began filming in Cardiff this week.

And he defended the lack of big budget effects in the old versions of the show.

He said: “People look at them now and, understandably, mock the bargain-basement monsters, and the accidents and collisions that came from having virtually no time in the studio to shoot fantastically ambitious stories. But those old shows were only made to be watched once, on a flickering monochrome telly that smelled of valves and furniture polish.

“In that context, they succeeded immeasurably. They were triumphs of imagination.

“It may surprise you now, but something like The Web Planet [an episode from 1965] lived powerfully and expansively in my head for decades… until the DVDs came along and spoiled the party. But I’m glad to say that the Menoptra eventually flitted back into my dreams, where they belong.”

The new series of Doctor Who featuring Capaldi will be on screen in the second half of the year. Show runner Steven Moffat told industry magazine Broadcast there will be at least 13 episodes in 2014.