Peter Capaldi is the new Doctor Who. Courtesy BBC

PETER Capaldi has been announced as the new Doctor Who, the 12th actor to take up the coveted TV role.

Fans eagerly awaited the news, which was broadcast during a special live show on ABC this morning.

The 55-year-old Scottish actor will replace Matt Smith, who announced in June that he was leaving the sci-fi show later this year.

Scroll down to see the first XI Doctors and tell us who your favourite has been

Capaldi is best known in Britain for his starring role as a sharp-tongued spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in the critically-acclaimed UK political comedy The Thick of It.

He has a long list of movie, television and stage credits, from the 1983 film Local Hero to a role alongside Brad Pitt in the recent zombie horror World War Z. He's also an Oscar winner - he directed Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life, which won the Academy Award for best short film in 1994.

In a live interview with the BBC Capaldi admitted he had been a long-time fan of the show. He said he used to pretend to be the Doctor as a child growing up in Glasgow.

“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," he said.

"I haven't played it since I was nine. As an adult actor I've never worked on it.

"(For the audition) I downloaded some old scripts from the internet and pracitised that in front of the mirror."

The role will be a dramatic change from Capaldi's turn as Tucker, a political manipulator known for his ceaseless and creative use of expletives. Doctor Who is a firmly child-friendly program.

"I think Malcolm has been banished from the mirror by this Doctor Who, who certainly would not put up with any of Malcolm's language or attitude," Capaldi said.

Capaldi attributed the longevity of the show to the creative team behind it as well as to its millions of fans around the world.

"Doctor Who belongs to all of us," he said. "Everyone makes Doctor Who."

The show is a television institution, making its debut in 1963. In the show the galaxy-hopping Time Lord travels in the Tardis, a time machine shaped like an old-fashioned British police telephone booth.

Its longevity is due partly to the flexibility of the premise. The Doctor can regenerate into new bodies, and can travel to any point in space or time.

The show went off air in 1989 and was revived in 2005 when Christopher Eccleston took on the role. David Tennant then starred for three seasons before Smith took over in 2010.

Talking about his time in the show, Smith told the BBC live show: 'I'll miss playing a character who can bounce from A-Z and be the smartest in the room and the silliest in the room... what a character!"

The Magnificent 11 - all the actors who have played Doctor Who

William Hartnell (1963-66), Patrick Troughton (1967-69), Jon Pertwee (1970-74), Tom Baker (74-81), Peter Davison (82-84)



Colin Baker (1984-86)



Sylvester McCoy (1987-89, 1996)



Paul McGann (1996)



Christopher Ecclestone (2005)



David Tennant (2005-10)



Matt Smith (2010-13)

