What did we learn from Peter Capaldi’s first Doctor Who convention? (Picture: BBC/Adrian Rogers)

At his very first Doctor Who convention yesterday, current Doctor Peter Capaldi talked to a delighted and packed audience about all things Whovian.

The actor made an appearance signing and posing for pictures all day for the charity event Project Motormouth 3, an annual event set up by former Doctor Who companion Janet Fielding. Here’s what we learnt…

1. Capaldi wasn’t comfortable with his live announcement

Peter discussed Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor, a show which was simulcast internationally and saw him unveiled as the Twelfth Doctor, referring to it as ‘very odd,’ and ‘very surreal’.


‘It’s one thing getting the job of Doctor Who, which is wonderful. And then the next thing they say to you is, ‘We’re going to announce it live on television!’ And you think, that’s not exactly what I thought I was signing up for! So then you have to go and do this sort of Stars In Your Eyes. I appear through the dry ice and say, ‘Tonight Matthew, I’m going to be… Doctor Who!’



‘Doctor Who has a certain amount of showbiz attached to it. It’s a weird thing because I think we all have an intimate and private relationship with the programme and that’s why it’s so special to people. But then it goes out into the world and it’s a big show; that a lot of people like and a lot of people are interested in. You have to sort of go with all of that. That was not necessarily my most comfortable zone to be in.’

2. The Doctor’s costume should not be led by merchandise

‘Doctor Who, now, is very commercial. The BBC, and those people who are involved in the success of the show, get worried that that success may falter if you’re not wearing a big floppy hat, or something that can be sold. I just very much wanted something that’s simple and wasn’t necessarily something that would be merchandise led. And I wanted something that kids could do without spending much money on. They could just button up their shirt.’

Before his final costume was decided upon, Peter had to film a very short scene for the 50th Anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor. Though only his eyes and eyebrows would end up being used, a quick costume was thrown together, he revealed, ‘Howard [Burden, the costume designer] pulled out a dark coat and a dark shirt and that all sort of worked – he was on the same page as me. We kept coming back to this stark kind of look. I always wanted to be dressed in black.’

3. Capaldi loves the imagination of classic Doctor Who series

‘They weren’t meant to be watched over and over again. And they were made by people who were immensely creative, working with very few resources and very little money, and we should be grateful to them.’

Jokingly, he added, ‘And it’s true of the show today. Some days you go in and things are less than cosmic!’

4. Peter is involved in Comic Relief 2015

Fellow guest Janet Fielding thanked Capaldi for his generosity and told the 300-strong audience that the Scottish actor was due to fly to South Africa and then onto Malawi in aid of the charity event.

5. Peter has destroyed all his childhood Doctor Who memorabilia

‘What inevitably happens, if you grow up with it, you reach a stage when you leave it. The first four Doctors were the ones I grew up with. And so towards the end of Tom’s time [Baker, the Fourth Doctor] I sort of drifted off because I went to college and going out into the world and stuff like that.’



‘I went through some awful period of becoming a punk or something and I decided I didn’t want anything to do with Doctor Who and threw it all away. I had this terrible Bonfire of the Vanities moment when I destroyed my autographs. I had this wonderful autograph collection; I had Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker. I even had a letter from William Hartnell’s wife, because Bill wasn’t well enough to write letters.’

6. Capaldi chatted onset with Frank Skinner about Doctor Who constantly

Capaldi lauded Doctor Who Series 8 guest star, and comic, Frank Skinner (also a lifelong fan) who starred in Mummy On The Orient Express. ‘We talked a lot about Doctor Who,’ he laughed. ‘Frank’s a real expert. He’s the real deal!’

7. Former companion Janet Fielding loves the new series

Fielding, who played 80s companion Tegan, described the new series as ‘knock out’ whilst Peter Capaldi was ‘wonderful’. The former Doctor Who actress set up the convention with proceeds going to the Project Motorhouse charity.

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