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Doctor WJta s/aturday 7.40pm BBC1

PETER CAPALDI AND EXCLUSIVELY PHOTOGRAPHED 4 FOR BY I'm the same RICHARD GRASSIE _^. person I was

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HKY'RI. AN INCONGRUOUS couple, Their relationship is at the heart of the Andrew perhaps one of the most show and, he explains, "It has no equivalent unlikely pairings on televi­ in TV or fiction, a friendship between an Duncan meets sion: he's 6ft; she's oft 2 and alien creature and an extremely bright, :\V» * sometimes has to stand on an clever and brave young woman. It's unusual 4 Age made no ^\\\\\\\\\\\',\\\%\v/.'.\' TV s odd couple ._ apple box when they're film­ for a man of my age to be friendly with such ing together. He's 57, cadaverous, an Oscar a youthful lady. She wants to go out into the "V.V.V.V.VtV.Vt" v ,vmm ma winner and a hit hattered by life; she's 29, universe and enjoy herself, happy to be Petef Capaldi & •X- • •«* • • i fresh-faced, cherubic. He was the foul- reckless and in danger. I was so lucky it was a• a• a» «« a mouthed enforcer Malcolm Tucker in The Jenna because it might not have worked * 4 Jenna Coleman ;£SS 1 * Thick of ft (2005-12) and lead singer in a with anyone else. It's tricky to come into a f .* punk band the B*****ds from Hell; she was long-established show, especially as the a demure acquaintance of Prince Harry last lead, and Jenna has proved to be a wonder­ \ summer (they had tea at a polo match), and ful actress and friend." they share a was in Emmerdafe for four years. She recalls they had lunch together after This week, the 12th , Peter the hype and secrecy surrounding his role. deep love Capaldi, and his Clara Oswald, "I'd no idea who would take over from Matt played by Jenna Coleman, begin the ninth Smith, and when I was told it was Peter, it series of since its 2005 revival. was one of those 'aha, that makes sense - < genius' kind of moments. But the first thing he said to me was, 'There will be no romance in the Tardis.'" He smiles. They spark off each other in an easy way. He's self-effacing and seems curiously vulnerable; she's lively and confident. "I was keen there shouldn't be a romantic element," he says. "It would have been completely creepy. It's fine if you have handsome young men like Matt and , but as a father [he's been married to actress and TV producer Elaine Collins since 1991 and they have a teenage daughter, Cecily], I felt it would be inappropri­ ate. And it's forged a huge bond between us. There's no romance, but there's deep love."

HE KNEW SMITH was leaving when she joined the cast three years ago. "I was really excited to start a new relationship with Peter although it was scary. The SDoctor, who is my best friend, is not only in a different body, but he's also getting to know himself. Age made no difference. He's an alien. We're not lovey-dovey. Everything is more about what is unsaid, rather than said. Clara may seem like a control freak, but she's trying to control the uncontrollable." "It's a difficult show to act," he says. "It goes - the Tardis could turn up in the Mall or a coffee nothing about acting - my family went to panto­ from B-movie sci-fi to Freudian drama and trag­ shop - but it catches fire abroad, in culturally mime at Christmas, and that was it - but edy. There's romance, pantomime, humour and different places, particularly with students and I thought it would be good fun because I liked sadness, so you're kept on your toes. I try not to young adults. I suppose it offers escapism." watching telly. I came to London at 17 and the be too romantic or sentimental. Sometimes They've both had interesting careers. He was whole thing was terrifying. I moved into a world Jenna will run down a corridor shouting, brought up in Glasgow where his parents, of that was utterly different." At 25 he returned to 'Doctor, there's a monster,' and stuff. Part of the Italian extraction, were in the ice-cream busi­ his flat "a wee bit drunk", where his landlady, a ness. At school he was mocked and called "Moon costume designer, was talking to film director Man", which still seems to rankle. "It was the Bill Forsyth, who cast him as an amiable geek in 'There's no Apollo landings and I spent my entire life writ­ the highly successful Local Hero. ing letters to Nasa who sent pictures to me. I was romance but a geek before the word was invented." He wrote FEW YEARS LATER Capaldi directed a there is deep love' to Radio Times aged 15, in 1974, praising the comic film for BBC Scotland, Franz magazine for its coverage of Doctor Who before Kafka s It's a Wonderful Life, which PETER CAPALDI he developed less cerebral interests two years won a Bafta and an Oscar for best live later and became lead singer in a punk band, the Aaction short film in 1995. "I only did it to explore tradition is that sets wobble and you have to Dreamboys, originally the B*****ds from Hell. my creativity, then everyone said, Are you going fight a giant spider made of rubber. I enjoy that. "I was at arts school. Everyone picked up to be a film director?' which I didn't want to be. It's not so well budgeted as viewers might think guitars and we had a lot of fun playing gigs." I have an arts school background, so my ethos is: [each episode takes 12 days to produce] but it Craig Ferguson, now a leading US talk show you have a go at everything and if you keep your looks great because of the talent of the people host, was their drummer. He introduced Capaldi eyes open and are lucky, you learn. Sometimes working on it." earlier this year as the only guest "I've taken acid you're good, sometimes not. I shiver when Earlier this year they did a worldwide promo­ with". Capaldi smiles sheepishly. "Craig is one of I recall how arrogantly I behaved, but I was tional tour. "We spend nine months filming in the funniest people I've ever met, a natural probably just stupid. When you're young, you Cardiff [at Roath Lock, BBC Wales's 170,000ft2 comedian." She veers the conversation onto a are stupid - apart from you, Jenna." facility], talking to aliens, in our own little safer topic. "You're in a museum in Paisley. "Thank you," she smiles. world," she says, "and then go somewhere like I have pictures of you, with the band." After success, failure - a few weeks after South Korea and we're greeted with such enthu­ He looks at once mortified, surprised and winning his Oscar he was back directing a dog- siasm at the airport. It's a surprise to see how pleased. He's also become a sex symbol. food commercial in a Rickmansworth field."Al l far-reaching the show is." "Unbelievable," he says. "When you're famous, actors go through ups and downs and walk in "I'm amazed at the audience reaction and people say things about you. I'm the same person the deep shadow of failure. I like to talk about it, don't really know why it is " he says. "It has I was when I wasn't a sex symbol. Fame is such a unlike most who think it somehow means you're monsters, which people like, and there are hardly privilege and any downside is a small price to not successful. My failures taught me more than any other shows with them. It's an established pay. It's slightly different, though, because any success and made me wise. There are part of family-oriented TV here. I've been a fan people think they're meeting Doctor Who, an profound things I won't go into. Working with since childhood and have a personal relation­ icon, and not me." others, I learnt to rely on myself. There are a lot of high priests, Aztecs, in this business, who ship with this mysterious alien and his compan­ "I get that directed at me, too," she says. "It's profess to have the answers. When you realise ion rambling through time and space confronted recognition associated with a show that people they don't, it's a remarkable feeling." He was on by monsters yet holding at its heart a sort of like, which is nice." melancholy that is never quite addressed. Unlike the verge of packing up acting and selling the He failed his first interview for drama school. family home in north London after being out D> other sci-fi, Doctor Who has a domestic element "I was dreadful, but then I got lucky. I knew

RadioTimes 19-25 September 2015 17 <\ of work for a year before The Thick of It came along in 2005. He used to draw every day, but has no time 's with Who schedule. "I miss it because I know it's atrophying. It's not something I do as a pastime. It's part of me. I'd like to have been an artist but think I'm too gregarious - well, not really - and when I look at painters like John Byrne [who also wrote the 1987 BBC series Tutti guide Frutti starring Robbie Coltrane], I think there's no point in having a go." What dangers lie ahead OLEMAN WAS BROUGHT up in desperate mistake. The Mire are the deadliest , where her father and for the Doctor and Clara? mercenaries in the galaxy, famed for being WRITTEN BY STEVEN MOFFAT brother run a shop-fitting business. unstoppable and without mercy - and has DIRECTED BY She was a bridesmaid in Summer The creative chief gives just declared war on them. The Doctor and Clara 'When, at last, you rise to go, there will be CHoliday with Darren Day at 11, and turned have 12 hours to turn a handful of farmers and another shadow next to yours. And your life down a place to study English at York University us the lowdown blacksmiths into a fighting force ready to face down the Doctor and Osgood find themselves fugitives in will then be over." when offered a part in as Jasmine Odin himself. And there's more - because this is the a London where no one can be trusted - but the In a world unlike any other he has seen, the Doctor Thomas at 19- She found her character boring THE MAGICIAN'S APPRENTICE Under a lake, in the dripping gloom of an day when the Doctor remembers where he's seen wily old Time Lord knows there is one last hope for faces the greatest challenge of his many lives. And and decided to leave -just before Jasmine had a WRITTEN BY STEVEN MOFFAT underwater base, stands a gleaming black his own face before. peace. Because that box in isn't he must face it alone. lesbian affair with her best pal Debbie, became 1DIRECTED BY HETTIE MACDONALD spaceship, recovered from the lake bed. Nothing is any old box. It's an Osgood Box! pregnant by Debbie's father, had an abortion, "What's a confession dial?" inside - but when the base crew start dying, they /""• and clubbed her policeman boyfriend to death "In your terms, a will. This is the last will make a terrible discovery: ghosts are real! And their I WRITTEN BY CATHERINE TREGENNA SLEEP NO MORE with a chair leg, as happens in soaps. "A good and testament of the Time Lord known friends are refusing to stay dead! The Doctor and jl DIRECTED BY ED BAZALGETTE WRITTEN BY exit story," she says wryly. She went to LA at 22. as the Doctor." Clara arrive to find a base under siege from beyond "Ninja, nun, surgeon, scientist, composer, DIRECTED BY JUSTIN MOLOTNIKOV the grave. But how can the dead be walking? What inventor... it's a fantastic CV." 9 "I'd lived in Leeds for four years, didn't have a This is footage collected from a space rescue A final message from a dying scientist. A plea has brought them back? When the Doctor gap year. I wanted a change, to flex different from the deadliest corner of time and space. England, 1651. The highwayman known as mission. If you value your life, your sanity and the muscles. It was really brave. I arrived at the discovers the truth, it's more terrifying than any the Nightmare is plaguing the land. But the future of your species, DO NOT WATCH IT. Only one man can answer, but he has gone simple ghost story. airport having never driven on the other side of missing from all of time and space. Where is Nightmare is not all he seems, and his fire- the road, and had my car towed [for a parking the Doctor? Friends and enemies alike can breathing accomplice who lurks in the shadows is clearly more than human... The Doctor, on the WRITTEN BY find him nowhere. As the skies of planet f Earth stand frozen, Clara Oswald enters into rail of an alien artefact, is brought face to face 10 DIRECTED BY JUSTIN MOLOTNIKOV 'Yd like to have been a dangerous alliance. with the consequences of his own actions. For "There have always been rumours. Stories once he encounters someone who won't let him When even the can't track down 14 passed from traveller to traveller, mutterings an artist but I'm their ancient foe, and the Doctor's old friend iurn his back on the things he has done. But will about hidden streets, secret pockets of alien and nemesis, Missy, is forced to ask for help, the Nightmare be his friend or foe? It may well life right here on Earth." too gregarious' does it mean that the mad man in the box has take till the end of the universe to be sure... Have you ever found yourself in a street you've WRITTEN BY STEVEN MOFFAT PETER CAPALDI truly disappeared? What fear, or what terrible never seen before? The next day, could you not find shame, could possibly drive the Doctor into THE INVASION 12 DIRECTED BY RACHEL TALALAY WRITTEN BY PETER HARNESS that street again? You weren't dreaming. Your the shadows? The answers are more dreadful memory isn't playing tricks. Like many lost souls "Is it a sad song?" violation] on the first day. I enjoyed auditions - GREEN DEATH DIRECTED BY DANIEL NETTHEIM than Clara's worst imaginings, and she finds ?This dragon-like 7 throughout the ages, you have stumbled on an "Nothing's sad till it's over. Then everything is." they keep you active, creative and busy while herself embarking on a journey into the creature appears "Operation Double is a covert operation, outside extraordinary secret - be grateful "What's it called?" you're unemployed. I returned after four months Doctor's worst nightmare... in of normal Unit strictures, to resettle and rehouse you survived it. "I think it's called Clara." feeling great and fearless." an alien race, in secrecy, on planet Earth." The Doctor and Clara, with "Tell me about her." Capaldi has no idea how long he'll play the THE WITCH'S FAMILIAR BEFORE THE FLOOD A long time ago, the Doctor made a deal in the their old friend Rigsy, find If you took everything from him, and betrayed him, part. "It depends whether viewers like me, and WRITTEN BY STEVEN MOFFAT WRITTEN BY Tower of London. Twenty million walk themselves in a secret alien and trapped him, and broke both his hearts... how you never know. We're conscious of the fact the 2DIRECTED BY HETTIE MACDONALD DIRECTED BY DANIEL O'HARA among us, in human form, living undetected in world, folded away among far might the Doctor go? It is time, at last, show will go on without any of us. Life is full of 4 peace and harmony. But cracks are showing in the streets of London. Not for the Doctor's confession. "The Doctor is trapped. He's a prisoner of the"Doctor. Hello. Can I just say: huge fan." surprises, and there is a cosmic sledgehammer." creatures who hate him most in the universe. this delicate peace. Humans and Zygons are all of them will get out alive. In the eerie remains of a town that never was, disappearing. In city apartment blocks, lifts are "You never feel you've arrived," she adds, Between us and him is everything the greatest One of the three intruders something is stalking the Doctor and his friends. noing missing, and far below the streets of Britain must face the raven... "which is a good thing. It would be quite scary to warrior race in history can throw at us. A desperate battle for survival is under way, but feel safe. You're in Doctor Who knowing it will alien pods are growing in secret caverns. Unit's We, on the other hand, have a pointy stick."thi s time our heroes already know which of them :ientific advisor, Osgood, sends a desperate RadioTimes never last. It's constantly regenerating, so you There are places the Doctor should never go. is going to lose. With the past and future hanging want to make your time count and enjoy the message to the Doctor - but since Osgood is long FESTIVAL Planets where his life would not be worth an in the balance, the Doctor is breaking the rules dead, how is that even possible? adventure for the fleetingtim e you're here." hour's purchase. When he finds himself in the to win the day. Can anything stop the Fisher King? Controversy is always close, though. In very worst of these, without his Tardis, or his And, more importantly, who composed MEET TH Capaldi's first episode, last year, there was a sonic, and with his best friends murdered in Beethoven's Fifth? WRITTEN BY PETER HARNESS DOCTO. shared on-screen kiss between lizard woman front of his eyes, he has only his wits to keep & STEVEN MOFFAT Madame Vastra and her human wife Jenny Flint 8 The Time Lord him alive. And perhaps something else. THE GIRL WHO DIED DIRECTED BY DANIEL NETTHEIM even though they'd been together three years. What is the Doctor's confession? Why did he WRITTEN BY Peter Capaldi, is join "Humans cannot accept us the way we by creative chief Ste There were complaints that the BBC was really leave all those centuries ago? & STEVEN MOFFAT 5 really are. If we cannot , we must Moffat and execul promoting a gay agenda. They both laugh. "I DIRECTED BY ED BAZALGETTE And is it a secret he is willing to give up? fight. You're going to be the first. producer Brian Minchin. think it was good," he says, and then looks mock "There's going to be a war tomorrow. And here's You're going to be the first to make serious. "Actually it's not just lesbian. It's across For tickets, go to some news, this just in - we are going to win the humans see." radiotimesfestival.com species, which is even worse, presumably. It's the hell out it!" WRITTEN BY TOBY WHITHOUSE The future of planet Earth is sealed in crazy if people get up in arms about it. There 3 DIRECTED BY DANIEL O'HARA In a backwater of history, in a little Viking village FRIDAY 25 SEPT, should be lots more kissing in Doctor Who. So a box in Unit's back archive, and only "It's impossible! It's evil! I hate it! It's astonishing!where all the warriors have just been slaughtered, the Doctor knows what's inside. With TICKETS £2< long as it's not the Doctor and Clara." I want to KISS IT TO DEATH." a young girl called Ashildr is about to make a Unit under Zygon control, and Clara lost,

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