Capaldi is best known to Americans, which is not to say well known, as the F-bombing spin doctor in Armando Iannucci's political comedies "The Thick of It" (BBC series) and "In the Loop" (film spinoff) and, reaching back through the foggy mists of time, for Bill Forsyth's gentle comedy of Scotland, "Local Hero."
At any rate, he is better known to us than were immediate predecessors Smith, David Tennant and Christopher Eccleston when they assumed the role. And Capaldi has twice appeared in the Whoniverse, as a 1st century businessman in "The Fires of Pompeii" and a tragic figure at the center of the spun-off "Torchwood" miniseries, "Children of Earth." Thrice, if you count his very brief appearance (eyes only) last month in the 50th-anniversary special episode, "The Day of the Doctor."
The announcement in August of Capaldi's casting followed months of public speculation and wish-listing, conspiratorial sifting of coincidence and readings of tea leaves. He had been the bookmakers' favorite and, at least in one respect, came as no surprise: Because whatever else the new Doctor would turn out to be — and, if recent history were any guide he would turn out to be tall, thin, white, clean-shaven, not bald and unconventionally attractive, and did — it was going to be somebody British.
Like James Bond, "Doctor Who" posits a world in which the U.K. is still at the center of things. It's where the aliens arrive, where the Earth is repeatedly saved.
Some had hoped for a black Doctor (Idris Elba was often named), or a female Doctor (Olivia Colman, perhaps), and as with other great and important offices, it does seem only right that it be open to anyone, regardless of gender or color. If such a move seemed just possible this time, it's hard to believe the next Doctor won't break one of those lines, or both.
That Capaldi is an award-winning actor of great reputation does not necessarily mean that it will be any easier for him to take control of the Tardis (his time/space machine). Every new Doctor represents a testing of the brand and a testing of the faithful; there are viewers still mourning the loss of Tennant (Doctor No. 10), and undoubtedly some who feel nothing's been as good since Tom Baker (No. 4) quit back in 1981.
It will also, and not incidentally, be a test of the show runner, Steven Moffat, who arrived with Smith, following the retirement of series-rebooter Russell T Davies. Show runners are a thing viewers know about now; we know who to blame when things are not to our liking, and Moffat (whose work I do like) gets a fair share of abuse.
Still, first reactions were on the whole approving, though some younger online commenters bemoaned Capaldi's age — 55, the age of William Hartnell, in fact, when he created the role in 1963. Fangirls who crushed on the younger Eccleston, Tennant and/or Smith wondered how they would adapt to a Doctor old enough to be their dad.
There is, of course, plenty of precedent for gray-haired swashbucklers (your Gandalf, actually called Grey, your Obi-Wan Kenobi, your very vibrant Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee). And Moffat can always create companions for raw youth appeal, as was the original custom: Hartnell's Doctor traveled with a granddaughter. But Capaldi is also very much more fit and energetic than was Hartnell at his age.
Certainly, he represents a change from Smith, thought by some to be too young for the part when he took over, ironically. He offers a range of new tonal possibilities, some of which are also old possibilities. Indeed, if you look back across the whole life of the series, Capaldi seems very much in the tradition — a likely, almost obvious choice.
He has the authority, the madness, the sweetness. And at bottom, Moffat might be more of a "Who" classicist than was Davies, who brought sex, romance and a will-they-won't-they element to the series. It may be time for the return of a more fatherly, or at least more fatherly-looking, Doctor.
Still, there's no telling how Moffat will write him. The Doctor is as constant as the stars and as changeable as the wind; he is a warrior clown, comical and stern, a 1,000-year-old child, a tenderhearted soul who loves humanity and yet is renowned across the universe as the scourge of worlds. (Worlds that deserve a scourge, naturally.) There is a lot of room to play in there.
Fans — especially British fans, whose allegiance spans decades and generations, speak of "my Doctor" as if every citizen needs to have a favorite — do have strong ideas about what the Doctor should be. But variety is in his nature, and in choosing to take this ride, we agree to accept the authenticity of the latest anointed choice — a choice no more in our hands, after all, than it is in the Doctor's.
He is always surprised by who he next finds himself to be.
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