Despite gearing himself up to film his final, emotional moments as the Doctor, Peter Capaldi wasn’t about to forego his Doctory duties – much to the delight of one lucky Doctor Who fan who wanted to meet his hero.
As we know, Peter Capaldi will say goodbye to Doctor Who this Christmas with the festive special, Twice Upon a Time – where he’ll make way for new Doctor Jodie Whittaker – wherein he’ll come face to face with his first incarnation, as played by David Bradley, who is reprising the role of the First Doctor from the 2013 docudrama An Adventure in Space in Time.
In fact, it was Bradley who got to witness another extraordinary example of what an ambassador Peter Capaldi has been for the show and the concepts of compassion and kindness that run through the show like a stick of rock.
Speaking to the Radio Times, Bradley told the tale of one young fan who just wanted to meet his hero:
“There was one young lad, who’s been fostered by friends of ours.
“And he was so excited, so excited. Peter came over into the hospitality tent where all the cameras were, and said, ‘Where’s this friend…where’s Chris?’ And I said, ‘There he is.’
“And then Peter spent about 15 minutes drawing a Dalek with hobnailed boots and a bowler hat. Really funny detail – he went to art school, did Peter, before he became an actor.
“He could have easily done a quick sketch or a quick autograph.”
Bradley went on:
“He was preparing for the next scene, we were both trying to learn our lines as each scene came up, because we had to work quite quickly. We didn’t get the scripts until just a few days before we started filming, so there wasn’t much downtime.
“But Peter, bless him, he took the time to draw this very complicated sketch for this young boy, and he absolutely loved it.”
Bradley concluded:
“Oh, the kids that we brought are still talking about it. And they can’t wait ’til Christmas!”
It’s good to know that right until the end of his time on the show, Peter Capaldi was still living up to the mantel of the Doctor. He’ll be sorely missed.
Twice Upon a Time airs Christmas Day at 17:30 on BBC One.
