Sad news for all us Twelfth Doctor fans: Peter Capaldi has reaffirmed that he won’t be returning to Doctor Who anytime soon — or maybe ever.

Asked how he felt about coming back to the show in a similar fashion to David Tennant playing the Fourteenth Doctor as well as the Tenth (and Metacrisis Doctor…), Capaldi dashed hopes with a resounding “no”, before explaining:

“I like the idea that my Doctor is still out there. He’s not available to come and be on TV. The real Doctor is not on TV; the real Doctor is out there.”

It’s rather a lovely sentiment, and though we’d love to see the Twelfth Doctor on TV again, we can at least think that he’s still exploring the universe at the same time as the Fifteenth, Eleventh, Seventh, Fifth, First… All of them actually!

And Peter is a fan of what Russell T Davies is doing with Doctor Who, as he enthuses about the 60th anniversary specials:

“I enjoyed it. I thought it was great and a lot of fun. It was wonderful, exuberant, and full of life, drama, and monsters. David was wonderful, and Catherine Tate, of course. It’s Doctor Who, you know — it’s a gas and a good thing in the world.”

That’s a pretty neat summation of our favourite sci-fi series!

If you want more Peter Capaldi in your life — and of course you do — you can watch his new series, Criminal Records, in which he plays Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Hegarty, on Apple TV now.