Be Kind - Why Peter Capaldi Is My Doctor
- SimplyWho
- Jul 5
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 31
Like so many fans, I’ve watched Doctor Who evolve. I caught the end of the classic run in the '80s, with Sylvester McCoy using his cunning and Sophie Aldred using her baseball bat.
As I have mentioned, I missed out on the revival in 2005, spending my Saturday evenings drinking VK Ice and smoking too much! I got there in the end though, and I can still remember staying up through the night watching the DVD's of series 1 to 3, and being completely and utterly captivated. I was done for, I would forever be a Whovian!
Watching Eccleston and Tennant and then Smith was magical, but then he came. The man who I had seen (well, heard) shoot his kids and wife before turning the gun on himself, the man who had already been saved by the Doctor, but not by my Doctor, because he was my Doctor. Yes, I am talking about Peter Capaldi.
I could have saved everyone some time and just said that couldn't I?
He wasn’t my first Doctor. But he’s the one who got under my skin and stayed there.
There’s something deeply special about Capaldi’s take on the Doctor to me. Maybe it’s the fact that he was a lifelong fan and you could feel that love in every line he delivered, every speech, and every time he spoke about the show. He wasn’t trying to be the coolest person in the room, he was the coolest, effortlessly, in that wild rockstar-professor way. A bit grumpy, a bit alien, but endlessly kind.
You could see his passion not just on screen, but off. In interviews, fan encounters, behind-the-scenes stories. Capaldi wasn’t just playing the Doctor. He believed in the show, in what it stood for. In many ways, he reminded me that Doctor Who isn’t just TV. It’s hope, weirdness, comfort, and imagination rolled into the most heart warming show in the universe. And Peter Capaldi got that. He already knew it.
His era had a very different tone, it was darker and felt more grown up. Episodes like Heaven Sent, Listen, and The Zygon Inversion dug deep into what it means to be the Doctor. Even when the stories didn’t quite land, he always did.
Twelve turned up and instantly Clara became more likeable. Their relationship was fascinating to watch play out over series 8 and 9. Clara had been released from being the impossible girl and was all the better for it. Twelve, Nardole and Bill are my favourite TARDIS team. The Doctor taking digs at Nardole, his duty of care for Bill.
It wasn't even the companions who had the most special relationship with Twelve. It was Missy, played brilliantly by Michelle Gomez. Everytime these two met there were fireworks. You brought it that he really wanted to change her. You brought it that she wanted to change, but couldn't quite.
And then there’s the speeches. No one does speeches like Capaldi. Not to lecture, not to boast, but to plead - for understanding, peace, thoughtfulness. For decency. He showed me that being the Doctor isn’t about saving the day with a sonic screwdriver, it’s about trying to be kind in a world that often isn’t.
For all of that, he’s my Doctor.
I don’t think you always choose your Doctor. It doesn't have to be your first. Sometimes, your Doctor chooses you. They worm their way into your brain, quietly at first, before they take you over completely. They slip into your heart, and before you know it, you’re defending Series 8 with all your mighty and watching Robot of Sherwood for the twenty-eighth time.
It really felt like Steven Moffat was in his element writing for Capaldi as well. I will not have it that Capaldi was a good Doctor with poor scripts. He was a brilliant Doctor, with different and wonderful stories.
A lot of my favourite episodes are from Capaldi's run as well. Dark Water and Death in Heaven, Under the Lake and Before the Flood, Flatline, Last Christmas, Heaven Sent, Mummy on the Orient Express, Oxygen, Extremis, World Enough and Time and The Doctor Falls. All bangers, and I could go on.
One final point - the Twelfth Doctor is the funniest Doctor. His grumpiness, his one liners, the looks he gives people and the camera, and the total lack of giving a fuck. She cares so I don't have to. You keep not dying, can you give it some welly?
Thank you, Peter Capaldi, for making the Doctor feel more real than ever. For your love of the show. For your kindness, both as Twelve and in person. Thank you for your drawings, your guitar playing, and thank you for reminding us that being the Doctor isn’t about youth or energy, it’s about heart.
He told everyone to be kind, and that is why Peter Capaldi is my Doctor.
Who is your Doctor? Is it Twelve? Let me know in the comments below.
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