In a surprising revelation that will intrigue Doctor Who fans worldwide, former star Peter Capaldi has confessed to a secret trick used to manage the immense pressures of filming the iconic BBC series. The actor, who portrayed the Twelfth Doctor, resorted to sticking his lines of dialogue onto the set of his time-travelling TARDIS.
The Relentless Pace of Time Travel
Capaldi, 67, played the sci-fi hero for three seasons, appearing from the 50th anniversary special in 2013 through to 2017. Despite describing the experience as "blissful," the Glasgow-born actor admitted the sheer pace of production for the hit show, watched by millions, was ultimately crushing. He emphasised that the most important thing was delivering the show, but the workload was significant.
"You would run out of energy eventually. It would crush you," Capaldi stated. The core challenge was the volume of dialogue. "You had to learn all those lines and you literally could not, there wasn’t enough time to learn all the lines," he explained, highlighting the constant script revisions. "On Thursday, you had lots of rewrites. By Friday, I no longer had a grasp of the lines."
A Time-Honoured TARDIS Tradition
Faced with this pressure, Capaldi's solution was to apologise to the crew and ask if he could stick his lines up on the TARDIS scanner—the central console screen. It was then he discovered this was not a novel idea, but rather a long-standing tradition among the actors who have played the Doctor, a practice dating back to the show's early years.
"I don’t like that, you know. I’d rather have a grasp of the whole thing," Capaldi admitted, showing his preference for being fully off-script. His tenure saw his Doctor battle classic foes including Daleks, Cybermen, Zygons, and the Time Lords themselves across four years in the coveted role.
Life After the TARDIS
Since hanging up his sonic screwdriver, Peter Capaldi has returned to his musical roots. He has been touring with his own band, exploring creative avenues beyond the world of acting. This candid insight from Capaldi sheds light on the less-glamorous, highly demanding reality of bringing a beloved television icon to life each week, proving that even Time Lords sometimes need a little prompt.
