The 12th Doctor and his companion Clara dropped into Sydney on Tuesday morning, surprising tourists as they emerged from the Tardis, which had materialised beside the harbour.
“Who is that please?” asked one visitor, clearly unaware of Doctor Who’s ambitious World Tour to promote series eight of the BBC series, as onlookers snapped pictures of the big blue box and the posing stars.
The centre of attention was the new but older and wiser Doctor, played by Scottish actor Peter Capaldi, and the returning Jenna Coleman, who plays his offsider Clara Oswald in the 51-year-old British television institution.
Doctor Who fans are already familiar with Coleman, last seen in the Christmas special in which Matt Smith “regenerated” into Capaldi.
As an old hand at all things Doctor Who, Coleman told a media conference she was excited about the world premiere on 24 August (Sunday 7.40pm AEST on ABC).
“I feel really excited because working with Peter for the last eight months I’ve seen what he’s done with the Doctor. And the whole show is very different now and the pace is different. It’s still very much Doctor Who, but it’s new.”
Capaldi was less confident, saying he was more nervous than anything.
The actor known for his powerful portrayal of spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in the BBC comedy series The Thick of It has had eight months of filming to get used to being the Doctor, but still doesn’t know if the fans will accept him.
He says filming his first scene was as terrifying as being in a car accident.
“It’s quite scary because when he first appears he is on the beach, so the very first thing I had to do was get into the Tardis,” Capaldi said. “And I’m thinking, oh my God, this is the actual Tardis.
“Except it’s not bigger on the inside. It’s actually smaller, because Jenna’s inside, and there’s a prop guy.”
In the first feature length episode, Deep Breath, Doctor Who lands in Victorian London where a dinosaur is on the loose.
“Jenna and I didn’t really know each other [when we started filming in January], which was quite good because, as Jenna and I got to know each other, the Doctor and Clara got to know each other.
“We immediately bonded because we were in this exposed position where everyone is asking you ‘what’s the Doctor going to be like?’ and ‘how does Clara deal with the new Doctor?’”
Capaldi said he relished the cloak and dagger aspect of being cast in an iconic role.
“That’s just how creepy I am,” he said. “There’s a shop called Forbidden Planet, which is a kind of geek’s paradise, and there was a period of about two and a half months when I used to know that I was Doctor Who and nobody else did. So I used to go in there and stand next to someone browsing through a Doctor Who magazine, thinking they don’t know they’re standing next to the next Doctor Who.”
Capaldi said the only reservation he had about talking the part was the exposure it brought.
“I had to discuss it with my wife … there is a visibility that you have as a human being which is slightly unnatural.
“But I have to say that the people we have met who recognise you as the Doctor have been so lovely. And also they meet you with a smile, because they’re meeting Doctor Who, not me.”
The pair flew into Sydney from Seoul where they were treated like rock stars.
“It was lovely,” Capaldi said. “They went crazy. You just open your mouth and they cheer and laugh.”
The tour is the largest promotional event the show has undertaken and involves the stars flying to seven cities across five continents in 12 days. It kicked off in Cardiff on 7 August, before heading to London, Seoul and Sydney. Next stop is New York, then Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro on 19 August.
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion