Hurrah! Peter Capaldi is the new Doctor Who! I'd heard rumblings about Capaldi a week or so before the announcement, so it's clear somebody at the BBC blabbed loudly this time around.
The BBC's revelation was accompanied by a live broadcast TV show, and on the run-up to the announcement I was heard mumbling "Please Capaldi…please Capaldi " over and over.
From the jubilant reaction of (admittedly, and thankfully, older) friends on my Facebook page, at least, I know I wasn't the only one.
I've enjoyed Capaldi's performances immensely over the years, and not only is he the only bona-fide Oscar winner on the Who production team (for his wonderful short film Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life, which I have on a VHS tape somewhere), but I was surprised and delighted to discover what a deeply entrenched old-school Doctor Who fan he was.
The mournful lamentations of pathetic little fangirls decrying on their loss of baby-faced crumpet was deeply satisfying to me: at 55, Capaldi is the same age as the first Doctor, William Hartnell, when he opened the Blue Box.
I'm relieved to see there's a role-model Doctor that's actually older than me back at the Time Rotor helm again.
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