Finding the Tone in Doctor Who Series 9

David Power is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

It’s no secret that the direction of the Twelfth Doctor in Series 8 rubbed some people the wrong way. At times he was making macabre quips about people being liquified into protein (Ross, we hardly knew ye), and at others he was doing victory jigs after Addams Family-ing his way out of trouble. Tonally the Twelfth Doctor is a hard nail to pin down. Gallant grandfather or grumpy geriatric? It’s a toughie. But Peter Capaldi’s very aware of this.

In a live stream during BBC America’s section of the 2015 Summer TCA Tour, Peter Capaldi said:

“I think it’s more interesting to explore how someone develops rather than arriving fully formed. There’s a lot of struggle to find the right tone. It would be a bad idea to arrive feeling certain of how he had to be. And you’ll see more of that struggle this season.”

Steven Moffat added:

“The new Doctor always takes a moment to find out who he is. It’s interesting to see someone become a completely different person and not know yourself anymore.” 

It’s entirely plausible that the Twelfth Doctor’s development is going to play out quite similar to his original William Hartnell counterpart. They’re both old men adjusting to how humans react to each other, the First Doctor having spent his whole life up to then on Gallifrey and the Twelfth Doctor having just faced 900 years on Trenzalore outliving everyone he formed an attachment to.

How d’you think they could cement a concrete theme for Series 9 with such a complex Doctor?

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