Peter Capaldi to Stay On One More Year?

Andrew Reynolds 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.

Three years and then out. That was Patrick Troughton’s advice to Peter Davison on the eve of him assuming the mantle of the Doctor. Wise words, indeed. Not long enough to outstay your welcome but short enough to make sure you leave ‘em wanting more. Or so goes the old adage.

Now, if rumours turn out to be true, those words may just have advised another Doctor on the best way to exit stage left.

Peter Capaldi is rumoured to have agreed to stay on one more year after BBC bosses had feared he would not renew his contract – with a shortlist of replacements already been drawn up.

An unnamed BBC source, so take it with an entire salt mine of sodium chloride, has told The Mirror that Capaldi had begun to find the 13 episodes for 9 months a year schedule a slog but, the shadowy insider said the Twelfth Doctor will return next year. The source said:

“Peter has made it clear he is happy playing the Doctor for as long as the BBC – and viewers – want him. We are very happy with him and viewers are also warming to him.

“He loves playing the Doctor and of course we want him to do another series. Peter is keen to complete three years playing the Doctor to round off his storylines. That will take us until the end of next year. After that, who knows?”

Other rumours have the next series reduced down to a trio of feature-length stories with Sherlock’s shooting schedule taking priority and the BBC still in something of a conflab over just how to approach the flagging ratings – although they have begun to rise again.

A BBC spokeswoman declined to comment, telling The Mirror: “We never discuss contracts.”

So should it Capaldi stay one more year? Should he stay longer than that? Are feature length episodes the way forward? Isn’t it a bit of a leap from ‘I’m happy to stay’ to ‘I’ve signed a new deal’ how much weight do we give to these rumours?

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