Turns Out Peter Capaldi Has A Seriously Chaotic Childhood History With Doctor Who

You may already know that Peter Capaldi played the twelfth Dr. Who from 2013 to 2017, starting off with a cameo appearance in The Day Of The Doctor before landing the full-time role. 

But if you’re anything like me, you probably didn’t know how deep the The Thick Of It star’s history with the show goes (turns out, it runs all the way back to the ’70s). 

Recently, X (formerly Twitter) user @sapphyreblayze shared a post that read, “If you ever worry that you’re too involved in Doctor Who discourse on the internet, just remember that the people running the official Doctor Who fan club back in the ’70s had to deal with so many letters from Peter Capaldi that they actively thought of him as a nuisance.” 

Keith Miller, one-time president of the Dr. Who fan club, and the show’s producer, Philip Hinchcliffe, appeared to prove the story in a behind-the-scenes visit to Tom Baker’s Genesis of the Daleks.

The producer told the fan club president in the extended Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 12 Blu-ray episode, “From our end, we’re very keen on fan clubs. We do get feedback from your members.

“I would think the letters from a lot of the people who know a lot about the programme are probably your members, or members of the other fan club – this Peter Capaldi, and people like that.”

This was, of course, years before Peter took the role.

What? 

Yup. In fact, Keith Miller once said ”[Capaldi] haunted my time running the fan club, as he was quite indignant he wasn’t considered for the post,” Brian J. Robb’s book Timeless Adventures: The Unofficial Story of How Doctor Who Conquered Television revealed.

“I was given the fan club to take the strain of dealing with the advent of the super-fans like Peter Capaldi... who wanted a running dialogue with the production team,” Keith added.

People in the comments under the X were pretty amazed, with one person saying “Not a whovian but that is so fucking hilarious. He did what I aspire to do with Star Trek.” 

“So what you’re saying is if I annoy whoever edits DWM enough I have a chance of playing The Doctor in like 30 years time?” another asked.

Well, while you’re waiting for the role, you can read one of the fanzines Peter Capaldi wrote as a teen. What a world...