{"id":1881449,"date":"2026-04-13T21:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T18:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1881449"},"modified":"2026-04-13T21:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T18:20:12","slug":"peter-capaldis-biggest-doctor-who-regret-was-that-he-couldnt-be-a-little-bit-miserable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1881449","title":{"rendered":"Peter Capaldi\u2019s Biggest \u2018Doctor Who\u2019 Regret Was That He Couldn\u2019t Be a Little Bit Miserable"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PeterCapaldi_DoctorWho-1200×675.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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A lot of pressure comes with playing a famous character. While Peter Capaldi was aware of that when he joined Doctor Who<\/em>, he recently admitted one surprising lesson he had to learn during his time as the Twelfth Doctor.<\/p>\n

As a guest on the BBC\u2019s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg <\/em>(watch the Instagram reel here, via Radio Times), Capaldi was asked if he thought he left the show too early. He played the character from 2014 to 2017, taking over for Matt Smith and then leaving after regenerating as Jodie Whittaker\u2019s version of the character. He took a long pause, then said he had a little regret, because \u201cit\u2019s great fun\u201d starring on Doctor Who<\/em>. Later in the interview, he elaborated on that: \u201cIt\u2019s nice to sit in the TARDIS; it\u2019s nice to go to work and blow up Daleks. That\u2019s fun!\u201d<\/p>\n

However, \u201cThe pressure of it is quite intense,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re sort of on all the time, and you don\u2019t want to disappoint anyone because, even though I\u2019m not [the Doctor], if people are meeting me, they\u2019d rather meet the version of me that is \u2026 so you try not to let them down,\u201d Capaldi explained.<\/p>\n

That had some surprising effects on Capaldi\u2019s private life, as it turns out. \u201cThat was one of the big changes in my life, I guess \u2026 I\u2019m quite miserable, really, but I thought, \u2018you can\u2019t be miserable if you\u2019re Doctor Who<\/em>.\u2019 You would disappoint people. So I had to become cheerful all the time!\u201d<\/p>\n

No word if other Time Lords throughout the years felt the same pressure\u2014Ncuti Gatwa sure seems like someone who\u2019s generally \u201con\u201d all the time anyway\u2014but right now we\u2019d just be thrilled to know who the next Doctor is going to be. It\u2019s fun, people!<\/p>\n

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Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

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A lot of pressure comes with playing a famous character. While Peter Capaldi was aware of that when he joined Doctor Who<\/em>, he recently admitted one surprising lesson he had to learn during his time as the Twelfth Doctor.<\/p>\n

As a guest on the BBC\u2019s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg <\/em>(watch the Instagram reel here, via Radio Times), Capaldi was asked if he thought he left the show too early. He played the character from 2014 to 2017, taking over for Matt Smith and then leaving after regenerating as Jodie Whittaker\u2019s version of the character. He took a long pause, then said he had a little regret, because \u201cit\u2019s great fun\u201d starring on Doctor Who<\/em>. Later in the interview, he elaborated on that: \u201cIt\u2019s nice to sit in the TARDIS; it\u2019s nice to go to work and blow up Daleks. That\u2019s fun!\u201d<\/p>\n

However, \u201cThe pressure of it is quite intense,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re sort of on all the time, and you don\u2019t want to disappoint anyone because, even though I\u2019m not [the Doctor], if people are meeting me, they\u2019d rather meet the version of me that is \u2026 so you try not to let them down,\u201d Capaldi explained.<\/p>\n

That had some surprising effects on Capaldi\u2019s private life, as it turns out. \u201cThat was one of the big changes in my life, I guess \u2026 I\u2019m quite miserable, really, but I thought, \u2018you can\u2019t be miserable if you\u2019re Doctor Who<\/em>.\u2019 You would disappoint people. So I had to become cheerful all the time!\u201d<\/p>\n

No word if other Time Lords throughout the years felt the same pressure\u2014Ncuti Gatwa sure seems like someone who\u2019s generally \u201con\u201d all the time anyway\u2014but right now we\u2019d just be thrilled to know who the next Doctor is going to be. It\u2019s fun, people!<\/p>\n

\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/peter-capaldi-doctor-who-regret-bbc-2000745933″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PeterCapaldi_DoctorWho-1200×675.jpg”] A lot of pressure comes with playing a famous character. While Peter Capaldi was aware of that when he joined Doctor Who, he recently admitted one surprising lesson he had to learn during his time as the Twelfth Doctor. As a guest on the BBC\u2019s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg (watch the Instagram […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,53],"class_list":["post-1881449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-gizmodo-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1881449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1881449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1881449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1881449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}