In the immortal words of Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, "Well...Here we go again..."
After a half-hour of hype and interview clips, Peter Capaldi was officially announced as the Twelfth Doctor on the BBC special Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor, hosted by Zoe Ball. The 55-year-old Scottish actor is a lifelong fan of Doctor Who and has previously appeared in the 2008 episode "The Fires of Pompeii" as Caecilius and as John Frobisher on the Torchwood miniseries Children of Earth. Capaldi will make his debut during the regeneration sequence featured in the 2013 Christmas Special.
Before the announcement, Fifth Doctor Peter Davison appeared on stage and briefly discussed how you never really leave the role of the Doctor, his daughter's marriage to Tenth Doctor David Tennant and that Patrick Troughton became his favorite Doctor after being won over during Troughton's first episode in 1966's "Power of the Daleks."
Various recorded interviews followed, including Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith, Sixth Doctor Colin Baker, Janet Fielding (Tegan Jovanka), Anneke Wills (Polly), Bonnie Langford (Melanie "Mel" Bush), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald), Professor Stephen Hawking and Professor Brian Cox.
Bernard Cribbins, who played Donna Noble's grandfather Wilfred "Wilf" Mott, then appeared on stage and discussed interviewing for the role of the Fourth Doctor following the departure of Jon Pertwee. Barry Letts, producer at the time, told Cribbins the Doctor doesn't get into fistfights and then when Tom Baker's first story "Robot" aired, Cribbins saw Baker hitting someone.
Following the announcement, Capaldi joined Ball for some initial questions about his reaction to finding out he landed the role. "I was performing The Three Musketeers in Prague at the time," said Capaldi, "and I missed the call. I called back and my agent said, 'Hello, Doctor.'"
"It's so wonderful not to keep this secret any longer," said Capaldi. "For a while I couldn't tell my daughter. She was reading the rumors on the internet and getting upset that they weren't mentioning me. I kept saying 'Rise above it, rise above it."
Capaldi also admitted that he played the Doctor as a child in Glasgow. "I'm a lifelong Doctor Who fan. I haven't played it since I was nine. As an adult actor I've never worked on it. (For the audition) I downloaded some old scripts from the internet and practiced that in front of the mirror."
Matt Smith shared his best wishes to his successor from recorded footage, then Capaldi continued to grin and share his enthusiasm. "Doctor Who belongs to all of us," he said. "Everyone made Doctor Who."