Peter Capaldi has announced that he will be departing from Doctor Who later this year.
The actor, who stepped into the infamous lead role in 2013, revealed that the upcoming series would be his last in an interview with BBC Radio 2’s Jo Wiley.
“I feel it’s time to move on,” he said, candidly. “I feel sad, I love Doctor Who, it is a fantastic programme to work on. It can’t praise the people I work with more highly, but I have always been someone that did a lot of different things.”
In the interview, it was revealed that he had been asked to stay on after his contract, but declined in the pursuit of other challenges. Capaldi is the oldest actor to have taken on the role, which has seen 11 other actors assume the helm of the TARDIS in the show’s 52 year history.
Steven Moffat will also be leaving the show at the end of this year, with Broadchurch‘s Chris Chibnall set to replace him as showrunner. The identity of the actor set to replace Capaldi is as yet unknown.
Doctor Who will return to BBC One in Spring, with Capaldi’s final episode set to air at Christmas.
