Doctor Who Best Episode Poll Prompts Reaction From 12th Doctor: Peter Capaldi, who plays the twelfth Doctor, talks about how angry he is that fans chose his second-to-last episode of season 9 (“Heaven Sent”) as the best episode of the whole series’ history so far. It was in 2013’s “The Time of the Doctor” holiday special that Capaldi took over as the Time Lord. This came after a surprise appearance in “The Day of the Doctor,” the 50th anniversary story, and he would lead the show for three seasons until 2017. “Heaven Sent” puts the Doctor in a scary castle where he has to fight a monster that can’t be killed while he tries to find a way out.
When Capaldi joined actor Kathy Burke on her show, When There’s A Will, There’s A Wake (via Radio Times), she talked about how “Heaven Sent” won a poll by Doctor Who Magazine to choose the best story from the 60th season of Doctor Who. Capaldi said he was surprised that the episode written by Steven Moffat and directed by Rachel Talalay was chosen because it dealt with serious issues like death, but he was sure it was because it was a story that could interest and be understood by many people. Check out what Capaldi had to say below:
That was beautiful. The wonderful Steven Moffat, who ran the show when I was on it, wrote that episode.It was very strange. The lovely American woman Rachel Talalay did a great job directing it. When you talk about Doctor Who, you have to talk about monsters and the circus. Kids love it, and everyone has to be thrilled, but there’s a sadness and death underneath it all.The fact that that show became the all-time favorite is so interesting to me because it’s all about death.
Children are smart because they know deep down that there is darkness and things around them, and that monsters are examples of that.However, the main character in Doctor Who will die. They may come back as someone else, but the person you loved is gone, and that’s a very powerful and interesting thing to have at the center of a show.
Heaven Sent Exemplifies What Makes The Doctor A Character Beloved Across Generations
As the second part of a three-part story arc about Clara Oswald’s (Jenna Coleman) death, “Heaven Sent” shows the Doctor stuck in a castle inside the Confession Dial, a new device introduced at the beginning of Doctor Who season 9. As he fights to get away from a thing that will kill him and a machine that can bring him back to life, the Doctor spends more than four billion years fighting. The Doctor finally gets out of his jail and returns home on Gallifrey, which was thought to be lost. He is now ready to face the Hybrid prophecy.
Since Capaldi is the only performer for most of the episode, “Heaven Sent” relies on his acting skills to show how a Doctor is grieving over the death of a friend while stuck in a hopeless situation. “Heaven Sent” shows that the Doctor keeps going against all chances, defying death and impossible hurdles with nothing but his will. He does this by removing the TARDIS and sonic gadgets to show how determined and strong he really is. “Heaven Sent” is a well-known and loved Doctor Who episode that shows why the character has been around for so long.
Capaldi has a unique view on Doctor Who because he has been a fan for a long time and has also played the Time Lord. In this way, the actor can enjoy the show both as an actor who created his own character and as a child who learned the values that the show has taught fans since it began in 1963. Fans seem to like “Heaven Sent” more than other stories, which may surprise him a bit. But it’s clear from his answer that he knows why the 2015 episode stuck with them.