Doctor Who Christmas Special: Peter Capaldi on Twelve’s regeneration scene

Twelve’s regeneration scene is going to be a watershed moment on the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special. These are always some of the most powerful, emotional parts of the series every time they happen. They trigger nostalgia; yet, at the same time they also force The Doctor to look into the great unknown. It’s past meeting the future and it’s fear facing the inevitable. There are really few other experiences quite like it when you consider the sheer array of emotions that go into something like this.

For Peter Capaldi, he obviously had a tremendous amount of time to prepare for this moment. He knew that his regeneration scene was coming many months ago, and he was likely consulted about it for quite some time before the cameras started to roll. Judging from what he said to Digital Spy while promoting this special, he and the rest of the cast/crew took their time filming this in order to ensure that it was as close to perfect as humanly possible:

“It was great, it was lovely, because we spent the whole day doing it … It’s quite a big scene, and so we didn’t short-change it. I felt Steven had written something very beautiful, and very right for my Doctor, so I was just happy to try and do my best with it.”

This regeneration will be big, epic, a celebration of what happened, a mourning of the departure, and then also a glimmer into what’s next. Jodie Whittaker is appearing in the closing minutes of the Special as the new Doctor and while there isn’t a whole lot of information out there about her scenes (or scene, there may only be one) just yet, it will probably feel both similar and different. This is the tone that has been established through some other past Doctor Who regeneration scenes and we have a difficult time imagining that this is going to change now. There’s always change with this franchise, but there’s still a familiarity to it. There are undercurrents of similar feelings and themes. CarterMatt understands that there is more hesitation surrounding Whittaker becoming The Doctor, but we really do not feel as though there is anything to fear. Every time people have freaked out about a new Doctor choice we’ve learned soon after that there is no reason for said panic and they do a great job.

For more on the Doctor Who Christmas Special…

Head over here for some additional scoop all about what’s coming for some of these characters and like CarterMatt on Facebook to get frequent transmissions of news on Doctor Who and much more. (Photo: BBC.)