Doctor Who: Why it’s a good time to revisit Peter Capaldi’s era

With Series 12 still some time away, is now a good time to re-watch Peter Capaldi’s era in Doctor Who as the Twelfth Doctor?

Last week, we celebrated five years since the broadcast of Peter Capaldi’s first full episode of Doctor Who, Deep Breath. It’s strange to think that it’s been half a decade since we properly said hello to the Twelfth Doctor. Even stranger to think that it’s been over a year and a half since we said goodbye to him.

With that said, now might be the perfect time to go back and revisit the whole of Capaldi’s era, from start to finish. There are several good reasons to look back at his time as the Doctor.

The first is the fact that it has been quite a while since we’ve said goodbye to his Doctor. The distance means we can look at his era in a fresh context. We know what came after his run with Jodie Whittaker’s first series as the Thirteenth Doctor. How does his own debut series compare to hers?

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A fresh context

Just as we have a later Doctor to compare Capaldi against, we can also watch his era without inevitably comparing it to Matt Smith’s or even David Tennant’s. Both Smith and Tennant were in some ways very similar Doctors. As I’ve written before, they were on the surface more “likable” – the Doctors that you knew would treat you as their best friend if they met you and you weren’t trying to harm his friends or take over the universe.

Capaldi’s Doctor was very different, and perhaps took some time to get used to for some viewers, particularly with the newer fans. Now that it’s been so long since either of those two Doctors, it might be easier to get used to the Twelfth Doctor’s blunter and ruder approach, particularly in his first series.

Knowing what comes later

It’ll also be interesting to watch the Twelfth Doctor’s journey from the beginning now that we know how it ends. We know that Twelve does gradually improve over time. He was probably at his best in his final series, when he had to work as a personal mentor to Bill as much as a hero.

We also got to see all of the very best sides of his character, especially when he got to deliver some amazing speeches in episode like The Zygon Inversion, Thin Ice and of course The Doctor Falls. It’ll be interesting to watch his earliest episodes knowing all of those great moments that are down the road for his Doctor.

Lastly, the most obvious reason to re-watch is Peter Capaldi himself. Not only is he a magnificent Doctor, but he’s also in many ways an extremely underrated Doctor. Regardless of the stories themselves, he was always the best thing to watch about them, and I’m sure that his brilliant performance will continue to get fans watching and re-watching as time goes on.

Do you think now’s a good time to go back over Capaldi’s era and re-watch from the beginning? Have you already re-watched his whole era, and if so, what were your thoughts on it? Let us know in the comments below.