12th Doctor Announced!
And 'spoilers' is said with that cheeky little lilt that River Song uses, natch!
So: The BBC has officially announced the actor cast the Twelfth Doctor, and it is Peter Capaldi, who's previously had a few turns in the Who-niverse, first as the Paterfamilias whose name escapes me, in 'The Fires of Pompeii' (the one who bought the TARDIS off a junk dealer and called it 'modern art'; look who's got the TARDIS now...) Loved that character: he was a little obsessed with keeping up appearances, but he erred only because he wanted the best for his family. Ultimately, he got the best: one of the oldest, kindest people in the universe saved him and his family from certain death; I love the bit at the end of that ep, where we see the family's shrine to their household gods, and it's a bas relief of The Tenth Doctor and Donna, with the TARDIS.
Also he played John Frobisher in Torchwood: Children of Earth, whom I hated and pitied by turns. Frobisher wasn't a bad guy, or he didn't set out to be, he just let some terrible things happen because he lacked the guts to Do The Right Thing In a Dire Crisis. He was a paper pusher who'd let pushing papers define who he was. He was more concerned with saving his neck and saving his job than in saving the world, but in the end, he realized the enormity of what he had done, and that the choices he had made would make him and his family pariahs. Granted, he took the coward's way out, but having been in a similar Terrible Dark Place, I get it.
And he also appeared in the mini-series adaptation of Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere", as the Angel Islington. Oh yes, an angel has the phone box, just not *that* kind of angel!
It's gonna be interesting to see where this goes: I'm a bit head-tilting that they have an older, mature actor playing the part after two increasingly younger actors (I'd been joking that the next Doctor would be a teenager), but since I know this actor from his previous turns in the same universe, I'm very excited with the prospects!
And now, back to my scheduled word count...