Doctor Who: 10 Steps To Falling In Love With Peter Capaldi

7. First Date

After the long wait and appetites being sated only by press shots of the new outfit and proudly held cinema tickets, we were finally treated to an extended introduction to our new regeneration. And, as Matt Smith€™s Doctor rightly predicted, it was a whopper. Peter Capaldi€™s Doctor was getting to know himself every bit as much as we were getting to know him, but we saw him through Clara€™s eyes. The audience€™s take on this new Doctor may well have hinged on whether they like Clara or not. For those who do, this new version of the Doctor was somewhat challenging. Gone was the infallible, hand-holding, hugging, jovial and comforting space clown, and in his place was a grumpy, uncompromising, error prone man as unsure of himself as the audience were of him. Whereas Matt Smith and David Tenant would often cajole and persuade, this new Doctor had time for neither of these niceties. Where once people were always safe as long as the Doctor was around, now he appeared almost selfish and self-obsessed (OK, more so than usual). When Clara was left to fend for herself without a word of comfort or a promise of return the audience, like the companion, felt abandoned.