Doctor Who: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Twelfth Doctor
2. He Tried To Get Peter Jackson To Direct Doctor Who
The Twelfth Doctor era is notable for the fact that two movie directors (Ben Wheatley and Rachel Talalay) were hired to direct some of Peter Capaldi's most important episodes. And that's not all – The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson also stated his interest in directing an episode from as far back as 2012!
Jackson's love of Doctor Who extended to casting Sylvester McCoy in The Hobbit movies as the wizard Radagast the Brown, and appearing in the 50th anniversary sketch comedy The Five(ish) Doctors. For years, both Jackson and Steven Moffat were asked about whether the dream partnership between Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings would never happen – but to no avail.
And then out of nowhere, Peter Jackson released a short, scrappy spoof video in 2015, in which the Twelfth Doctor turned up at his house in New Zealand to get him to sign a contract with the BBC.
While Jackson isn't the greatest actor in the world, it's a lot of fun to see Peter Capaldi running around the director's home, before being chased out by a Dalek!
Jackson never did sign that contract with the BBC, but in 2018 he reaffirmed his desire to direct Doctor Who. Maybe Peter Capaldi or Sylvester McCoy could hand over his contact details to Russell T Davies?