Actor Peter Capaldi is stepping down from his role as Doctor Who.
The surprise announcement came during a BBC Radio 2 show this week.
He said he will leave Doctor Who at the end of the year. “I feel it’s time to move on,” he said.
The 58-year-old Glasgow-born star became the 12th actor to play The Doctor in 2013.
Capaldi first stepped into the Tardis in 2013, taking over from Matt Smith, and is set to leave in the Christmas 2017 special after three seasons.
While speaking about the forthcoming 10th series, he said it would be his last.
“I feel sad, I love Doctor Who, it is a fantastic programme to work on,” he said. “I can’t praise the people I work with more highly, but I have always been someone that did a lot of different things.”
He said he was asked to stay on after his contract ran out, but he wanted to move on to other challenges.
The new series airs in spring and Capaldi said his final episode would be shown at Christmas.
In his interview, Capaldi assured listeners that he was still Doctor Who at the moment, as filming was continuing.
The next series will also be the last with Steven Moffat, lead writer and executive producer, at the helm. Many fans have been praying for end of Moffat’s reign for a long time.
Moffat praised the Capaldi’s performance in a BBC announcement: “Peter’s amazing, fiery, turbulent Doctor is still fighting the good fight, and his greatest adventures are yet to come. Monsters of the universe, be on your guard – Capaldi’s not done with you yet!”
He said: “For years before I ever imagined being involved in Doctor Who, or had ever met the man, I wanted to work with Peter Capaldi. I could not have imagined that one day we’d be standing on the Tardis together.”
He added: “Like Peter, I’m facing up to leaving the best job I’ll ever have, but knowing I do so in the company of the best, and kindest and cleverest of men, makes the saddest of endings a little sweeter.”
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