Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi has said the BBC should invest more in regional drama in a bid to better reflect the people who fund it.
His comments come days after he accused the BBC of neglecting Doctor Who, its second most profitable programme, the next series of which he is due to start filming imminently.
Asked by the Radio Times what he would do if given control of an £8bn budget to run the BBC, Capaldi said: “I’d have more regional drama. As the BBC is paid for by the entirety of the nation, that should be reflected in its content more.
“High-quality writing and production should be both encouraged and experienced by people all over the country,” he added.
Earlier this month, Capaldi was quoted as saying that he was frustrated with how Doctor Who had been handled by the BBC.
“The BBC is an incredible organisation but … sometimes people there think ‘that’s looking after itself’. And it’s not being looked after,” he told Newsweek. “I think maybe their eye was taken off the ball, or the show was seen as a thing they could just push around. It’s not. It’s a special thing.”
Capaldi added: “If you’re going to have a family show, I think you have to build up a little ritual around it – and that ritual usually starts with having it on at the same time [each week]. Even I didn’t know what time it was on.”
In recent days, Capaldi has revealed that a new Doctor Who companion has been cast, who he said would bring a “different take” to Jenna Coleman.
Speaking to the Brazilian website Omelete, he said: “Clara [played by Coleman] had prior knowledge of the Doctor. It was conceived as a human connected to your timeline, and so had access to the cosmic nature of the Doctor. She understood a little about how he was. And as she was already with Matt [Smith], she knew the Daleks and the Tardis. Now we have someone who knows very little about the Doctor.”
In his Radio Times interview, Capaldi also said the programme from his youth he would most like to see revived was Noggin the Nog. “It’s a strangely haunting show – I can still hear the music and see the characters. It’s set in the North Lands and is full of snow and vikings, so if it came back it would be more like Game of Thrones.”
And he paid tribute to the Monty Python star Terry Gilliam, who he said was “extraordinarily kind to me, for no reason, and I’ll never forget that”. He said: “To me, the spirit of film-making is totally embodied in Terry Gilliam. He was very influential for me in a way he probably doesn’t even know.”
Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi says BBC should do more regional drama #JHedzWorlD
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