Doctor Who’s Peter Capaldi Is the Brilliant Visionary Behind the Doctor’s Electric Guitar

Doctor Who (Peter Capaldi) shredding. Photo: BBC

When the Doctor made his Doctor Who season-9 entrance aboard a tank, shredding his “ax,” Peter Capaldi further solidified his legacy in the Whoniverse. In an interview with the New York Times in front of the show’s next season (premiering April 15), which will be Capaldi’s last as the iconic character, the actor explained how he was responsible for bringing the electric guitar to the Doctor. According to Capaldi, after his first season, he had a “little list of things that might be interesting to have a go at in the next season, and one of them was guitar playing.” He was surprised that the guitar not only made its way into the scripts, but did so “in quite a big way.” In addition to channeling Jimi Hendrix in front of the cameras, Capaldi also chose the instrument. “I thought he should have a Fender Stratocaster,” Capaldi said. “But every time I tried one on, it looked like I was having a midlife crisis. And then we found this one Yamaha guitar, which was the one we ended up with, which looks like someone had described a Fender Stratocaster to somebody else, and made it without ever seeing a picture of it.” Stratocaster or not, the British actor successfully pulled off sunglasses and a rocking guitar solo.

Doctor Who: Peter Capaldi Came Up With the Doctor’s Guitar