‘Doctor Who’: Peter Capaldi Says No To More Episodes While Jenna Coleman Says She’d Return

Peter Capaldi says he’s turned down the BBC’s request to make more episodes of Doctor Who per year. Capaldi, 57, attended the Doctor Who panel at the Radio Times Festival in London over the weekend and danced around the topic of whether he’s staying on as the Time Lord. He currently plays the 12th incarnation of the Doctor.

However, one thing is for sure–Whovians won’t get more than one series of Doctor Who a year. Once Peter Capaldi explains why, the reason becomes clear and makes a lot of sense.

The Mirror reports the actor is expected to return to Doctor Who in 2016; however, Peter admitted filming one series of Doctor Who in a year was exhausting. Filming two series in a year? Not going to happen, according to Capaldi.

“We’ve been going since January 6 and the crew, who are wonderful, are exhausted. There reaches a point where you can’t drive people any harder, we do the best we can to produce our show to an immensely high quality. If you did it all year round there would be casualties, one of the casualties would be the quality of the show.”

Peter also stated that attempting to add more episodes in a year would compromise Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat’s creative vision.

“It’s absolutely vital that we have Steven (Moffat) working on it and having a vision on the whole thing, he only has so much energy, I’ve only got so much energy. You want people running an all cylinders. So it’s not going to happen.”

Moffat seemed to agree with Capaldi and said, “It sounds calm and planned but it’s a rolling crisis and we’re coping with whatever nonsense we have lined up for ourselves.”

On a more positive note, Radio Times reports that Peter has been a longtime fan of Doctor Who before he was on the show, and he says he’s been preparing for the role his entire life.

“I think, in a way, for all of us who play Doctor Who, that’s what happens. We’ve been doing this all the time and we have this wonderful golden period where we’re allowed to do it for real in the Tardis with real monsters and great stories and Daleks and everything.”

So Whovians, take heart. While it would be wonderful and welcome to have more Doctor Who, it’s equally important that the show retain its energy and creativity without a push for more and more episodes. After all, it should be all about quality, not quantity. That quality is what Whovians have come to expect from the show.

Speaking of whether Capaldi will stay on as the Doctor or not, Jenna Coleman, who recently announced she’s leaving the show, said she’d be open to returning to Doctor Who one day, according to Entertainment Weekly.

“I would always be happy (to return) if there was a good story,” Coleman told Entertainment Weekly. “But I think we’ll have to see what happens.”

The next episode of Doctor Who, “Under the Lake,” will air Saturday October 3 on BBC One.

[Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images]