At New York Comic Con, Peter Capaldi took the stage at the Madison Square Garden and charmed the hell out of a crowd of Whovians, as we would only expect the Doctor to do.
He also told an excellent story about his trousers, and passing the torch to Jodie Whittaker.
The news of who will play the next Doctor is always one of the best kept secret in television. It is so secret that the actor who is currently playing the role usually has no idea who it is until the news is official. The same was true for Peter Capaldi, who had no idea that Jodie Whittaker had been chosen even though they lived in the same neighborhood.
But that doesn’t mean that there were no clues whatsoever.
Capaldi admitted that he had an inkling that a woman had been chosen to take up the mantle when the costume department asked for a pair of his trousers. “Doctor Who wears Paul Smith trousers, for the people who care about that sort of thing,” Capaldi informed the crowd. (Paul Smith is a well-known very pricey designer, who was responsible for Simm Master’s Prime Minister look as well.)
But when they asked for those trousers, something was amiss. “They asked for a pair of my pants… in a size 30.” The size 30 waist was an indication to Capaldi that the actor cast as the 13th Doctor was a fairly petite person, leading him to think that it was likely a woman.
There’s just something particularly hilarious about guessing facts about your successor based on the costume department’s request for your trousers.
The regeneration process shrinks the clothes.