Doctor Who series 8: Tom Baker praises incoming Time Lord Peter Capaldi

The actor also spoke about making a cameo in the 50th anniversary special

Tom Baker who played the Doctor longer than any other actor (Rex Features)

Former Doctor Who actor, Tom Baker, has described Peter Capaldi as an “accomplished actor”, and says he doesn't have any advice for the Scottish star, who plays the latest incarnation of the Time Lord.

Speaking at a press conference earlier this week, Baker said “I don’t have any advice for anybody and certainly not someone taking over Doctor Who."

“But he’s a very accomplished actor. I’ve seen him do those mean things, you know, swearing into his mobile. Nobody has ever failed, so there you are,” he added.

The 80-year-old has played the Time Lord longer than any other actor and made a cameo appearance in the 50th anniversary special 'The Day of the Doctor' back in November last year.

His character in the episode was credited as “The Curator” but Baker said that he wasn’t completely sure if the role was supposed to be an older version of his Doctor.

“Well, typical of the BBC, nobody knows. I mean it could be anything, it could be the next Director-General for all we know,” he quipped.

He went onto describe outgoing Doctor Who star Matt Smith as a “charming young man”.

Baker was at the launch of Doctor Who's debut on the Horror Channel on Monday.

The channel which will airing 30 of the Time Lord’s scariest adventures from the classic series, which ran from 1963 to 1989 and featured the first seven Doctors, starting from the era of William Hartnell and finishing with Sylvester McCoy.

Some of the stories to be shown are ‘The Mind Robbers’, ‘Daemons’, ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ and ‘The Caves of Androzani’.

When asked about his favourite monsters and villains, Baker said, “Oh, I thought they were all great comedy when I was doing it but they’re very obvious, aren’t they? They’re just going to be like ‘The Talons of Weng-Chiang’ and all that rather spooky stuff.”

He went on to say: “We all want to get away from sanity and chastity and virtue and be frightened or enter another world. When in reality we want nice neighbours and no crime, no drugs and everything. But it’s that lovely area of our imaginations which says ‘let’s get out of here’ and into our imaginations.”

The Horror Channel will be running a Doctor Who marathon this weekend and then broadcasting a weekday double-bill.

Read more: Tom Baker admits ‘I’d blow up the BBC if I had the chance’

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