Foul-mouthed tributes paid to new Doctor Who Peter Capaldi

Peter Capaldi (Rex)

Internet wags have celebrated the appointment of Peter Capaldi as the new lead in Doctor Who by creating expletive-packed spoofs.

The 55-year-old actor is famed for his role as spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in BBC satire The Thick Of It in which he fires off four-letter rants and filthy, withering put-downs.

Now clips of his outbursts have been edited together with footage from Doctor Who in joke trials for the sci-fi show and posted to YouTube.

Capaldi's addition to the cast was revealed in a special live programme broadcast by BBC1 last night which drew an average of 6.1 million viewers. The show, hosted by Zoe Ball, had 400,000 more viewers than the highest overnight audience figures for the most recent seven-show run of Doctor Who itself.

One YouTube video - entitled "Malcolm Tucker IS Dr Who!" - soundtracks footage of the Cybermen with Capaldi squawking: "Bend down, pick up any f***ing weapon you can and t*** the f***ery out of them."

Capaldi, who becomes the 12th incarnation of The Doctor, had been the bookies' favourite and is the first Oscar winner to take on the role. Odds tumbled on Friday and bookmakers suspended bets on him following Matt Smith in the part.

He said: "Being asked to play The Doctor is an amazing privilege. Like the Doctor himself I find myself in a state of utter terror and delight. I can't wait to get started."

Ahead of the announcement, the identity of the doctor was apparently known to just 10 people, with bosses using the codename Houdini to try and keep it a secret.

Capaldi is a lifelong fan of the show and wrote a letter to the Radio Times about the Daleks when he was a teenager.

Speaking during last night's show, Capaldi said: "It's so wonderful not to keep this secret any longer. But it has been absolutely fantastic in its own way, so many wonderful things have been happening.

"It was quite hard because even though I'm a lifelong Doctor Who fan, I haven't played Doctor Who since I was nine in the playground. I downloaded the old scripts from the internet and read those."

And he joked about his foul-mouthed alter-ego saying that the Doctor "certainly would not put up with any of Malcolm's language or attitude".

Smith will be seen in a 50th anniversary edition of the programme and will bow out after the traditional Christmas special.

Capaldi - who has appeared in Doctor Who before in a 2008 edition of the show - will film his first scenes as The Doctor this Autumn.

PA