Peter Capaldi was Steven Moffat's first choice on a 'very short list' for Doctor Who role

Doctor Who creator Steven Moffat has revealed Peter Capaldi was the only name he considered for the role of the new Time Lord.

Although Ben Whishaw and Rory Kinnear were among a number of actors rumoured to be in the running, Moffat said Capaldi was the main contender due to his life-long love of the show.

Asked whether the list of potential actors to play the Doctor was a short one, Moffat told The Mirror: “Yes. The list went ‘Peter Capaldi’. It was a very short list.”

He said: “I happen to know he’s a big fan. There’s something very seductive about an utterly brilliant, arresting looking leading man actor- one of the most talented actors in Britain- who you happen to know is a big fan of the show.”

Moffat added he was confident Capaldi’s most famous previous role as hot-headed Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It would not overshadow his performance as the Time Lord.

He said: “You know when the Doctor is in the room. I’ve seen the Doctor is in the room when you say those lines out loud.

“And just to check we weren’t mad we showed it to [BBC head of drama] Ben Stephenson. And we all just though ‘Yes, obviously that’s it. The Doctor’s in the room’.”

Capaldi, 55, previously appeared in Doctor Who as Caecilius in the 2008 episode ‘The Fires of Pompeii.’

The actor has been a fan of the show since he was a teenager. In 1974 he wrote a letter to the Radio Times aged 15, saying: “I hope that in 15 years’ time, in 1988, you will publish another special to celebrate 25 years of wandering in time with the Doctor.”