Last night the BBC simultaneously proved that they 1) know what people are saying on Twitter and 2) have no idea how to engage an audience by dedicating an entire half hour of montage-based programming to announcing that someone new is playing Doctor Who.

Despite his PR currently hovering at a low ebb somewhere on the level of Ben Elton c. 1987, show boss Steven Moffat has ignored the widespread appeals for a non-white non-male Twelfth Doctor and still managed to satisfy basically everyone by casting veteran Scottish character actor Peter Capaldi. You’ll most likely know him as fire-breathing spin doctor Malcolm Tucker off The Thick of It, but in news that’ll no doubt shock the legions of “BUT DER DOCTER CANT SWARE” tweeters, Capaldi is a performer of enormous depth and nuance, and an absolute master of the twin poles of offbeat delivery and Massive Emotion that have become Who staples since Moffat’s takeover. He’ll absolutely crush it, believe us.

If this news has given you a hankering for a Capaldi-thon, check him out in Bill Forsyth’s classic Local Hero, or Ken Russell’s psychedelic head-spinner The Lair of the White Worm. As many have pointed out, he was (tragically underused) in World War Z as… ‘W.H.O Doctor’. Coincidence? Yes.

And you’ve probably forgotten now, but series two of Skins, in which Capaldi absolutely nails it as Sid’s dad, is well worth revisiting; not to mention series two of The Hour, which we bet you’ve had queued for ages. Oh, and boring people will point out that he’s already been in Doctor Who and Torchwood and so that messes with the continuity but by that point you’ll have already grabbed them by the lapel and dragged the both of you off the bridge to the sweet release of icy death in the waters below, so it’s all good.

There’s also this. You’re welcome.

What do you think of the Doctor Who casting – a stroke of genius or as much use as a marzipan dildo? Let us know below!