'I was relieved the Tories lost. But it's not that simple'

Peter Capaldi started out playing 'easy-going buffoons'. Then along came 'The Thick of It'. He talks to Craig McLean about political satire, making music, and the 'Doctor Who' fandom

Recently, whenever Peter Capaldi has been shown rough footage of himself acting in scenes, he's done a double-take. "I'm horrified," he says. "I go: who is that old, weird, gaunt guy with the white hair? Oh, it's me. That's what I've become. But that's OK," adds the 66-year-old with a shrug. "I always loved Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Vincent Price. Playing those villains, all those horror movie types, is great fun.”

Capaldi has certainly made a speciality out of sulphurous ne’erdo-wells with something of the night about them. On Friday, the crepuscular character actor who was more Doctor What? than Doctor Who returned to our screens in Prime Video’s twisty, time-bendy, supernatural thriller The Devil’s Hour as Gideon Shepherd, a mysterious criminal with a biblical name who may or may not be a serial killer. Meanwhile, details are scant on who or what he’s playing in the upcoming series of Black Mirror, but it’s a reasonable bet it’s a role with a whiff of the devil. Capaldi is happy with his run of malevolent characters – broadly. “I used to do voiceovers for Anchor butter. One day they said to me: ‘Could you try and sound a little less sinister?’ I thought: ‘I don’t know what’s happened, I’ve suddenly gone sinister.’ But sinister is good. I’ve always been a great fan of the sinister.”