Played by Scottish actor Peter Capaldi, the Doctor was a huge departure from his previous character of note, Malcolm Tucker, the potty-mouthed government spin doctor in the hit political comedy, The Thick of It. Capaldi’s first full appearance as the Doctor was at the end of the 2013 Christmas special “The Time of the Doctor“. On 30 January 2017, Capaldi announced he would be leaving the programme after the 2017 Christmas episode, “Twice Upon a Time“. He is to be succeeded by Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor.

This Doctor’s companions include Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman), with whom he travelled in the eighth and ninth series, as well as Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) and Nardole (Matt Lucas), who joined the crew in series ten and are depicted on the coin.

The Twelfth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television programme Doctor Who. Within the series’ narrative, the Doctor is a time travelling, humanoid alien from a race known as the Time Lords. When the Doctor is critically injured, he can regenerate his body, and in doing so gain a new physical appearance, and with it a distinct new personality; this plot mechanism has allowed the Doctor to be portrayed by a series of actors over the decades since the programme’s inception in 1963. Capaldi’s portrayal of the Doctor is a spiky, brusque, contemplative, and pragmatic character who conceals his emotions in the course of making tough and sometimes ruthless decisions.