Jenna Coleman is due to leave the show (again) by the end of this year, and her replacement should share the same kind of worldly wisdom as Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler, if Peter gets his way.
He said of the vacant role, “I’d like somebody really working class or someone who sounded more like that.”
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“Billie Piper was a very new thing in Doctor Who, to have somebody who had a much earthier sound to their voice. I think the companion has to be more earthbound.
“I love Jenna, I’m really sorry she’s gone, so I feel bad discussing the prospect of somebody else, but I think it might be interesting to have somebody a little more earthy.”
Boy or girl? He grins mischievously. “I don’t mind – whatever works.”
Although Peter says he has his hands full with the part and doesn’t feel the need to get involved in story ideas, he admits he’d like to see the Doctor get more involved with challenges affecting his viewers.
“I think there’s a real place for engaging with the world. The Doctor was always at the forefront of environmental issues, issues of population in the 1970s, and we seem to have drifted a bit away from that.
“It would be nice to do something a bit more reflective, and help children understand.” He adds he'd welcome a fracking episode. "Frack off," he chuckles. "I don’t know what we’d find."
Peter reveals he’s enjoying a more fun side to his Doctor in the second series, a contrast to the serious manner he had when he first appeared, replacing Matt Smith last year.
“The great thing about Doctor Who is he struggles to find himself. I still don’t know who that character is, and I think that’s right,” he reflects now. “But having struggled with some of the darker aspects of himself, it frees him to be more joyful. I think he’s someone who’s delighted with the position he’s in, and gets impatient because he doesn’t want to look at dull things. It’s been nice to see him more cheerful.”
Peter is also very happy to be experiencing the global recognition that comes with Doctor Who, with a slightly older head on his shoulders than recent incumbents.
“I’m very lucky to be this age. There are some things that are not that great, but as a younger actor, I would have found it very difficult.
“People say the programme is successful internationally, but until you go to South Korea or Australia, or Mexico or Rio, and meet thousands and thousands of fans who are committed and love the show… it’s played there a long time, and it’s part of their upbringing.
“We went on a world tour, and I thought, ‘I’m so glad I’m not 21 and I’m not in a band,’ because you would think this is how life is, to be adored and travel very well and live in nice hotels. I, because I’m a grown up, know this will come to an end, so I can just enjoy it while it’s happening, whereas if I was younger, I’d think this is how it’s going to be, and of course that’s not how it rolls for most people, so yes, I’m glad I’m older.”
Doctor Who continues on BBC1 on Saturday evenings. Some of the Doctor's previous companions...
Doctor Who Companions
(01 of21)
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British actress Carole Ann Ford (centre, right) makes a horn sign at a Dalek from the BBC television science fiction series 'Doctor Who', at the Daily Mail Schoolboys' and Girls' Exhibition at Olympia, London, 28th December 1964. In the series, Ford plays Susan Foreman, the companion of the first Doctor, played by William Hartnell. (Photo credit: Victor Drees/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(02 of21)
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Dr Who encounters the ancient Aztecs in an episode of the famous TV series in 1964. From left to right, the actors are John Ringham, William Russell, Jacqueline Hill, William Hartnell (1908 - 1975) and Keith Pyott. (Photo credit: Moore/Fox Photos/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(03 of21)
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British actors Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen pose in 1974, who star in the new BBCTV series 'Dr Who'. (Photo by Victor Blackman/Express/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(04 of21)
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Tom Baker as the new Dr Who in 1974. He is shown here with a Cyberman and his assistant Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen, at the BBC television centre. (Photo credit: Frank Barratt/Keystone/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(05 of21)
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Dr Who (actor Peter Davison) and female companions of the Doctor's past and present pose in 1983. (l-r) Louise Jameson, Carole Ann Ford, Caroline John, Sarah Sutton, Elisabeth Sladen and Janet Fielding. (Photo credit: PA) (credit:PA)
(06 of21)
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Paul McGann (as The Doctor) and Daphne Ashbrook (as Dr. Grace Holloway) in Doctor Who, shown in 1996. (Photo credit: WENN.com) (credit:WENN)
(07 of21)
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Actress Catherine Tate arrives at the press launch of 'Dr Who' series 4 at the Apollo West End in 2008 in London. (Photo credit: Dave Hogan/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(08 of21)
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Doctor Who, played by Sylvester Mccoy, poses with his companion Melanie, played by Bonnie Langford, in 1987. (Photo credit: Photoshot/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(09 of21)
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Doctor Who, played by Colin Baker, with companion Peri, played By Nicola Bryant in 1986. (Photo credit: Photoshot/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(10 of21)
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20th November 1980: Tom Baker, who plays Dr Who in the childrens TV series, is to marry Lalla Ward, who plays his assistant Romana in the series. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(11 of21)
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1980: Actress Lalla Ward, Dr Who's assistant in the BBC television series, riding K9, the doctor's robotic 'dog', in a park (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(12 of21)
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Actor Jon Pertwee, a former Dr Who, and actress Elisabeth Sladen, who played his companion in the series, at Heathrow Airport where they departed to Miami to attend a Dr Who convention (PA) (credit:PA)
(13 of21)
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Tom Baker, as Doctor Who, and Mary Tamm as his companion, Romana, on the set of the BBC television science fiction series 'Doctor Who', at BBC TV Centre, London, 25th April 1978. (Photo by Fred Mott/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(14 of21)
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English actors Jon Pertwee (1919 - 1996) and Elisabeth Sladen (1946 - 2011) outside BBC TV Centre, London, 26th June 1973. Pertwee and Sladen play Doctor Who and his companion Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series 'Doctor Who'. (Photo by William H. Alden/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
(15 of21)
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Peter Purves
(16 of21)
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DR Who: Billie Piper, Christopher Eccleston (credit:WENN)
(17 of21)
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Bernard Cribbins (and David Tennant collect the award for best Drama received for Dr Who during the National Television Awards 2010.
(18 of21)
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Dr Who (credit:BBC )
(19 of21)
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The eleventh Doctor Who, actor Matt Smith, and his companion Amy Pond, actress Karen Gillian, arrive at the screening of an episode of the new Doctor Who series at Cineworld, Cardiff (Ben Birchall/PA Wire) (credit:PA)
(20 of21)
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James Corden and Matt Smith take a break from filming the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who Penarth, Wales. Photo: WENN.com