The current Doctor will clash with his predecessor (and Bill) in the Doctor Who Christmas special over his dated views, says David Bradley.

The actor told journalists at MCM London Comic-Con – including your CultBox correspondent – that the change in attitudes over the five decades since the first Doctor occupied the TARDIS will shock Capaldi’s more modern Doctor with his ‘non-PC’ behaviour towards Bill.

“It was fun because it’s the two different generations, and Hartnell’s Doctor came from a time that wasn’t so, let’s say, PC,” he said. “He comes in and brings all of that 1960s gentle chauvinism.

“There are a few little clashes that pop up now and again that make you realise those 50 years make quite a big difference in attitudes. He’s from that time, and he brings all that into the screen. It doesn’t provide a big conflict, just a difference in ideas, and I hope it’s as funny as it looked on paper.”

The episode marks Bradley’s pseudo-return the role after he portrayed Hartnell’s in the 50th-anniversary special, An Adventure in Space and Time, back in 2013.

“Coming back to it for the Christmas special, it felt like ‘wow this isn’t an actor playing the actor who played Doctor Who, this is playing Doctor Who’,” he continued. “I wouldn’t say it was pressure, because I’d had the background of playing him in Adventure, so all of that came into it and helped.

“I think I would have found it difficult just playing the Doctor in the Christmas special without having done Adventure in Space and Time – one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, really.

“It’s something you’d never expect in your career, something you’ve watched when you were young and never imagined you’d be involved in.”