Peter Capaldi says there was a specific moment he realised his casting had transitioned from affable geek to bad guy. It was during an advert for butter.
The 66-year-old actor, who’s been called the world’s most terrifying actor, told Sky News he had the realisation he’d “gone sinister” while recording a voiceover for Anchor Butter.
About to reprise the role of serial killer Gideon Shepherd in series two of psychological thriller The Devil’s Hour, it’s a quality the Scottish star is making the most of.
Capaldi explains: “I don’t quite know how that happened… When I was a young actor, I always played sort of slightly geeky and pleasant, easy-going sort of people. And then somewhere – probably around Malcolm Tucker time – I began to change.”
He played tyrannical spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in BBC sitcom The Thick Of It for seven years, as well as reprising the role in the 2009 movie version.
Widely considered to have been based on spin doctor Alastair Campbell, who was aide to Tony Blair during his Labour leadership, Capaldi’s portrayal was ripe with ruthlessness, ranting and extreme profanity.
The role was a fan favourite, turning Capaldi into a household name.
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Capaldi goes on: “The key moment for me was doing a voiceover for Anchor butter, which [culminated in the line] ‘Anchor, tastes like home’.
“Then one day, on what I didn’t realise was my last voiceover, they said, ‘Could you sound a little less sinister?’
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“I thought, ‘Oh no, I’ve gone sinister, and I don’t know how that’s happened’. But then I thought, ‘Well, if people want to buy it, that’s fine’.”
‘A time travelling timey-wimey kind of character’
In 2013, the year after the final series of The Thick Of It, Capaldi became the Twelfth Doctor in sci-fi classic Doctor Who.
A fan of the show as a child, he was widely praised for reinventing the role, with a heavy dose of grumpiness at the outset, transitioning to kindness by the end of his four-year tenure.
He says he wasn’t worried about time-travel typecasting for his role in The Devil’s Hour, which also sees him bounce back and forward in time.
Executive produced by Steven Moffat – head writer of Doctor Who during Capaldi’s stint – along with Moffat’s wife, acclaimed TV producer Sue Virtue, the actor credits them with being “very gifted” programme makers.
Capaldi explains: “I think they probably felt with a sort of time travelling timey-wimey kind of character, I might fit that. And that’s fine.
“I guess I’m able again for some reason to kind of plug into a kind of cosmic vibe, so that was useful for Gideon, and I’m quite happy to do that.”
‘I’ve got terrifying and cosmic things in my toolbox’
With early gigs in theatre, before TV and film roles followed, Capaldi looks back to his youthful knock backs as his building blocks for latter-day success.
He admits: “The thing that stops you getting work when you’re young, is often the thing or things that will bring you work when you’re older.
“It’s your individuality. It’s the things that are odd, the things that are different. And if I’ve got terrifying and cosmic things in my toolbox that are mine then that’s good, they get me work.”
Capaldi labels himself a “lucky” actor, explaining: “Life is unpredictable.
“You can be tootling along thinking things are going fine, and then some difficult challenge can suddenly floor you.
“By the same token, the stars can align, and your life can be transformed in a very positive way, through nothing that you’ve done.
“Certainly, in my experience, things have happened to me that were pure luck – I just happened to be in the right place at the right time or available.”
Brutal and violent – but not gratuitous
Other recent roles include a morally grey police chief in Criminal Record, supervillain The Thinker in Suicide Squad and tragic war poet Siegfried Sassoon in biography Benediction.
He’s also been announced as one of the stars of the next season of Black Mirror, which will air next year, and while details of his part are yet to be confirmed, Charlie Brooker’s dystopian anthology is unlikely to be full of rainbows and sunshine.
But it’s his latest role in The Devil’s Hour, playing a criminal mastermind who “remembers the future”, that is the darkest so far.
The storyline involves multiple murders – including those of children – terrorism and domestic abuse.
But while the crimes are grisly and brutal, they’re not portrayed gratuitously on screen.
‘I’ve got a grandpa thing going on’
Like his co-star Jessica Raine, Capaldi admits his tolerance of depictions of violence around children in TV and film hit a wall when he became a parent.
Father to one daughter, now 30 with two children of her own, Capaldi says: “I feel that very powerfully. But that’s the business we’re in.
“I think we’re all very warm and concerned and protective of our children. But at the same time, they love Grimms’ Fairy Tales.
He goes on: “I was just about to say maybe everything should be Disneyfied. But then, you know, all of those old fairy tales are full of the most terrible violence and horrors.
“There’s a kind of fine line between trying to keep children safe and keeping them aware of the world. It’s not all Disney.”
Then, after a beat, Capaldi adds: “Although I am available if Disney are watching… to bring my cosmic and terrifying but cheerful toolbox.”
After five decades of success in the notoriously fickle world of showbiz, Capaldi’s chameleon-like nature continues to bring him work.
And always looking to the future, he adds: “I’ve got a grandpa thing going on now, that might be quite useful.”
Season 2 of The Devil’s Hour is streaming on Prime Video from Friday 18 October.
Season 3 of The Devil’s Hour, which has already been filmed, will air in 2025.
The voice actor behind Milhouse Van Houten – Bart Simpson’s very uncool friend – is stepping away after 35 years on the show.
Pamela Hayden, who also voiced Jimbo Jones, Rod Flanders, Janey and Malibu Stacy, will sign off from The Simpsons on 24 November in a Treehouse of Horror episode.
“It’s been an honour and a joy to have worked on such a funny, witty, and groundbreaking show,” the 70-year-old said in a statement.
Show creator Matt Groening said: “Pamela gave us tons of laughs with Milhouse, the hapless kid with the biggest nose in Springfield.
“She made Milhouse hilarious and real, and we will miss her.”
Tulisa Contostavlos has opened up about the moment she says her life “fell apart” after being “set up by a British newspaper” and charged with supplying drugs.
The charges against the singer were later dismissed after prosecution witness “fake sheikh” journalist Mazher Mahmood was found to have tampered with evidence during her 2014 trial.
“2013 was the year I was set up by a British newspaper, for concern in the selling of class A drugs,” she told fellow campmate Oti Mabuse.
“The guy’s name was Mahmood and basically, I was approached by a big movie company and they sent me a tweet or a DM from their official account to audition me for a movie role… I’d dabbled in acting, so this opportunity for me was huge.”
Contostavlos, 36, said the role was offering £3.5m and she was flown out for meetings with producers in Las Vegas but told former Strictly Come Dancing star Mabuse “it was a lie”.
She claimed the team behind the movie encouraged her to take on a real-life role of a “bad girl from London who was constantly up to naughtiness, rolling with gangs, up to all kinds of naughty stuff”.
Contostavlos said “they had me dangling on the end of a string”, claiming every time she met with the team they would tell her “we need some drugs”.
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“After months and months, eventually they got a number and it was of someone that wasn’t even a drug dealer, it was an aspiring movie producer and I wanted to make a hook up as well for that person, but I didn’t know anyone that could do that,” she said.
“The long story short is they ended up ordering £800 worth of cocaine from the number that I had given them.
“Then before I knew it, I was being arrested in the concern of the selling of Class A drugs and I was facing four years in prison.”
Contostavlos revealed she lost “all my endorsements” over the incident and “my life fell apart”, she said.
“When it came to the trial, I’d had a conversation with one of their drivers, I was being recorded but I didn’t know, I was saying how anti-drugs I am, so they were very aware of my feelings towards drugs.”
Contostavlos said the driver initially gave a statement confirming she was anti-drugs, however she claimed that as the trial loomed the journalist forced him to change his statement.
In 2016, Mahmood was jailed for 15 months after being found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice relating to his actions in Tulisa Contostavlos’s court case.
Friends and family of Liam Payne, including his One Direction bandmates, have gathered to say goodbye at his funeral.
Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik were among the family and friends attending the private ceremony.
Simon Cowell, who put the band together on The X Factor, Payne‘s girlfriend Kate Cassidy, and former partner Cheryl were also there.
The 31-year-old died after he fell from a third-floor balcony at the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 16 October.
Fans from around the world have held their own vigils over the past few weeks, and tributes have been left today in his hometown, Wolverhampton.
Payne’s dark blue coffin, topped with white roses, arrived for the service on a horse-drawn carriage, bearing flowers reading “son” and “daddy” – for his son, Bear, with Cheryl.
Her Girls Aloud bandmates Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh were also among those at the service, along with TV and radio presenters including James Corden, Marvin and Rochelle Humes, Scott Mills, and Adrian Chiles, and former professional footballer Robbie Keane.
US influencer Cassidy, who returned home from Argentina two days before his death, arrived with Damian Hurley, son of Elizabeth Hurley.
As Payne’s mother and father, Geoff and Karen, arrived at the church in the Home Counties, standing next to the carriage, silence fell among mourners outside.
A few locals and fans also gathered nearby, but in the main largely stayed away from the private ceremony.
Payne rose to worldwide fame alongside Styles, Tomlinson, Malik and Horan on The X Factor in 2010, when they were put together to form One Direction. They went on to become one of the most successful UK pop groups of all time.
After the band announced their hiatus, the singer launched his solo career, releasing his debut album LP1 in December 2019.
Prosecutors in Argentina have launched an investigation into Payne’s death and announced earlier this month that three people had been charged in connection with the incident.
One Direction tributes
Payne’s One Direction bandmates all publicly paid tribute following his death.
“His greatest joy was making other people happy and it was an honour to be alongside him as he did it,” said Styles in his statement. “Liam lived wide open, with his heart on his sleeve, he had an energy for life that was infectious.
“He was warm, supportive and incredibly loving. The years we spent together will forever remain among the most cherished years of my life. I will miss him always, my lovely friend.”
Tomlinson said he had “lost a brother” and offered to be an uncle to Payne’s son, Bear, if he “ever needs me”.
Horan, who had been touring in South America and saw Payne at his show in the weeks before his death, said: “I feel so fortunate that I got to see him recently. I sadly didn’t know that after saying goodbye and hugging him that evening, I would be saying goodbye forever. It’s heartbreaking.”
Malik said Payne had supported him “through some of the most difficult times” of his life, and said he always had a “positive outlook and reassuring smile”.
Cowell also paid tribute, saying he was “devastated” and “heartbroken”.
He continued: “I wanted to let you know what I would always say to the thousands of people who would always ask me. What is Liam like? And I would tell them you were kind, funny, sweet, thoughtful, talented, humble, focused. And how much you loved music. And how much love you genuinely had for the fans.”