Someone who is willing to write for Doctor Who, go through the rigorous process of rewriting, working with producers, directors, the entire buerocracy, is likely going to be at least somewhat of a fan. Plenty of shows have examples of where a writer's lack of knowledge and care break an episode.
By being an essentialist regarding the nature of regeneration (him not reprising the part is also linked to this), he can clearly state what he thinks is going wrong, but this isn't out of the "make the show like my childhood" mindset. It's simply suggesting that what ain't broke, don't fix.
To be fair, whilst some of the best Doctor Who stories of all time have been approached in this way by non-fan writers, some really bad ones also have been. Anthony Stevens and Richard Curtis, both TV veterans, very different results. It's about the quality of the material.
And even Curtis who only knew of Doctor Who through his industry connections) had to watch The Next Doctor to understand how the show worked and used that as his framework. Also where do Andrew Smith, Ben Aaronovitch, and Marc Platt, total amateurs who are huge fans, fit in?
This fact also gives Arthur Darvill a technical distinction of being one of the few companions older than their Doctor, by only a few months, something also technically true of Varada Sethu (same year, a few months apart from Ncuti).
One of the coolest Doctor Who facts ever, especially given I think Thirteen and Rory would get on very well. Not just same date, or same year (1982 also has Billie Piper and Matt Smith), but the *same day*.
I actually do think if I was asked to pitch the show I'd throw that out as the idea. I'd remove the companion role, just the Doctor goofing around with standalone adventures every week with the time to breath. Try it for a couple of years, if it needs revamping, we'll do a revamp.
Capaldi also insists on calling the character "Doctor Who", because that's how the credit went when he was a child. But he acknowledges that his version of the show no longer exists, and instead wants the show looking forwards but also remember that some things work for a reason.
Oooo, I like it, that's a good background arc.
What I respect about Capaldi is that he very clearly has a very specific view of Doctor Who that is the version of the show he has in his childhood memories, and whilst that influences his opinions, he also accepts that the show has to change as well. He clearly treats regeneration very seriously.
