‘Fans like me to swear at them’: Peter Capaldi on crying, Caravaggio and musical cousins

Describe your perfect hour…
I’ll wake my wife up with a cup of tea and we’ll sit in bed together for half an hour, which is lovely. Then I’ll go downstairs, take a seat at the kitchen table with my guitar, and play little noodly bits while eating an almond croissant.

If you could live in any era, which would it be?
It would depend who you were. It might be nice to be a king in the Middle Ages, but less so a peasant. I like the idea of the silent movie era, before the First World War, when the filmmaker Georges Méliès and the inventor Thomas Edison were still figuring out how to make movies. Audiences at that time would run out of the cinema at the sight of a train because they thought it was real. The films were all a spectacle, which suits my style of acting.

What is your favourite time of day?
Most of my life has been spent getting up very early and going to a filming location. A morning in which I don’t have to is deeply nourishing.

Which time of your life do you daydream about the most?
My daydreams tend to be about things I’d still like to do in my life. I’d love to play a Cockney character. Chas and Dave are brilliant musicians with extraordinary wordplay – but you have to be a real Cockney to sing their songs properly.

When was the last time you stole something?
When I was about 14, I met Peter Cushing and I got his autograph. As we have the same initials, I stole his signature – so mine is a distant echo of his.

If you could spend an hour with anyone famous, who wouldyou choose?
David Hockney. I’d love to chat with him about Van Gogh, Caravaggio, Johannes Vermeer, Diego Velázquez. He’s informed and passionate, but he also understands process. I wish more people talked about how they actually do what they do. I’d love to ask Anthony Hopkins, who I think is a gigantic talent: “On a technical level, how do you do that?”

When’s the last time you cried?
Yesterday. I cry all the time.

When was the last time you checked your social media?
In this business you have to maintain some relationship with the world, but I hardly check social media.

When’s the last time someone mistook you for someone?
People think I’m Lewis Capaldi’s uncle, but he’s actually my second cousin once removed. We share great-grandparents. I’m in the music video for his song Someone You Loved, playing a widower.

What do you never have enough time for?
Sleep. I could always do with more.

If you could go back in time, what would you change?
I’ll give the showbiz answer: nothing. I’ve been very blessed. I probably get recognised most for Doctor Who and The Thick of It. People come up and say hello and ask for selfies, which is very sweet. Some people ask me to tell them to fuck off – which I happily do – but I mustn’t get the fans mixed up. You can’t do that to Doctor Who fans.