Ben Wheatley signs on to direct two episodes of Doctor Who

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“I’m very excited and honoured,” he says

Brit director Ben Wheatley (of Kill List and Sightseers fame) will direct the first two episodes of Doctor Who ’s eighth series.

Tasked with ushering in not only a new series but also a new Doctor, Wheatley will be working with Peter Capaldi ( The Thick Of It ), who is replacing outgoing Time Lord Matt Smith in series eight.

“I am very excited and honoured to be asked to direct the first two episodes of the new series of Doctor Who ,” the director told Screendaily .

“I’ve been a fan since childhood (Tom Baker is my Doctor if you are asking), I’ve been watching the current run of Doctor Who with my son and have discovered it all over again.

“The work that has been done is amazing. I’m really looking forward to working with Peter Capaldi and finding out where Steven Moffat is planning to take the new Doctor.”

Wheatley is one of Total Film ’s favourite directors and we can’t wait to see what he does with the newly-regenerated Time Lord.

Considering he’s best known for his pitch black movies, though, we can't help feeling slightly concerned about the Doctor’s welfare – could a skull-bashing with a sonic screwdriver be on the horizon?

Series eight of Doctor Who will air in autumn 2014.

Joshua Winning

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.