What’s old is new again for Doctor Who. After Matt Smith took over as The Doctor as the youngest man to play the role, Steven Moffat has selected 55-year-old Scottish actor Peter Capaldi to play the 12th incarnation of The Doctor.

Capadli’s announcement might have been a bit anti-climatic as Steven Moffat teased the possibility of the new Doctor being played by a woman seconds before Capaldi was introduced to a live studio audience in attendance for the announcement. If you kept tabs on the betting line for the new Doctor, Capaldi’s odds were dropping so much in the run up to the announcement that William Hill suspended betting on the role as Capaldi’s odds dropped to 5-6.

Interestingly, a quick bit of math shows that Capaldi ties William Hartnell as the oldest man to take the helm of the TARDIS. Hartnell was 55 when the series debuted in 1963. To contrast, Smith was only 26 when he was cast to play the 11th Doctor.

Capaldi is best known for playing Malcolm Tucker in the BBC comedy The Thick of It. He has made appearances on Doctor Who and spin-offs before. In season four, he appeared in The Fires of Pompeii alongside the 10th Doctor, David Tennant. He also had a featured role in the Torchwood mini-series Children of Earth.

Capaldi’s first appearance as The Doctor will come in this year’s Christmas Special with his first season as The Doctor to air in 2014.