Paterson Joseph would love to play 'Doctor Who'.

Paterson Joseph

Paterson Joseph

The former 'Peep Show' star admitted while at one time he would have felt intimidated by taking on the iconic title role in the long running BBC sci-fi show - which is currently being portrayed by Jodie Whittaker - he's now in a position where he doesn't think it would eclipse his career.

He told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "I think there's room in me now to do it - I was slightly reluctant then in that I wasn't well-known and it would have been all I'd ever be known for.

"But I feel like I could do it, having seen Peter Capaldi kill it - my son is 16 and he's his favourite Doctor. I always thought of Doctor Who as being an older guy - Jon Pertwee was mine - older than me now and somehow slightly dangerous.

"You need him to get through these situations because of everything he's seen and experienced, but you can never quite trust him or ever really know what he's thinking."

The 55-year-old actor - who was the bookmakers' favourite to play the Time Lord before Matt Smith landed the role in 2009 - also opened up about the issues of race in the TV industry, and he explained how there are now more opportunities for performers "from an ethnic minority".

He said: "There's a desire now to have multi-ethnic casts in many, many things, even in costume drama, which I'm very, very pleased about.

"My hope, my conviction is that in the 31 years that I've seen the profession changing and shifting and being conscientious and then forgetting itself, this feels like a period of momentum that cannot be stopped.

"I really think that it's a better time to be an actor from an ethnic minority than we have been in for many a decade."