DOCTOR Who star Peter Capaldi has revealed he once turned down the chance to audition for the role - because he was convinced he had no chance.

The actor said he was asked by his agent to try out for the Doctor when show chiefs were casting for a 1996 movie, which saw Paul McGann take the role.

But speaking for the first time about the missed opportunity, he said he could not have coped with the disappointment if he had tried and failed.

Capaldi, who comes from Bishopbriggs, eventually landed the part late last year and appeared in his first full series this year, replacing Matt Smith in the latest run of the family sci-fi hit.

He was asked to head to the auditions when the BBC attempted to revive the programme with a feature-length TV film.

But he admitted: "I knew I wouldn't get it - I loved the show so much that I didn't want to have anything to do with it unless it was going to be me.

"I just didn't want to have the disappointment to go through all the palaver and the jumping through hoops for something I would never get because I knew it was an American pilot and they would go for somebody who was well-known and Paul was and he was fantastic, so I said 'No, I won't come along'.

"I said to my agent: tell them thank you very much but I don't want to go along," he added, at the DVD launch of the eighth series of Doctor Who today.

The opportunity arose shortly after he won a best short film Oscar for the movie he directed and wrote, Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life.

Show boss Steven Moffat admitted it was the first time he had heard Capaldi previously turned down the chance to try for the role.