Doctor Who fans have gathered in Cardiff to watch new Doctor Peter Capaldi take the training wheels off the role he inherited from Matt Smith in the Christmas Day regeneration episode. The latest fan footage shows the new Doctor clad in long pyjamas charging down the street upon a mechanical horse.

Doctor Who Filming Cardiff
Peter Capaldi & Jenna Louise Coleman Strengthen Their 'Doctor Who' Partnership.

The bizarre and hilarious scene will presumably be explained when the new series, which is expected to premiere in late summer this year, begins airing. Though watching Capaldi grow into his eccentric new role was a novelty for fans, for the Doctor Who crew the shoot was just another day at the office as they went about their tasks whilst Capaldi's bonkers horse scene played out.

The Scottish star was far from the curmudgeonly character he became known for in The Thick of It. Instead, he greeted fans, posed for photos, signed autographs in between takes and seemed to be generally unperturbed that he had an audience. The actor told fans that he didn't enjoy riding actual horses because he's scared of them, saying that he's "afraid of the horse and the horse knows it."

Watch A Clip Of Fan Footage From 'Doctor Who' Filming:

We're not surprised the 55 year-old actor was feeling a little nervous; the episode's direction had him flying about strapped to the back of a horse attached to a pickup truck whilst wearing old-fashioned white PJs. Arriving on set in Cardiff to begin filming, Capaldi, said: "New job, first day, slightly nervous. Just like the Doctor, I'm emerging from the TARDIS into a whole other world."

The sci-fi show's writer and executive producer Steven heralded a new season of filming, saying "First the eyebrows! Then, at Christmas, the face! Coming soon, the whole Doctor. In the Cardiff studios, the Capaldi era begins." The showrunner also recently revealed that the coming eighth season would see a shake-up in broadcast traditions. "We're not going to do splits [in series eight]," the boss told Doctor Who magazine. "And the same format will repeat exactly the following year like that - so it will be the traditional form."

If there was any doubt over Capaldi's commitment to the job, the actor recently shared, via The Mirror: "I was five when the show started. I don't remember Doctor Who not being part of my life, and it became a part of growing up, along with The Beatles, National Health spectacles, and fog. And it runs deep. It's in my DNA."