DOCTOR Who fans arrived in Cardiff, earlier today for the much-anticipated world premiere screening of the first episode of the new series due to air on August 23.

Peter Capaldi, the Twelfth Doctor and Jenna Coleman, his on-screen companion Clara, met the public as they walked along the red carpet outside Cardiff Central Library en route to the sell-out screening at St David’s Hall. Joining them in the Hayes were Cybermen, Daleks and the series show runner Steven Moffat.

Fans attending the ticket-only event later saw an exclusive preview of the first episode of series 8 entitled Deep Breath which sees the debut of Peter Capaldi, the 12th actor to regularly play The Doctor on television. This was followed straight afterwards with an exclusive Q&A chaired by BBC Wales' Jason Mohammed, with Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and Steven Moffat.

After asking fans not to reveal any of the episode's secrets, Moffat went on to say that he found the response to the forthcoming series "Incredibly exciting," and was "Nothing any of us imagined, it just gets a bigger reaction every year."

Peter Capaldi went on to describe his first day on the Doctor Who set as a "Terrifying and rather wonderful," experience. When he was asked if there would be any similarities between his Doctor and that of his character Malcolm Tucker from The Thick of It, he said, "There's a certain sort of wit, but no bad language."

The Cardiff event began a World Tour which will see Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman cross the globe, visiting seven cities across five continents in 12 days. The tour will now head to London, Seoul, Sydney, New York, Mexico City and finishing in Rio de Janeiro.

Capaldi is already impressed with what he describes as fans “staggering enthusiasm” for the show which saw many people travel from abroad to attend the event.

The new series of Doctor Who will begin on BBC One on August 23. There will also be simultaneous broadcasts at selected cinemas.