With Peter Capaldi admitting he will depart Doctor Who after the next series, the next few weeks will likely see mounting speculation over who will take over.

Stowmarket Mercury: Actor, director and comedian Richard Ayoade returns to St Joseph's College to do a workshop with pupils in 2015.Actor, director and comedian Richard Ayoade returns to St Joseph's College to do a workshop with pupils in 2015.

Last summer the actor, writer and director Richard Ayoade was placed at 6/1 odds by bookmaker Ladbrokes to succeed Capaldi in the role, if he were to depart.

Last night, January 30, the Scottish actor, who has played The Doctor for the past two series and will feature in the upcoming 10th series, told BBC Radio 2’s Jo Wiley that this series would be his last.

The 39-year-old Ayoade was born in London but later moved to Ipswich and went to St Joseph’s College.

He returned to the school in 2015 to support its arts festival.

Stowmarket Mercury: Richard Ayoade, pictured on the far right, with some of the cast of The Tree House, the play he wrote, directed and acted in while at St Joseph's College, Ipswich.Richard Ayoade, pictured on the far right, with some of the cast of The Tree House, the play he wrote, directed and acted in while at St Joseph's College, Ipswich. (Image: Archant)

The actor and writer spent seven years at the school when his family lived in Martlesham, and he left for Cambridge University in 1995 to study law.

He was a member of the creative writing club at St Joseph’s and produced his own play called The Tree House, as well as being chairman of the Birkfield Society for culture and arts.

If cast, Richard Ayoade would be the first black actor to play Doctor Who.

Last summer, Ladbrokes placed Ayoade at 6/1 in a list of actors who could play the role. Ben Whishaw, who plays Q in the current James Bond incarnation, was listed as 5/1 and Rory Kinnear was 7/1.

Stowmarket Mercury: Actor, director and comedian Richard Ayoade returns to St Joseph's College to do a workshop with pupils in 2015.Actor, director and comedian Richard Ayoade returns to St Joseph's College to do a workshop with pupils in 2015.

Here are six things you might not have known about Richard Ayoade?

Also, vote in our poll to see who made the greatest Doctor Who.