Peter Capaldi: How close have you come to death?

How close have you come to death?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Peter Capaldi said elsewhere, not written here

Death is always close.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 June 2021 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 210 →

Shobna Gulati

A piece of scenery fell on my head during Richard II at the Globe theatre in 2019. I was very badly hurt.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 October 2025 source ↗

Gemma Whelan English actress

I was very ill with anorexia when I was a teenager. I went into hospital voluntarily, otherwise they were going to section me.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 January 2020 source ↗

Shirley Ballas English ballroom dancer

In my dreams: I’ll feel as if I am falling towards a white light and then suddenly I wake up.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 June 2018 source ↗

Jon Sopel

I’ve had motorcycle accidents – I had one where I ended up in intensive care. But if you are on a frontline – which I have been – and people start shooting at you – which they have done – you put yourself in quite considerable danger. So: on a moving frontline in northern Afghanistan in 2001.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 October 2024 source ↗