'Doctor Who' star Peter Capaldi records in-character message to grieving autistic boy

Actor Peter Capaldi, the current Doctor on the British sci-fi television series Doctor Who, recorded a video of himself speaking in-character to Thomas Goodall, an autistic 9-year-old boy whose grandmother recently past away, according to CNN.

Capaldi recorded the message after receiving note from Ross Goodall, Thomas Goodall's father, on how this was a hard time for the boy. Ross Goodall uploaded the video to YouTube for his family to see Thursday, which gained more than 400,000 views as of Sunday. Ross Goodall told CNN that since his grandmother's death, this was the first time Thomas has smiled.

"I think it probably meant everything to him," he said about the video. "I think it gave him the emotional support that we as parents couldn't."

Thomas, who is from North Baddesley, England and is a Doctor Who fan, relies on a constant routine in order to avoid meltdowns, as said by Ross Goodall. His grandmother was the first major loss of a loved one the child has experienced, CNN reports.

In the video, Capaldi greets Thomas by name, thanking him for the letter he received from him back in 2013, all the while acting as The Doctor would on television. CNN reports that to help cope with the changing of actors of the Doctor Who character from Matt Smith to Capaldi, Thomas wrote a letter, to which Capaldi responded with his own letter and an autographed headshot at that time.

"I really enjoyed getting it," Capaldi said in the video of the letter. "Because you see, when Clara [The Doctor's sidekick on the show] and I are traveling around in time and space, sometimes bad things happen to us. And you know what Thomas? Sometimes sad things happen to us too.

"So it's nice to know that there is somebody like you out there on our side. And you should know that we're on your side too. So you look after yourself, you take care and be happy."

Capaldi took over the role of The Doctor in 2013 from Smith. The role has been played by a number of British actors, including David Tennant, Christopher Eccleston and Colin Baker.

Image courtesy of INFphoto.com