The BBC has released a first look at Ncuti Gatwa as the new Doctor in Dr Who posing alongside companion Ruby, played by Millie Gibson.
Ncuti Gatwa will take over from Jodie Whittaker as the Time Lord in Doctor Who. The 29-year-old will become the 14th Doctor on the popular BBC show, after Whittaker announced last July she will be leaving the role.
Scottish actor Gatwa, who was born in Rwanda, has starred as Eric Effiong in Netflix’s hugely popular Sex Education about socially awkward high school student Otis (Asa Butterfield) and his sex therapist mother Jean (Gillian Anderson).
He said: “There aren’t quite the words to describe how I’m feeling. A mix of deeply honoured, beyond excited and of course a little bit scared. This role and show means so much to so many around the world, including myself, and each one of my incredibly talented predecessors has handled that unique responsibility and privilege with the utmost care.
“I will endeavour my upmost to do the same. Russell T Davies is almost as iconic as the Doctor himself and being able to work with him is a dream come true. His writing is dynamic, exciting, incredibly intelligent and fizzing with danger.
“An actor’s metaphorical playground. The entire team have been so welcoming and truly give their hearts to the show.
“And so as much as it’s daunting, I’m aware I’m joining a really supportive family. Unlike the Doctor, I may only have one heart but I am giving it all to this show.”
In 2020 Gatwa was named the winner of the actor category at the Scottish Bafta’s for his role in Sex Education, and has been nominated at this year’s Bafta TV awards, taking place on May 8, in the best male performance in a comedy programme.
The actor previously told the Big Issue magazine, in 2020, about his move from Scotland to London when he was 21 and how he’d spent months before landing his role in Sex Education ‘couch-surfing’ adding: “I didn’t have a home. I was homeless.
“The only thing stopping me from being on the streets was the fact I had friends. But you can use up that goodwill. Or you feel scared to ask people for help. Your pride kicks in.
“So my life before Sex Education was so different. To go to my audition, I had to get my friend to transfer me 10 quid so I could top up my Oyster card.”
Whittaker took over the Tardis in 2017 as the first female Doctor.
Queer As Folk and It’s A Sin writer Russell T Davies is returning as the programme’s showrunner after departing the show in 2009.
Davies, who was responsible for Doctor Who’s revival in 2005, will be back to celebrate the show’s 60th anniversary in 2023, the BBC previously said.
He said: “The future is here and it’s Ncuti! Sometimes talent walks through the door and it’s so bright and bold and brilliant, I just stand back in awe and thank my lucky stars.
“Ncuti dazzled us, seized hold of the Doctor and owned those Tardis keys in seconds.
“It’s an honour to work with him, and a hoot, I can’t wait to get started. I’m sure you’re dying to know more, but we’re rationing ourselves for now, with the wonderful Jodie’s epic finale yet to come.
“But I promise you, 2023 will be spectacular!”
Millie Gibson described her Doctor Who audition as “fate” after discovering she had the opportunity to star on the BBC sci-fi series on the same day as filming her last scenes for Coronation Street.
The 18-year-old actress will feature as sidekick Ruby Sunday opposite Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa, who takes over as the 15th Doctor, with their first episodes airing over the festive period in 2023.
Gibson, who was named the best young performer for her role as tearaway Kelly Neelan in Coronation Street at the 2022 Soap Awards, said her Doctor Who audition could not have been more timely.
She told the Doctor Who magazine: “My agent rang me and said, ‘How are you doing?’. And I was like, ‘I’m a bit down, it was my last day today’, and he said, ‘Well, this will keep you occupied’.
“When he told me what it was, I just kept thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is fate, this is fate’.”
Gibson recorded a self-tape, which her manager asked her to re-do, before getting a call-back inviting her to an audition in London.
The actress recalled feeling nervous before meeting Gatwa and showrunner Russell T Davies for her audition but said they were the “most at-ease people ever”.
Speaking about auditioning alongside Gatwa, she said: “They were seeing what the chemistry was like, how we bounce off each other with the lines.
“That was another thing I was nervous about because you know chemistry as soon as you walk into the room. So if it doesn’t happen, you’d know straight away, and they’d know it, too.
“But what’s so great about Ncuti is, a stranger could bounce off him without even knowing him. He’s just so beautifully talented, in that aspect. He’s the perfect Doctor. And I’ll try to be the perfect companion.”
Gibson discovered she had won the part while she was getting a spray tan ahead of the National Television Awards last year.
She added: “I was in the room waiting to dry off when I got this WhatsApp call, asking me to join the call with all my agents. I picked up the phone and they were like, ‘Are you good at keeping secrets?’.
“I said, ‘Yeah’. They said, ‘Are you really good at keeping secrets? Cos you’ve got it’.”
Gibson, who is the youngest Doctor Who companion in the show’s history, said she used to love watching the sci-fi show with her father and Matt Smith was her favourite Doctor.
