She says showrunner Russell T Davies is “pushing the boundaries”.
As Doctor Who returns to screens this weekend, guest star Golda Rosheuvel has given an intriguing insight into the “crazy” monster we’re set to meet in the first episode.
Space Babies sees the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) encounter a baby farm years in the future… run by babies.
Along the way, they meet Rosheuvel’s Jocelyn – and, of course, the very first monster of the new run.
Chatting exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Rosheuvel says: “There’s definitely a monster. What that is, I won’t tell you, you’ll have to watch the episode. But it’s a very interesting monster, one that we have known.”
She adds: “There’s a history to the name of the monster, and I think Russell’s done a really great job in incorporating it into this episode.
“When I read it, I was like, ‘That’s crazy, but obviously yes, why not?! That’s where it comes from!’ It’s a very clever way of introducing it.”
While details about the Bridgerton actress’s role are being kept under wraps, she teases: “Oh, Jocelyn, bless her heart! She is isolated, she’s been abandoned, and she basically looks after these babies that run this planet.
“There’s a lot of loneliness there for her, there are difficulties which she’s got to contend with on a personal level.
“When you’re confined to a space like yours, you know, that can be quite challenging. She’s really loyal to these babies, she wants to protect them, [but] maybe she doesn’t make the best choices because of the isolation.”
Chatting about how she and the Doctor have the isolation in common, she goes on to say: “They recognise that in each other.
“He recognises that – I think that’s important to say, that he sees this woman and understands where she’s coming from, so can kind of get that kind of nurturing and positive energy into her.”
As for the episode as a whole? Rosheuvel describes it as “a real sense of newness, a real sense of fresh energy”.
She goes on to say that there’s “a real sense of Russell [T Davies, showrunner] pushing the boundaries as a writer in terms of how far can we push this universe?
“Russell is very clever in his writing, in introducing that modern world that we’re living in and yet in this fantasy, bigger, larger-than-life Doctor Who universe.”
Doctor Who’s new episode Space Babies will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer from midnight on Saturday 11th May before airing on BBC One that night at 6:20pm.