{"id":40241,"date":"2023-11-22T14:41:33","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T13:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1931631"},"modified":"2023-11-22T15:24:24","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T14:24:24","slug":"doctor-whos-waris-hussein-says-ncuti-gatwa-casting-is-a-victory","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/doctor-whos-waris-hussein-says-ncuti-gatwa-casting-is-a-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who\u2019s Waris Hussein says Ncuti Gatwa casting is a \u2018victory\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The show’s first director reflects on his time working on the BBC sci-fi, 60 years on. <\/p>

By Katelyn Mensah\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 22 November 2023 at 13:41 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Ncuti Gatwa will make history as the first Black actor to be cast as the regular lead in Doctor Who, something the show\u2019s very first director Waris Hussein says is a \u2018victory\u2019.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Celebrating the upcoming 60th anniversary of Doctor Who<\/a>, Hussein told Radio Times magazine\u00a0<\/strong>he often faced prejudice when working in his field, revealing that people were \u201cwaiting to see\u201d if he\u2019d fall on his face \u2013 something he wasn\u2019t prepared to do.<\/p>\n

Hussein directed the first Doctor Who serial, An Unearthly Child, in 1963 and was the BBC\u2019s youngest ever drama director at the time.<\/p>\n

Speaking about working in the television industry at that time in history, he said: \u201cWe were living in times where Enoch Powell had made that terrible speech about rivers of blood. If you were an immigrant, then you had to put up with that subconscious prejudice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also speaking to Radio Times magazine<\/strong> was current Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies, who reflected on Hussein\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI look back and I think, \u2018What an extraordinary figure you must have cut walking through Television Centre as an Asian man.\u2019 Frankly, that wasn\u2019t the norm then. And now you look at it 60 years later where Ncuti, a Black man, is about to walk through the BBC as the Doctor.\u201d<\/p>

When asked if Gatwa being the Doctor felt like a victory, Hussein agreed that it did.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cIt does. I was the first British Asian in my field to be doing what I was doing. What did worry me internally was working on set and all these people watching me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d think to myself, \u2018They\u2019re waiting to see whether I\u2019ll fall on my face. But I\u2019m not going to fall on my face.’\u201d<\/p>\n