{"id":42490,"date":"2023-12-25T10:00:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T09:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1947219"},"modified":"2023-12-25T16:19:57","modified_gmt":"2023-12-25T15:19:57","slug":"doctor-whos-ncuti-gatwa-im-not-fully-taking-in-what-im-on-the-precipice-of","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/doctor-whos-ncuti-gatwa-im-not-fully-taking-in-what-im-on-the-precipice-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who\u2019s Ncuti Gatwa: \u2018I\u2019m not fully taking in what I\u2019m on the precipice of\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

This interview first appeared in Radio Times Magazine. <\/p>

By Jimi Famurewa\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 25 December 2023 at 09:00 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Ncuti Gatwa\u2019s timelines are a little scrambled. When we meet, he\u2019s yet to make his first official appearance in Doctor Who<\/a>. But his life as the 15th incarnation of the Doctor feels confusingly \u2013 or, perhaps, appropriately, given the nature of the show \u2013 like both a thing of the recent past and the yet-to-come future. \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting for so long!\u201d he says. \u201cI got cast so long ago and then started filming so long after that, that it feels like this thing that\u2019s never going to come.\u201d He laughs. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m fully taking in what I\u2019m on the precipice of.\u201d<\/p>\n

If he means the enormity of what lies ahead, then he\u2019s not wrong. From the moment in May 2022 when Gatwa was announced as the long-term successor to Jodie Whittaker\u2019s 13th Doctor<\/a> (receiving the TARDIS keys only after the surprise, three-episode tenure of David Tennant\u2019s 14th Doctor), his debut became one of the most rabidly anticipated British TV moments of the decade.<\/p>\n

This, after all, will be the first time in Doctor Who\u2019s 60-year history that the series\u2019 main character has been played by a Black man and an openly queer person; it\u2019s the dawn of Russell T Davies\u2019s splashy return as showrunner of the revived series; and it\u2019s the first batch of episodes to follow the significant budget boost initiated by the BBC\u2019s global distribution partnership with Disney.<\/p>\n

On a personal note \u2013 as a lapsed, once-obsessive fan of the show since the days of Christopher Eccleston and flatulent Slitheen \u2013 I feel that Gatwa\u2019s casting is the perfect, zeitgeist-seizing move; the youthful, risky counterpoint to the nostalgic fan-service of Tennant\u2019s unexpected return.<\/p>\n

\"A\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Ncuti Gatwa.<\/span><\/figcaption> Getty<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

So there\u2019s a fair bit of pressure and expectation. Did he feel the weight of it?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was questioning every line,\u201d he admits, with a gleaming smile, sharply dressed and nestled at one end of a leather sofa in a tastefully appointed London hotel. The 31-year-old\u2019s voice is a sonorous Scots burr, marked by a childhood in Edinburgh and Dunfermline, and often accented by expressive hand movements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the weight of the role \u2013 the legacy. And I don\u2019t know if I should say this because I don\u2019t want to let doubt in. But I thought, \u2018I can\u2019t fail at this. I cannot blow it.\u2019 And so everyone was trying to calm me down, saying, \u2018Ncuti, you\u2019re doing fine,\u2019 while I was all, \u2018No, no! We have to reshoot the whole day!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But if there was justified nervousness attending the early scenes that Gatwa shot in Cardiff last December, then it was counterbalanced by a simple fact: he always felt he had an innate understanding of who the Doctor was. \u201cIt\u2019s all in me \u2013 it\u2019s good casting,\u201d he says, hooting with laughter again.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr I hope so. In the week of watching Doctor Who before my audition, I thought, \u2018I get it. You\u2019re always on your own, you\u2019re always wanting an adventure. You\u2019ve always surrounded yourself with people. You don\u2019t really fit in anywhere but you\u2019re able to get on with everyone.\u2019 It was just\u2026 I get what\u2019s going on with you, Doctor. I see it!\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not wrong \u2013 while Gatwa\u2019s casting has been hailed as bold and radical, there\u2019s an overlap in his personal story, and a tangible Doctorishness about his character, that almost makes him the obvious choice. Born in Rwanda before his family moved as refugees to Scotland, his outward effervescence and warp-speed mind \u2013 qualities that first brought him to attention as Eric in the Netflix hit Sex Education<\/a> \u2013 belie a lifetime of the sort of watchful outsiderdom that a rootless Time Lord might sympathise with.<\/p>\n

\"Ncuti\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor.<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cWhen I got the [scripts] through for the audition, the words just started flying out of me,\u201d he says. \u201cIt almost felt like it was written for me. The way the character\u2019s mind works and the way it chops and changes. The way he\u2019s got seven billion thoughts in his head at one time and is always constantly thinking to the future. I just thought, \u2018That\u2019s how I am.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatwa gave his audition with the livewire freedom of a man who thought he had no chance of getting it. And then, he barely gave it a thought \u2013 until he was standing outside a Tottenham barber shop with his phone to his ear, learning he\u2019d won one of the most coveted roles on the planet. Was there any hesitation about taking on such an all-consuming, life-altering project?<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, absolutely,\u201d he says. \u201cI told my agent I needed a week. There was some apprehension. But it was also a no-brainer. As an actor, the role was just too juicy to turn down. It was too full of everything. The humour, the fun, the emotion, the darkness of it. It was just like a juicy, juicy steak to cut into.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seems fair to assume part of this reticence may have also related to a viewing public that hasn\u2019t always been welcoming of representative casting (see past negative backlash to Freema Agyeman\u2019s role as companion Martha Jones, or Jo Martin\u2019s turn as the Fugitive Doctor in 2020). But, in this, Gatwa was mostly heartened by the conversation following his unveiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little bit braced for impact and then was very pleasantly surprised because it was the antithesis [of what I was expecting],\u201d he says. \u201cBut then, also, what\u2019s scary is that we all live in [social media] bubbles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember scrolling on Twitter and being like, \u2018Oh my gosh. I\u2019m so loved.\u2019 And then I clicked on one tweet that wasn\u2019t as positive. And then that opened up an entire world of the opposite feeling. \u2018Oh no. There they are.\u2019 Seeing the anagrams of my name [made into a racial slur] was just lovely.\u201d He gives me a rueful bit of side-eye. \u201cBut it was interesting. As I say, I live in a very leftist, liberal bubble. And in fact, there\u2019s a really great episode coming up next year where we lean into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Doctor\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Ncuti Gatwa in the Doctor Who Christmas Special.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

So will the Doctor\u2019s race be something that they directly address? \u201cYes, definitely,\u201d he says. \u201cIt would be stupid if we didn\u2019t. The Doctor has always walked into unknown situations and taken charge with authority. Historically, there\u2019s only really one demographic of people that are able to do that \u2013 and it\u2019s certainly not a woman, and it\u2019s certainly not someone Black. Thank God, things are changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

This change is all in keeping with Davies and the production team\u2019s desire to, as Gatwa puts it \u2013 with pointed air quotes \u2013 \u201cpush the show forward\u201d. However, it was an aspect of the new episodes that it took him a while to get fully on board with. \u201cGoing into initial production meetings I was keen to, I guess, keep up the traditionalism of the show,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to be seen as too wild a choice. So it\u2019s been a process of the show encouraging me to embrace myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, presumably, the same goes for the BBC embracing the fact that, off camera, this incarnation of the Doctor will (as Gatwa did in June) pose nude for a photo shoot in British Vogue. Did he get word of any producers spluttering out their tea upon seeing those photos? \u201cI did think, \u2018Oh yeah, I\u2019ve got my kit off so I\u2019m probably going to get a couple of phone calls about this,\u2019 \u201d he laughs. \u201cBut, no, they\u2019ve been very encouraging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only time I\u2019ve ever gotten in trouble for anything was when I swore [while wearing] a Doctor Who costume. I got called into Russell\u2019s office. Woo! And he let me know that that\u2019s not acceptable. He said, \u2018Do what you want when you\u2019re out of costume, but when you\u2019re in costume, do not let us catch you swearing.\u2019 I was like, fair enough. And I guess that was a lesson. For the last four years I\u2019ve been co-leading an X-rated show, and so I\u2019m on a constant journey of learning what it is to be a PG role model and the lead of a family show.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a mark of the evolution that Gatwa has had during his year making Doctor Who, without any member of the public having more than a glimpse of his take on the role. His first series won\u2019t air until next year, but he\u2019s already a couple of months into filming for a second run due in 2025. \u201cIt feels so much fun now,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve relaxed and [the Doctor] seems to have sunk down a little bit deeper, from my chest into my gut.\u201d Though he still says he\u2019ll be \u201cfar away from a TV\u201d when his first episode airs on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

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