The intense shoot was Gatwa\u2019s first day on Doctor Who, with Davies saying he considered rescheduling it or holding off to allow the actor to settle in, but ultimately decided to go ahead.<\/p>\n
The Black Mirror-inspired episode follows Callie Cooke\u2019s<\/a> Lindy Pepper-Bean, a resident of Finetime who is dependent on a literal bubble around her head that virtually connects her via a social network to everyone else in town.<\/p>\n When monsters start eating all her friends, the Doctor (Gatwa) and Ruby (Millie Gibson) step in to help, but the story doesn\u2019t end there.<\/p>\n The end of the episode<\/a> sees Lindy and the other residents of Finetime show their true colours, as entitled racists who reject the Doctor\u2019s offer of rescue. Gatwa gives an astonishing performance as the Doctor has no choice but to resign himself to the injustice and absolute stupidity on show.<\/p>\n Breaking down the scene, Davies said on Doctor Who: Unleashed: \u201cWe handed that script to Ncuti and I was wary, I was thinking, \u2018My god,\u2019 especially as it\u2019s the first thing he shot. It is astonishing because he comes in \u2013 he did the regeneration<\/a> way back with David [Tennant] but actually the scene at the end episode 5 was his first day with us, his first proper day.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cWe were all kind of holding our breaths thinking, \u2018That\u2019s no way you\u2019d start any lead actor off\u2019. We talked about it \u2013 \u2018Should we reschedule? Should we let him settle in? Should we hold this scene off?\u2019 And we decided to go for it, and bang \u2013 that\u2019s a great actor, he just hits it and it\u2019s one of the most remarkable performances I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll be interesting to see the response to this episode. I think the main response to this episode will be the ending. What we can\u2019t tell is how many people will have worked that out before the ending, because they will have seen white person after white person after white person, and television these days is very diverse.<\/p> \u201cWill you be 10 minutes into it, will you be 15, will you be 20 before you start to think, \u2018Everyone in this community is white\u2019? And if you didn\u2019t think that, why didn\u2019t you?\u00a0 That\u2019s going to be interesting. I hope it\u2019s one of those pieces of television you\u2019ll see and always remember.\u201d<\/p>\n Gatwa went on to say: \u201cMy first day on Doctor Who was that episode, episode 5, the barrage scene. That was an incredibly intense scene to start Doctor Who on but very exciting to get my teeth into it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Gibson described the reveal as \u201cheartbreaking\u201d, adding: \u201cYou probably do realise it in the ep but it\u2019s the moment when you look around and everyone is white you\u2019re just like [gasp].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Gatwa is the first Black actor to play the Doctor full-time after Jo Martin\u2019s appearance as the Fugitive Doctor in Chris Chibnall\u2019s era of the show.<\/p>\n![\"Ncuti](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/05\/Ncuti-Gatwa-plays-The-Doctor-3922c43.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Ncuti")
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