Black Girl Nerds had the esteemed privilege of speaking with Ncuti Gatwa via Zoom. Gatwa is well known for Sex Education, Barbie, and now playing the Fifteenth Doctor in the long-running BBC science fiction series, Doctor Who.
In preparation for the Doctor Who Holiday Special: The Church on Ruby Road finally being released on Disney+ on Christmas Day 2023 (Monday, December 25), here is our conversation below.
What excited you about this Christmas Special? Especially because it’s a more official reveal for you, which is huge!
Yes it is! It’s my first full episode. Full reins on the TARDIS. “Exciting” is a word I’d use. “Daunting” is a word that would be higher up on my list of adjectives to describe my time. However, I think I was just excited to get going, if I’m honest with you. It had been so long from getting cast, to then getting announced. There was a lot of stuff I had to finish first before getting into the TARDIS.
The production of Doctor Who started before I even joined. When I joined, they told me, “We were calling it Doctor Where [laughs] for a while, because where is Ncuti?” So I was just raring to go, I was raring to get started. There’s a combination of my excitement to get started and [showrunner and head writer Russell T. Davies’] writing as to why the episode just hits the ground running.
I guess I was mostly excited about pointing my sonic screwdriver at something. I’m like, “Get me to the job where I can do that!”
Like, “Let me do the things you said I could do!”
Yes! That! I’m ready to do them now! Really excited for [the Christmas special].
Can you share, as much as you’re able to, about the foundling narrative, the adoption narrative that you as the Doctor and Ruby Sunday [the Doctor’s Companion, played by Millie Gibson] share?
Yes. So, the Doctor was adopted, as we know already. [The Fifteenth Doctor] has just arrived onto the scene, throwing some shakes in a club. But also, the Doctor’s senses are kind of spiked up at the moment, and he knows there’s something special about this girl.
Bad luck follows her. The universe has clocked her for a reason, so he already knows there’s something special. He discovers her history and finds out she was adopted, she was a foundling as well, and that is so intriguing to the Doctor. It becomes a driving point for the rest of the series. There’s a mystery behind Ruby Sunday. There’s a mystery behind her that involves her birth that the Doctor really wants to figure out.
I really appreciate you really thinking through how much you can share.
[Laughs.] You can see the turmoil in my head! [Laughs.] But yeah, they connect over that, they connect over their shared history. And there’s something about Ruby’s that intrigues the Doctor exponentially.What was it like working on stunts for the Christmas Special?
Oh so cool! I love the stunt work. I fight ‘til my dying breath. I was able to do most of my own stunts. There was only one that I’ve not been allowed to do. And, in my opinion, it was the least dangerous. But, oh gosh! Running on rooftops, attached to wires…
The least dangerous is most liable for some reason?
It was a logistical reason that just went way over my head. I couldn’t figure out what the issue was, but there we are. Probably needed to keep me in one piece. But, yes, quite a stunt heavy episode, actually. All the roof work, flying down from the goblins with Ruby and [a baby named] Lulu Bell, and just all the stuff involving the goblin ship and the ropes.
I love it. I love that stuff. I love being as physical as possible. I love bringing a bit of athleticism in everything that I do. And any time I can just show off my body, or what my body can do, I’m ready to do it!
What other prep work led you into becoming the Doctor?
Just watching the show as much as possible. I started with Christopher Eccleston [the Ninth Doctor] when I got the audition. I started with Christopher Eccleston’s era just before [Peter Capaldi’s, the Twelfth Doctor] era, and would just watch them all. I selected a couple of DVDs from each of the classic Doctor Who eras, and watched some of those.
I would just try to get a sense of what each actor brought individually. They’re all so identifiable as the Doctor, but they’re all so unique. What is it that they’ve all done that’s different and the same? I realized that it’s all in the writing, and they’re just bringing themselves. You don’t have to try and be quirky when you’re playing an alien with two hearts and can time travel on their own. It’s there in the text for you.
So just trying to do as much script work as possible and watching the show as much as possible.
How do you bring yourself into the Doctor? You mentioned everyone else; how about you?
Sometimes I feel like, my typical work, my drama school stuff, all my tech analysis stuff, all its beats and intentions and units, breaking them down, fine. But to bring myself in, sometimes I feel like the role has been written specifically for me.
For me, I can’t finish one train of thought before another one jumps into my head. I can’t finish a sentence before I start another one. That was how the Doctor was written. And I was like, “This is the first time where I’ve had a character [with] words just flowing out of my mouth.” I’m able to make sense of this script really well. Because his thoughts are just everywhere. And, I guess, so are mine.
I don’t know, I just try to embrace the air sign in me. I try to embrace the Libra Sun, Gemini Moon. Just [physically leans in with eyes closed, head tilted up] leaning into the air sign. All over the place and just embrace that. So that’s how I brought myself into the role. [Laughs.]
Thank you for taking that big leap into that.
**This interview has been edited for time and clarity.
