In his first season leading Doctor Who , Ncuti Gatwa has brought charisma, emotion and even more camp to the long-running sci-fi show. “Give-ING! That dress is giving!” said Ncuti Gatwa with a burst of unbridled laughter. The newest Doctor Who had been shooting the same scene for several hours in Cardiff, Wales, where hangarlike spaces were teeming with crew and filled with sets and equipment for the show.
(Yes, Whovians, the TARDIS was parked nearby.) Now, at the director’s request, the new Doctor was improvising. Gatwa (whose first name is pronounced “Shoo-ti”) laughs a lot, often at himself.
“Why do I keep moving this footstool?” he asked a few minutes later as he tried to get into position for yet another take. “Because the art department isn’t here to do it for you,” teased Varada Sethu, who joins the Doctor and his current companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) for some adventures in Gatwa’s second season. “I have to do everything myself!” Gatwa cried in a mock-tragic tone, before another eruption of mirth.
Born in Rwanda and raised in Scotland, Gatwa, 31, made his name playing the effervescent Eric in Netflix’s Sex Education . But the lead role in Doctor Who , a British institution about a time-travelling alien and his human companion that has been a BBC stalwart for 60 years, has taken him to another level of fame. (Conveniently, the Doctor periodically dies and is regenerated in a different physical form; Gatwa is the 15th Doctor, following.
