The latest incarnation of Doctor Who’s eponymous adventurer has only graced fans’ TV screens for all of an hour, but Ncuti Gatwa has already made an incredible impression. The Fifteenth Doctor – who you might recognize from Netflix’s Sex Education or this summer’s Barbie – leaps, dances, and belts his way onto the scene in the show’s new Christmas special, “The Church on Ruby Road.” He’s quick on his feet, clever, and warm in his introduction to new companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson). He also knows how to rock a kilt.
Gatwa’s run as the Fifteenth Doctor has been historic from the start, as the openly queer Black actor follows Jodie Whittaker in breaking the show’s decades-long cycle of mostly white male leads. Yet it’s obvious from the second Gatwa literally bursts on screen – and out of David Tennant’s body – in the anniversary special “The Giggle” that returning showrunner Russell T Davies has big plans for the new era of Who. Viewers have already gotten a glimpse at some of those plans in the latest episodes, including when Fifteen unceremoniously eschewed the Doctor’s typical signature single-outfit look in favor of a whole wardrobe’s worth of great fashion.
Fifteen’s origin story is an even more overt detour from the show’s status quo: He was born from something called bi-generation, a phenomenon Who has never mentioned before in which one Doctor regenerates into two forms. While longtime fans may have found the logic behind this choice shaky, it’s already proved emotionally rewarding, as it allowed David Tennant’s Doctor to take an endearingly human breather on Earth while Gatwa’s traverses the known universe. Ncuti spoke with IGN about Fifteen’s fashion and acting alongside Tennant and Gibson, as well as the unique bi-generation plot, which he says is just one part of Davies’ ambitious plan for the series.
Bi-Generation: Double Doctors Mark a Bold New Era of Who Lore
Gatwa says he learned about the bi-generation plot a few months after being cast, when Davies outlined his plan for the new season. “I got cast and then a couple months, maybe two months later, I had to go and meet all the producers, just they wanted a little celebratory drink, like, ‘You’re the Doctor, welcome to the family,’” the actor tells IGN, noting that he was given what he calls the “Season 1” scripts at that time. When it comes to the mythology-shaking concept of bi-generation, though, it doesn’t sound like the cast got too bogged down in the details. “He just told me! He told me what was going to happen,” Gatwa said when asked how Davies pitched the idea.
Still, the actor clearly recognized the moment as a turning point for the show. “I was like, ‘Things are going to be done differently from now on. Russell, I can see the cogs turning in your mind, just thinking of all new places to take the show.’” When it comes to further exploration of the double doctor phenomenon, Gatwa says there will be “little bits” of story related to Fifteen’s bi-generated status, but also emphasizes that the character also simply is the Doctor in his own right. “Fifteen’s origin story is just the Doctor’s origin story; he is fully just the next Doctor in the line,” Gatwa confirms. “It’s a new mythology that Russell has created, that the Doctor can regenerate fully or double.”
‘There’s a whole pantheon full of different villains and lore and mythology.’ -Ncuti Gatwa
Judging by the actor’s carefully spoiler-free comments, it sounds like the initial change-up that threw fans for a loop is just the tip of the new lore iceberg. “There is a whole bunch of mythology that Russell is bringing in, there’s a whole pantheon full of different villains and lore and mythology that he’s bringing into the show,” Gatwa reveals. Above all else, the actor emphasizes that the bi-generation plot is “just very exciting and very indicative of the new adventures we’ll be going on in Doctor Who.”
Bouncing Off David Tennant’s “Regeneration Energy”
While most Doctors don’t cross paths with their predecessors, Gatwa was able to act opposite Tennant (who played the Tenth Doctor from 2005 to 2010 before returning as Fourteen) in an introductory scene that brimmed with contagious energy. According to the actor, his time on set was similarly thrilling. “David is an incredible actor, and just the easiest person to bounce [off of]. He’s got so much energy that’s just existing around him, kind of like the regeneration energy,” Gatwa tells us. “Just in life, he’s just got such an aura around him that’s very easy to bounce off and to play, and to pick things up from, and to just create. He’s just very easy to create with.”
When it came to differentiating between the pair’s performances in a scene that saw Gatwa’s chipper new Doctor meet Tennant’s more world-weary version, the actor says everything was pretty instinctive. “We’re guided by some very, very clever scripts, and then they’re kind enough to trust us to do our own thing, and that’s what they did,” he explained. “For me, I wanted to pick up some intricacies of David’s physicality within my performance, because I’d just popped out of his shoulder, and so I feel like there’s a physical link between them in a way that we haven’t seen before, and so I wanted to carry that on through.”
Gatwa also notes that by virtue of his climactic appearance, Fifteen didn’t get the more low-key establishing episode some past incarnations have been given. “Fifteen has to find his feet quite quickly,” he says. “He doesn’t have what we’ve seen before: the figuring out how to be a Doctor in their new body, and it’s like everything’s a bit hazy.” Instead, the Doctor bi-regenerates into the middle of a showdown between Fourteen and Neil Patrick Harris’ puppet-loving villain The Toymaker. “There’s a lot of information being thrown at him,” Gatwa says. He notes that “everything that happened in that scene happened organically,” including the pre-filming choreography, in which the cast was allowed to “explore on the floor how to work this out.”
Introducing Ruby Sunday
“The Church on Ruby Road” might be our first full-episode introduction to Fifteen, but it also doubles as the first time fans meet Ruby Sunday, the charming and optimistic adoptee played by Millie Gibson. Gatwa says he was able to watch Gibson’s audition and even read a scene with her, though he notes that “It wasn’t a scene that you’ll ever see. It was written specifically for the audition.” The test scene encompassed “elements of lots of different episodes,” or the “beginning embers” that would grow into Davies’ future scripts. Nonetheless, Gatwa says he was taken by Gibson’s performance right away.
“She just came in and she had such a humor to the lines,” he recalls. “She had a quickness and a lightness and a humor to them, but then… just turned it on its head and got really emotional, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really interesting.’”
The pair’s sense of kinship is palpable from their first moments together on screen, and by the time they’re done saving Ruby’s foster sibling from baby-eating goblins, it’s clear they’re perfectly compatible as adventurers. This, too, is apparently reflective of the pair’s real-life dynamic. “We would have gotten into so much trouble at school and I love that; you’re mischievous,” he recalls thinking. Lucky for fans, the pair have a lot more mischief still ahead of them when the show returns in 2024.
Expect to Witness an Entire World of Fashion
The most inspired twist in the Doctor Who holiday special has nothing to do with Ruby or a pirate ship full of goblins. Instead, it’s Gatwa’s style that will leave jaws dropped. Rather than settle for a single signature look (Doctors past have worn bowties, big coats, fez hats, and skinny ties, among other things), Gatwa says the Fifteenth Doctor will embody as much global and local fashion as possible – starting with a club look featuring a stylish kilt. “From the Christmas episodes do I have a favorite look? Yes, my favorite look is my kilt and my tank top,” Gatwa confirms. “Anytime I get to represent my Scottish roots I shall, with unashamed pride.”
When choosing outfits, Gatwa says he sits down with designer Pam Downe, who he calls “our incredible, formidable genius of a costume designer” and a “visionary.” “She shows me her sketches and we discuss what we like, what we don’t like, where we want to take the Doctor,” he explains. While some choices are practical – the Doctor would need the right shoes to hike on Mars, Gatwa says – the outfits are also meant to function as a reflection of Doctor Who’s expansive place in British culture and beyond. “You need clothes to suit your life, and so it’s like how do we tell the story of the Doctor through clothes?” Gatwa says. “But also for me personally, I really like the fact that the show is such a quintessential British show… It’s been around for 60 years… I want to explore all of Britain through fashion. I want to explore all the subcultures.”
Gatwa says that Who’s long tenure allows it to be “a show that reflects society, that reflects British society and also the world and where we are.” As the institution of Doctor Who changes, so do Fifteen’s outfits. “I think it’s just quite interesting we have that conversation with fashion as well, and see how the Doctor’s taking in the world, and how he views the world.”
Word is already out that the cast has been filming Gatwa’s second season as the Fifteenth Doctor ahead of the first season’s airing, and according to the actor, there are plenty more fashion-forward moments to look forward to. “I can’t take too much credit for what Pam does,” he tells us. “She is undeniably a genius. You think you’ve seen looks. You’ve not seen anything yet. Season 2 is… she’s outdone herself.”
Doctor Who’s “The Church on Ruby Road” is streaming on Disney+ now. Season 14 of Doctor Who will debut later in 2024.
