Doctor Who's Ncuti Gatwa confirms show will address race in interesting way
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Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa has said that the show’s upcoming season will address race in a "really interesting way".
The Sex Education actor made his debut as The Fifteenth Doctor in last year’s anniversary special 'The Giggle', and will return for his first full stint when the long-running sci-fi show returns to screens for its 14th season next month.
As Gatwa pointed out in his new interview with Attitude, Jo Martin’s stint as the time-travelling Fugitive Doctor in 2020 officially made her the BBC show’s first Black Doctor.
However, he also noted that his Fifteenth Time Lord will be "the first time the Doctor’s been Black for this long", so the topic of "race does make an appearance".
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"We have to address those elements of the character now, because Earth unfortunately is still quite a funny little place. And so, yeah, we will be addressing those things," he continued.
"Russell [T Davies] has such a knack of being able to bring in these elements of our humanity through this sci-fi lens in a really interesting way."
Gatwa also discussed the backlash to his casting as the Doctor, sharing: "The hate? It is kind of fascinating to me, because there’s so much energy they’re putting into it. You are so angry over something so inconsequential that you can’t be an interesting person."
"But another thing is that we do see a shift happening in casting, in positions of power and in the status quo," he added. "I mean, not a fast shift. Things could tip over the other way a little bit quicker, but you see people kind of malfunctioning because things are changing."
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Elsewhere in the interview, Gatwa opened up about the disproportionate pressure on Black people in the industry, explaining how they have to be "flawless" in order to receive half the praise white people get.
"I think I’m just learning now like, ‘Oh, you are allowed to be loved’. You don’t have to be excellent or aspire to that term, ‘Black excellence’. What the hell? There’s so much white mediocrity that gets celebrated, and Black people, we have to be absolutely flawless to get half of [that] anyway," he said.
"So, I’m slowly training myself out of that and being like, ‘No shit. You deserve love just for existing’. And that has taught me to be a lot more loving as well, in a weird way."
Doctor Who will return for its 14th series on May 11 at midnight, airing on BBC One in the UK and Disney+ elsewhere. Classic episodes of Doctor Who are available on BBC iPlayer in the UK.
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