Ncuti Gatwa is 'nervous' for his ‘Doctor Who debut

4 December 2023

Ncuti Gatwa is “nervous” but “so ready” for people to see him in 'Doctor Who'.

Ncuti Gatwa is nervous for his Doctor Who debut

The 31-year-old actor feels like he has already been the titular role in the long-running BBC sci-fi series - which has seen returning writer Russell T. Davies, 60, return to the showrunner seat - for so long despite his debut being still to come on Christmas Day and has to “hold off” going into full detail about his time in the role with companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson).

He told the Big Issue magazine: “It’s felt like I’ve been the Doctor and also had to hold off from being the Doctor for most of the last two years.

“So how do I feel about people seeing it? I feel ready. But I’m sooooo nervous.”

Ncuti went on to add that the the return of David Tennant - who played the role between 2006 and 2010 before Matt Smith, took over - “a nice little lead-in” before him because he was “a great inspiration” to him as kid dreaming of working as an actor growing up in Scotland.

He said: “A nice little lead-in for me! It feels like it’s come full circle – because David was my Doctor and such a great inspiration to me as an actor.

“I would have been 13 – a pivotal time. And firstly, he’s Scottish. Plus he was so charismatic and fun – I mean all the Doctors have been fun, all the way back.

“Well, I don’t know if you can say that about William Hartnell. Maybe he wasn’t fun. But David had such a Scottish almost feral-ness to him, which is what I liked. I felt an affinity to that. So for him, of all people, to be handing the baton over – it just feels really surreal.”

The former ‘Sex Education’ star also gushed about how the cause of the magazine - which seeks to help people experiencing homelessness to get back on their feet - because he knows it “can happen to anyone”.

Ncuti said: “I’m constantly trying to find a balance of how to be open and how to be private. But with that particular issue, I always wanted to speak out about it. Because I wanted it to be quite clear that it can happen to anyone. A majority of people are one bad incident or one bad pay cheque away from a really drastic situation. To this day I still wake up and check my bank balance and that there’s food in my fridge. And that’s because of that brief period where I was struggling.”