Get the latest gossip

New 'Doctor Who' star Ncuti Gatwa feels 'sad' for critics of show's diversity

Gatwa is the first Black man and the first person born outside the U.K. to play The Doctor. He's candid about how his own life has influenced his take on the role — and about his critics.

Gatwa is playing the 15th Doctor – a guy given to wearing bright clothing, with an excitable manner and a dazzling smile, full of enthusiasm and emotion in a way we haven't always seen in previous versions of the character. This gives the show the ability to carefully explain its backstory for viewers who might be tuning in for the first time — simplifying loads of tangled stories with a telling exchange between The Doctor and the human woman who joins him on his new adventures, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson). In one episode, he leads Ruby into an adventure to help a crew of "Space Babies" running an orbiting station above the Earth; in another, they visit 1960s-era London to walk along Abbey Road and watch The Beatles work on new material.

Get the Android app