For Doctor Who followers, the introduction of a brand new Physician is all the time an occasion in and of itself. After months of teasing and set photographs, yesterday’s third and remaining 60th anniversary special formally launched the world to Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor.
To mark the event, BBC launched three movies targeted on the brand new Who period he’s ushering in. The primary hypes up his debut solo journey, The Church on Ruby Road particular airing on Christmas. In it, the Physician is having fun with his new lease on life and eventually going to the membership, solely to have his enjoyable interrupted by a bunch of goblin pirates with a flying ship. It’s right here the place he’ll first cross paths together with his companion-to-be, Ruby Sunday. Performed by Millie Gibson, Ruby was deserted as a wee child on Christmas Eve, and just like the Physician, she finally ends up getting entangled within the pirates’ shenanigans. The particular seems like a ton of enjoyable, and actually, after swinging off a pirate ship within the sky onto strong floor, wouldn’t you additionally need to go on adventures with a time-traveler?
Within the second video, Gatwa presents a primary take a look at his model new Sonic Screwdriver. Together with wanting extra hi-tech and alien than ever, it comes with what’s primarily a USB port, together with a proverb from the actor’s native nation of Rwanda, however written in Galifreyan: “The sharpness of the tongue defeats the sharpness of the warrior.” Regardless of how completely different it seems from the earlier iterations, Gatwa assured that it stays “a powerful piece of Gallifreyan expertise that helps the Physician by all his scrapes.”
As for the third video, it incorporates spoilers for yesterday’s particular, so that you should you haven’t seen “The Giggle,” it’s finest to show again now. For everybody else, there’s a spoiler tag under the video.
“The Giggle” marks Physician Who’s first-ever bi-generation: fairly than reworking right into a single entity as is generally his MO, the Physician pulls a mitosis and splits himself into Gatwa’s Fifteen whereas retaining his current-ish kind as David Tennant’s Fourteen. In a video wanting again on the particular’s manufacturing, Tennant famous how shocking the established order shift was, including that each actors had mainly simply met earlier than they needed to get “very intimate, in a short time” with one another.
For Gatwa, attending to work with Tennant was a neat little little bit of serendipity: he credited Tennant (and his Hamlet efficiency particularly) as one of many causes he took up performing within the first place. “To be there on that day with him and Catherine [Tate], and faces that I grew up with… was simply very, very overwhelming,” stated Gatwa. “David because the Physician and myself because the Physician was simply a lot enjoyable.”
Whereas we all know slightly little bit of what’s to come back with the Fifteenth Physician, the way forward for Fourteen is extra up within the air. He’s dwelling with Donna Noble and her daughter Rose (Yasmin Finney), and has a TARDIS of his personal that’s now wheelchair-accessible. Tennant claims to not know something, however showrunner Russell T. Davies was slightly extra concrete: “It’s not a lot of a tease,” he stated. “David[’s Doctor] is parked, he’s dwelling. For as soon as, we’ve obtained a cheerful Physician who’s not saving the universe for a cheerful life.”
No matter whether or not or not they’re being truthful, it’s a model new day for Physician Who, which returns on Christmas Day with The Church on Ruby Highway. Gatwa’s inaugural season is anticipated to hit someday in 2024.
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