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Ncuti Gatwa is the 15th Doctor

For those wondering what I think of the casting of Ncuti Gatwa besides predicting they'd go non-white male, the answer is... Basically no idea- never heard of him until today. But I'd never heard of Matt Smith when he was cast either. I'll probably have to check out his Netflix comedy out of curiosity. I'm laughing at the thought of all the racists who'll be losing their shit right now though, even though I'm disappointed that it's not Idris Elba, who'd be my choice.
 
Never heard of him, but I wish him good luck and hope he can deliver. I stopped watching Doctor Who after episode 1 of Whittaker's second season. Not because of her, she's an amazing actress. I just wished they hired people that, you know, can actually write good stories and scripts. Doctor Who went down the drain during Capaldi's run, which sucked because he was such an amazing Doctor.
 
And how wonderful was it to see Russell gushing with excitement on the BAFTAs red carpet.

He's such an effusive, ebullient presence. I could watch him talk about anything because he only talks about things he loves. Such a gent as well. It's still Jodie's time and we'll hear from RTD's team properly in 2023. As it should be.
 
My only real complaint is that he feels too young, but then I thought the same about Whittaker. I prefer an old grumpy Doctor to a young excitable Doctor. Capaldi was my favourite of the modern Doctors because just the sheer fact of his age gave him gravitas. But obviously I'm willing to see where this goes.

I felt the same in 2006 with Tennant, though I never had qualms with Davison (who was younger than Tennant (29 vs 34) when he got the role.)

Besides, to me it's just acting - if they can make the character feel authentic, and not a cookie cutter copy, then that's all that matters. Tennant was decent. So was Smith, though his youthfulness meant nothing to the fans screaming they wanted Tennant back because they only wanted to shag him. But should all Doctors be under 40? No. The show's above trolling for ratings by relying on the audience's hormones.

Other people have been saying this is not just a young Doctor or a black Doctor but a young black gay Doctor. Obviously he's most famous for playing a gay character on Sex Education, but as far as I know he himself has never said anything about his real life sexuality, so that description is rather jumping the gun.

Hmmm. An actor's bedroom preferences don't interest me, unless they knock on the door and ask me out for a date. The actor is also playing a sci-fi character that was effectively asexual for decades - which was refreshing in of itself. Ironically, RTD's era opened the floodgates by the writers overtly sexualizing the character and companions big-time in 2005, after the makers of the 1996 TV movie (American production team, English script writer) by introducing the infamous kiss at the tail end of the piece. Even the New Adventures' novel tried to something above and beyond generic token copulation methods by discussing looms and stuff - to degrees even I found annoying, odd but true - but genuinely different and in the realm of sci-fi nonetheless. Certainly by comparison. Apparently this need to be curious on how they procreate must have nothing better to do or want no mystery from a character whatsoever is still baffling (all species procreate and sci-fi allows for more and other than wasting episodes' screentime devoted to how species copulate. Maybe they can have David Attenborough become showrunner if they run out of ideas and the fact they're bringing back a former showrunner already, one who's said to have given advice and guidance to Moffat and Chibnall if you believe Reddit and the other sites making such a bizarre claim given how many people have screeched how "Moffat killed the show", "Chibnall killed the show", "Doctor Who 1963-2017", "Whine whine whine", etc? )

I think he's the one to go back to a Sixth Doctor style outfit. The Fugitive Doctor's bright African-styled colours worked wonderfully, and I'd like to see more of that.

Not just her outfit, but bringing back Jo Martin would have been a great choice. The groundwork was already there and she was already well-received - and was unquestionably the first truly different incarnation since Tennant, and one that didn't need a sonic screwdriver to impress as well not needing the conventional and beyond-cliche "wacky act". One simple line of dialogue, if not two, would resolve the timeless child debacle while leaving her incarnation intact - as well as fixing the problem in her introduction story where the past Doctor is saved by a future Doctor (it's a time paradox, not the "timey wimey I speak baby" nursery rhymes...) Considering how much Chibnall cribbed from NuWHO and other shows, starting with Jodie's opener being a cut and paste of Smith's, it's a surprise they didn't crib showing the next incarnation in the incumbent's finale episode the way they had Capaldi teased in Smith's. Would have been a pleasant surprise too...

But the actor cast is a sign of hope, but if RTD's new era takes place mostly on contemporary Earth and does the wacky act and there's a love interest to explore with companion and another companion's family life and wears a costume that's something you can get off the rack at the UK equivalent of K-Mart, I'll probably be another person waiting for the next showrunner. Shame about JMS, it's seemingly easier to think he would have brought in something different and refreshing to the show...
 
I don't know the actor but I sure am excited to see what he'll bring to the role. I was hoping for Fugitive Doctor but I knew that was unlikely.


Oh how well I know the feeling (a glass sitting next to me). How about you @Starkers?
? Do I have a drink next to me or what do I think about Gatwa? Nothing alcoholic today if it's the first one, made my comments earlier re the second :)
 
As for "feeling too young", this was the argument against Smith until he showed he could do "old soul in young body" VERY well.

I've recently wondered if Daniel Radcliffe might not make a good Doctor, but despite being - what, 30? now - he still looks too young and I figured "maybe when he's 40 or 50". But then I remind myself of the above.
 
I'm surprised this announcement simply just...happened. Usually there's a big buildup towards it and we know when it's going to be announced.

That aside, I haven't heard of him since I've never watched Sex Education but I loook forward to see what he brings to the role!
I'm wondering if they knew that someone else had figured it out and were going to publicize it? I had the same reaction as you!
 
Considering the show’s tepid ratings for the last couple episodes, I think trying to hype an announcement show or trailer would have run a risk of falling flat. The use of social media feels very intentional— I don’t think RTD is using Instagram so much purely because he loves it.

The age thing is a function of what the actor brings to it. Smith was younger than Gatwa is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Gatwa ends up giving a more “youthful” performance.
 
I've never heard of him, but then, I had never heard of any of the previous Doctors before they were the Doctor.

I only hope the writing doesn't fail him like it did Jodie.

I still would have liked Michael Sheen, but maybe too big a name? Oh well, they can always make him the next Master if it isn't David Tennant ;)
 
It was pretty cleared planned to coincide with the BAFTAs, where both RTD and Gwata were up for awards (both lost; absolutely nothing for either Sex Education or It’s a Sin), and thus were on the red carpet to do press together. It does seem like they were holding the news as close to the start of filming as possible, though.
 
I've never heard of him and never seen him in anything (not that that is of any relevance whatsoever, of course), but I hope his tenure works out better than Capaldi's or Whittaker's. Given I'm apparently one of the only people on the planet who is...err...very unenthusiastic about Davies' return - to say the absolute least - I don't have any great expectations for this era, but I'll try it and see.

I wonder if we'll ever get a woman Doctor again? I truly hope so.
So do I. Hopefully she'll have far better material to work with, too.
 
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