‘My BBC drama did something rarely seen before on TV’

Doctor Who star and Bafta winner Ariyon Bakare reflects on the power of telling diverse stories and paving the way for future generations. 

The 53-year-old actor has not had a moment to slow down since his starring role in Doctor Who episode, The Story and the Engine, where he played the episode’s reformed villain, the Barber. 

The episode, which aired last week to widespread praise, was set in Lagos, Nigeria, aka the first full story to be set in Africa and featured the return of Fugitive Doctor (Jo Martin) among other epic moments. Needless to say, his stellar performance left Whovians abuzz.

Just days after appearing on the sci-fi series, he was stood on the Bafta stage ‘in shock’ collecting his award for best supporting actor in Mr Loverman, based on the bestselling novel by Bernadine Evarsito. 

So when Ariyon sat down to talk with Metro, he was still reeling from a monumental week.

And his commitment to telling nuanced, rich stories was immediately clear with Mr Loverman. The show follows the love story between two gay Black older gentlemen (portrayed by Ariyon and fellow Bafta winner Lennie James).

He explained: ‘Mr Loverman is one of those rare shows. It does everything that it’s not supposed to do. It’s a queer story, elderly gentleman, a full ethnic cast, showing a story that we hardly ever see on screen. I don’t think we’ve ever seen it on screen!

‘And so for it to be recognised by its peers and be taken into the hearts of this audience the way it did, it was like a snowball effect. 

‘[After my Bafta win] I felt hope that good stories can come out of anywhere, doesn’t matter sex, creed or colour.

‘I know that we live in a world now where we’ve progressed so much [that] some people want us to look backwards and stay there. I’m not about that. And that win for me was all about that.’

Meanwhile, The Story and the Engine isn’t the first time Ariyon has appeared on Doctor Who. In 2015, he starred in the Peter Capaldi and Maisie Williams episode, The Girl Who Lived, as the extraterrestrial lion Leandro, and was unrecognisable under ‘six hours’ of prosthetics.

And having ticked two Doctors off his list, he reflected on just how different they are.

‘Peter’s really a consummate professional. He’s technically amazing, but adds heart to it. I loved working with him, because he’s so fast you can’t keep up. 

‘Ncuti brings this modern quality, and he’s got this cheekiness. When him and Varada [Sethu] are together, they have this connection which is just like two cheeky young teenagers in your room, and you want to go: “Oh my God, I want to strangle you, but you’re so brilliant.”’

Luckily, thanks to his incognito costume, the door was open for him to return, and he jumped at the chance, praising Inua Ellam’s ‘beautiful, culturally dynamic’ script.

As such, the sense of community on set shone bright.

‘We all had some connection to Africa, whether [through] our parents or [being] directly from [there], so we had a shorthand. The Doctor Who team and Bad Wolf did everything to recreate it in as authentic a way as possible, which was really beautiful.

‘We’d all heard about Anansi [a mythological figure in African folklore] growing up, these are our bedtime stories. So we were really determined to bring the stories to life and make it as accessible to everybody else as well.’

And, he reiterated the importance of telling diverse stories on Doctor Who, no matter what the trolls say. 

He explained: ‘The best stories should be shown on screen, and Inua wrote an amazing, poetic, culturally driven story which was universal in every single way.

‘The characters are no different than the characters we hear in Cinderella or any other fable, what makes it different that it’s coming from Africa? 

‘What do we do with these stories. Do we just leave them to be imprisoned in some vault somewhere, or do we share them with the world?

‘So no, I wasn’t worried at any point, because all I wanted to do was just make sure I played this character as well as I could, and bring his words alive.’

In fact, he’s ready to reprise his role already.

‘That was one thing that came out of the whole internet: “When is there going to be a Barber spin-off?” Everybody keeps on asking me this.

‘You have to speak to Russell T Davies about that. But yeah, I would love to play that role and Jo Martin can chase me around wherever she wants,’ he joked.

And he has the proof of just how impactful these stories, whether in family shows like Doctor Who or dramas like Mr Loverman, can be.

‘I get messages nearly daily for Mr Loverman, from our elderly gay men who said that’s their story. From straight men who said, “I would never have watched this show, but you’ve educated me”. From Caribbean women grabbing me on the street and saying, “Thank you. Thank you.”

‘I had this young Muslim boy who said to me: “I’m really struggling. I want to come out to my family. I don’t know how to”. And he watched the show, and he said it gave him courage [because his] story has been going on for years and years. 

‘I said to him: “You come out when you feel you need to. It’s your story. You do it in your time.” It actually makes me want to cry, because it really was a moving moment when that happened. I was so touched by this young man.

Then, he added: ‘The younger years are creating a future that is so inclusive, all you want to do is applaud it, not stop it.’

He channels his love for the next generation through his work as an ambassador for WaterAid, a non-profit organisation ‘working to get clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene to everyone, everywhere.’

Ariyon reflected: ‘We did a trip to Lagos, Nigeria, which I haven’t been to for many, many years, and I was just taken aback.

‘This is my father’s hometown and I witnessed firsthand the struggles that [these] communities are facing, living without clean water and decent toilets.’

And he recounted tales of children who had to ‘urinate or defecate’ outside their school to go to the toilet or nurses in maternity wards forced to ‘stop their work’ because they had run out of water and were forced to walk miles.

The British screenstar concluded: ‘Clean water changes everything – health, education, dignity. 

‘I don’t believe that it should be a struggle, not in 2025. Sometimes we forget that one in 10 people still don’t have water or access to clean water, and that just blows my mind. How does that happen?

‘I just want to inspire action to create a brighter, more resilient future for both this generation and the next. I think that’s my whole thing. I don’t have children myself, but I know if I did, I’d want to listen.’

Doctor Who and Mr Loverman are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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