Russell T. Davies: ‘I thought Doctor Who lost Ncuti Gatwa to James Bond’

When Ncuti Gatwa left Sex Education it sparked a feeding frenzy’, says Russell T. Davies(Picture: James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studio)

It feels a long time since Christmas when Doctor Who fans finally got to see the Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa leap, sing and dance into action with his new companion Ruby Sunday played by former Coronation Street actor Millie Gibson.

Now as the BBC show reboots with its own new partner Disney+ to present the most ambitious version yet of the 61-year-old time traveller sci-fi series what better way to begin than with a spaceship run by actual babies doing battle with a new monster?

‘I knew that was a challenge,’ writer Russell T Davies tells Metro.co.uk. ‘It’s a new era, it’s a new show. It does have a new budget. I knew we could afford to stretch it. In the old days we could do a space station and a monster and a chase, which is very much at the heart of that episode. It’s good old-fashioned Doctor Who thrills but upstairs on the space station it’s the babies that carry it. Poppy and Eric (played by Sienna-Robyn and Mason) are credited, and they are like one-year-old.’

No spoilers about the special effects magic behind this but both give heart melting performances.

What I like to think of is their 18th birthday parties and their 21st birthday parties,’ says Russell. ‘And their 30th and their 50th. People will be dragging out that footage and saying, ‘Let’s look at Sienna when she was in Doctor Who.’ I hope that becomes a really happy memory. The key to the babies is the mums. You forget that when we’ve got 20 babies on set, we’ve got 20 mums. There was extraordinary gossip on that set of the mothers. No one was spared. It was quite merciless. Enormous fun.’

Davies is steering the Tardis once again (Picture: Ray Burmiston/BBC Studios)

Russell’s pride in this latest series is plain to see. After a slight decline in Doctor Who’s fortunes towards the end of the previous era with former showrunner Chris Chibnall and 14th Doctor Jodie Whittaker it got its mojo back with Davies returning for the three 60th anniversary episodes which featured David Tennant and Catherine Tate and introduced Ncuti. Gatwa. The series was the second biggest drama of 2023 behind Happy Valley.

Ncuti Gatwa, one of the breakout stars of Sex Education and one of Barbie’s Kens who joined Ryan Gosling for his Oscars stage performance, has proved to be inspired casting. He was the last actor that the producers saw for the role but all say they knew immediately that they had found their Time Lord. There was though an agonising week’s wait when Davies feared that another 60-year-old franchise might steal him from under their noses.

‘Wow, absolutely. When you interview and audition actors you never know what else they’re up for. Everyone in the industry knew Ncuti was leaving Sex Education. You simply had to imagine that there was a feeding frenzy for him. That people were queuing up at the door. And they were.

‘Fortunately, and he says this himself, most of them were for parts like Eric. He wanted to do something different, and we were different. But I am astonished that the James Bond people weren’t there, and I think in five years’ time they will be.

‘I think both Ncuti and Millie are on the cusp of superstardom. Remember when we cast Billie Piper? One of my greatest joys was shooting the first season before it had been on air and people were mocking us for casting a pop star. And we knew. We watched Billie every day on the rushes be so sensational. There is a career that is sustaining itself to this day. She’s won Olivier Awards for being onstage. Not just television. She’s a phenomenon. And I feel like that all over again now. I can’t wait for people to see them this series.’

Ncuti and Millie are both on ‘the brink of stardom’ (Picture: Natalie Seery/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios)

Recently there was confusion in the press that Millie Gibson wouldn’t be returning after the first series. A closely guarded plot twist means that there is a second companion on board with Gibson played by Andor regular Varada Sethu for series two, which has already completed filming at Wolf Studios in Cardiff.

‘I always knew that we would have to negotiate the fact that we are shooting so far in advance,’ explains Russell T Davies. ‘In April we finished shooting the second season before the first season has even gone out. It’s extraordinary. We have to do that to be ahead with the special effects. People think special effects are fast and easy these days. They are not. The better they are, the longer they take. So it is very hard for us to answer stuff in the press that we have outstripped in our knowledge by an entire year. And yet we can’t give that away. It’s just one of the problems of making a show in 2024 and in the end, it is a victim of Doctor Who’s success that people are interested.’

Jinkx Monsoon is already being hailed as one of the best Doctor Who villains (Picture: James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios)

There are some casting choices that he can talk about. One is US Broadway star and twice crowned queen of Ru Paul’s Drag Race Jinkx Monson who features as new villain Mastro in episode two, which will be shown in Saturday’s double-bill.

‘How lucky were we to get her and look at that part,’ enthuses Russell. ‘It’s a big ask. Maestro ranges from stand-up to opera to performance art and not many actors can cover that range and be a great actor as well. She is the Drag Race Allstar of All Stars. That’s a genuine talent. Drag is funny and camp and it’s a laugh but it is hard work as well. Someone who can remain at the top of their game doing that is a proper grafter. That’s what it takes to be successful. I knew she would be good, but I didn’t quite know she would be that good.’

Two exciting new series regulars are EastEnders stars, past and present. Anita Dobson, the legend that was Angie Watts, who plays the mysterious neighbour of Ruby’s Mrs Flood and Angela Wynter, Ruby’s adopted grandmother Cherry Sunday whose performance as Yolande Trueman in Albert Square in an historical rape storyline with Pastor Clayton (Howard Saddler) has been one of the soap’s standouts.

Anita Dobson’s in Doctor Who for the long-haul (Picture: BBC)

‘Believe you me, Anita Dobson’s character is just beginning,’ says Russell. ‘I have very long-term plans for her. When you start to see her spread her wings as Mrs Flood it is magical. She did one speech on the rushes the other day (for series two) that I keep quoting at her because it’s such a magnificent moment of an actor seizing centre stage and being absolutely phenomenal. She knows when she’s got a good speech, that woman.’

‘As for Angela, she properly loves Doctor Who and we are very lucky that she loves doing both shows. To work with someone who plays Cherry Sunday and is so funny and then I switch on an episode of EastEnders in which she gives an Oscar-winning performance that is breathtaking.’

If the prospect of a Doctor Who double bill on Saturday evening isn’t enough the stars have also aligned so that the show that follows is this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with It’s a Sin star Olly Alexander singing the UK’s entry. Millie Gibson tells us she’s throwing her own Eurovision party. How about Russell?

‘I fly back into London on that day from launching Doctor Who in America,’ he says. ‘I’ve got to stay in London because it’s the Baftas the next day as well. I might be Lonely Joe sitting in my hotel watching. That’s terrible, isn’t it? Weep for me! I have to watch Eurovision because my late husband (Andrew Smith, who died in 2018) was a devoted fan. He just genuinely liked watching Eurovision. It’s my yearly ritual to sit and watch that.

‘I won’t text Olly that night because his phone will be on fire, but I have been texting him throughout all this. I am immensely proud of him. I thought my life wouldn’t be changed by the dramas I write ever again and then along comes Olly in It’s a Sin, which simply was an extraordinary time of my life that I will never forget. And all thanks to him.’

Doctor Who launches with two episodes on BBC iPlayer at midnight on Saturday 11 May followed by a broadcast of both on BBC One later that day.

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