The new Doctor Who is in!

How Ncuti Gatwa went from TV queer idol to making history on the iconic sci-fi show

- ALAN SEPINWALL

THE FIRST THING  you notice about Ncuti Gatwa is his smile. Whether as a young, anxious queer teen in Netflix’s Sex Education, one of the many Kens in Barbie, the latest actor to play the lead character in Doctor Who — or even on a slightly pixelated Zoom screen — when Gatwa flashes those pearly whites, it is impossible to look at anything else. His expression radiates joy so pure and uncut it’s as much a superpower as the Doctor’s ability to travel through time.

It’s also exactly what Doctor Who producer Russell T. Davies was looking for when he began creating this 15th Doctor, long before Gatwa came in to audition. Upon taking the reins of the show again last year, Davies decided that the present moment called for a different kind of Doctor.

“I was thinking about what a terrible world it is now, and how many stresses of mental health there are in young people,” says Davies. “I wanted a hero who wasn’t closed, who wasn’t all stiff upper lip. And [who] wasn’t swaggering or butch, either. The life of a young person is bigger and madder and wilder than it was when I was young. So I wanted a hero who felt more. Then along comes Ncuti, and bless you, you could not hide your emotions for a second in your performances.”