Ncuti Gatwa, a star of the
Netflix series “Sex
Education,” will be the 14th actor and the first Black man to play the lead
role of the Doctor in “Doctor Who,” the long-running British science-fiction
franchise about a time-traveling adventurer, the BBC announced Sunday.
اضافة اعلان
He replaces Jodie Whittaker, who announced her departure in
July after three seasons as the show’s first female doctor.
Gatwa, 29, a Rwandan-Scottish actor, plays Eric Effiong in
“Sex Education,” a hit British teen comedy-drama.
“It feels really amazing, it’s a true honor,” Gatwa told the
BBC on Sunday as he arrived for the EE British Academy Film Awards, commonly
known as the BAFTAs, where he was nominated for best male performance in a
comedy program for his work on “Sex Education.”
“This role is an institution,” he said of the Doctor. “It’s
so iconic and it means a lot to so many people, including myself, and so it
makes everyone feel seen as well. It’s something that everyone can enjoy, so I
feel very grateful to have had the baton handed over, and I’m going to try to
do my best.”
“Doctor Who” fans celebrated the news on
Twitter on Sunday,
with many expressing their excitement to see a doctor who resembles them.
Others noted the low-key nature of the announcement: a tweet followed by a news
release that the BBC shared on social media. In July 2017, the BBC announced
Whittaker’s selection in a commercial that aired after the Wimbledon men’s
final.
In a statement shared by the BBC, Gatwa noted the importance
of “Doctor Who” to fans worldwide, and acknowledged feeling “a mix of deeply
honored, beyond excited and of course a little bit scared.”
“Unlike the Doctor,” he added, “I may only have one heart,
but I am giving it all to this show.”
The BBC has aired 39 seasons of “Doctor Who” over nearly 60
years. The show, about a time-traveling alien known as the Doctor who travels
through time and space in an old-fashioned British police telephone booth
called the TARDIS, has cultivated a legion of dedicated fans who call
themselves “Whovians.”
The Doctor regenerates into new people, and in turn, the
show replaces its lead actor every few years. Although transitions to new
Doctors are expected and eagerly anticipated by fans, the show’s previous
attempts to change and diversify have not been universally embraced. When
Whittaker’s turn as the Doctor was announced in 2017, some fans adopted the
hashtag
#NotMyDoctor and questioned why the character had suddenly changed
genders.
Whittaker’s final episode is yet to come, Russell T. Davies,
the series show runner, said in a statement. It will air in the fall during the
BBC’s centenary celebrations, according to a trailer previewing the episode.
Gatwa will make his debut as the Time Lord in 2023.
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