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From a burger van outside Dundee, to all of time and space in the TARDIS - Ncuti Gatwa has had quite the journey en route to Doctor Who...
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00:00The Doctor is in!
00:01Shooty Gatwa's first full season as the 15th Doctor has arrived,
00:06and the man himself has had quite the journey to get here.
00:09He experienced homelessness, escaped to genocide in his home country,
00:13and battled the Toymaker in his underpants.
00:15Throughout his early life and career, he also crossed paths with several Doctor Who alumni.
00:20Almost like some cosmic force has been drawing him towards the Who-niverse all along.
00:24I'm Ellie for Who Culture, and here are 10 things you didn't know about Shooty Gatwa.
00:29Number 10. His first TV role was with an Ood and a Sontaran.
00:34In the first episode of the second series of BBC Scotland sitcom Bob's Servant,
00:39Bob pioneers a new Meat Attack burger, which is bought by a young Shooty Gatwa.
00:44Gatwa's first TV role as a future victim of serious food poisoning
00:48is particularly interesting because of who he appeared on screen with.
00:52He was served his burger by Bob's loyal employee, Frank, played by Jonathan Watson.
00:57Watson would go on to don the armour and potato heads of several Sontarans in Doctor Who Series 13,
01:04including Commander Skark, who really wanted to ride a horse.
01:08Bob's Servant himself was played by Brian Cox,
01:10who had previously voiced the Ood Elder in The End of Time.
01:14A year prior to Gatwa's episode of Bob's Servant,
01:16Cox had also played Doctor Who co-creator Sydney Newman in the biopic An Adventure in Space and Time.
01:21These connections got even more wibbly-wobbly when, in 2023,
01:25Gatwa was edited into an Adventure in Space and Time in place of Matt Smith
01:29to commemorate Doctor Who's 60th anniversary.
01:32So there you have it, Doctor Who's past and future convening around a burger van just outside Dundee.
01:38Number 9. He manifested his Doctor Who role.
01:41Based on his first few episodes alone,
01:43we can all agree that Shooty Gatwa is exceptional casting as the Doctor.
01:47However, it was almost someone else entirely, because he didn't even know they were auditioning.
01:52It was only when Gatwa texted his agent to state his interest in playing either Doctor Who or Willy Wonka
01:58that he discovered that Russell T. Davis and casting director Andy Pryor
02:02were actually on the hunt for the 15th Doctor.
02:05He prepared for his audition by binging the first RTD era of Doctor Who.
02:09Even with all that prep, though, he still was unsure if he would win the role,
02:13but consoled himself with the chance to network with a major industry figure like Russell T. Davis.
02:18Of course, he needn't have worried.
02:20RTD was so taken by his audition that he had to stop himself offering Gatwa the role on the spot.
02:25Still, we'd pay good money to see the alternate timeline where he manifested Willy Wonka instead of Doctor Who.
02:31Let's just hope it would have been more blockbuster movie and less low-budget Glasgow experience.
02:36Number 8. He experienced homelessness before his big break.
02:40It's an incredibly tough life as an actor, especially when you're starting out and waiting for your breakthrough role.
02:46For example, Tom Baker worked on a building site to make ends meet before he was cast as the Force Doctor.
02:51Gatwa himself had a difficult road to stardom and has spoken about his experiences with homelessness
02:56prior to being cast as Eric Effiong in Sex Education.
03:00Returning to the UK after working in America for a time, he was unable to book roles for four months
03:05and eventually chipped away at his modest savings.
03:07He had to give up his flat and spent his time sofa-surfing at friends' flats, who also sent him money for food.
03:13Of the experience, Gatwa said,
03:14Sofa-surfing is tough. No matter how nice your friends are, there is a limit.
03:18I could see the strain I was putting on them.
03:20It felt awful being that guy, using the electric and water, but not contributing.
03:25When Sex Education came cooling, his situation completely changed.
03:28However, it's clear that he's fully aware that not everyone is as lucky.
03:32A level of awareness and empathy that makes him such a great fit for Doctor Who.
03:36Number 7. He went to the same high school as Madame Vastra.
03:41Another of Doctor Who's most notable Scottish stars that isn't a Doctor is Niamh McIntosh,
03:46who played Madame Vastra during the Stephen Moffat era.
03:49While it's unknown if she'll return alongside the 15th Doctor, but keep those fingers crossed, people,
03:54Gatwa and McIntosh already have something in common.
03:57Though they were decades apart, both studied at Boromir High School in Edinburgh.
04:01Gatwa studied there until his family moved to Dunfermline, where he was a student until moving
04:06to Glasgow. The school has moved locations since Shuty's time, but Boromir's current headmaster,
04:12Mr. Dempster, spoke of his pride at having once taught science to a future doctor, saying,
04:18I'm not sure that I can take any credit for his ascension to Time Lord status, but I can
04:22remember his incredible smile and infectious personality. Given that Bond himself, Sean Connery,
04:27turned down a place at Boromir High School, it's no wonder they're so excited to count
04:31Shuty Gatwa among their notable alumni.
04:346. He's not allowed to swear in costume
04:37When he met Millie Gibson at her audition to play Ruby Sunday, Gatwa remembers that he
04:42felt they would have been in trouble if they'd been at school together. This turned out to
04:46be quite perceptive, as both he and Gibson got a telling off from head teacher Russell T.
04:51Davis quite early in their time on Doctor Who. In a fairly innocuous behind-the-scenes clip,
04:55Shuty and Millie were filmed walking past their trailers together, and Shuty introduces Millie
05:01as Millie effing Gibson. It's a throwaway off-the-cuff statement, but RTD didn't see it that way,
05:07and soon called Shuty into his office to give him a dressing down for his F-bomb. RTD said that he
05:12could say and do whatever he wanted while out of costume, but that he had to be more careful
05:16while dressed as the Doctor. Oh, how things have changed from the classic era, when Tom Baker swore
05:21a canine in one of the BBC's annual Christmas tapes.
05:245. He's already won multiple acting awards
05:28Though he's not quite up there with Academy Award winner Peter Capaldi, Shuty Gatwa has won
05:34multiple awards for various stage and screen performances. The annual Newport Beach Film
05:40Festival honoured Gatwa and several other breakthrough British stars in 2020 as part of its celebration of
05:45UK talent. In that same year, he won a Royal Television Society Award for Best Male Comedy
05:51Performance for his work in sex education. Also in 2020, Gatwa won a Scottish BAFTA for Best Actor
05:57in Television. He was nominated again in 2022, but lost out to Dougray Scott, known to Doctor Who fans
06:03as Alec Palmer in Hyde. However, Gatwa didn't go home empty-handed that night, as Peter Capaldi used his
06:09acceptance speech for the Outstanding Contribution to Film and Television Award to give the new Doctor
06:14some words of wisdom about the trip of a lifetime. With all of time and space to explore and scripts
06:19by Russell T. Davis, it wouldn't be a surprise if Gatwa has to expand his trophy cabinet for the
06:24foreseeable future.
06:254. He's the second Doctor to work with Ryan Gosling
06:30Everyone knows that Shuty Gatwa starred alongside Ryan Gosling in Barbie. We've all seen the image of
06:36Gosling wearing a fan-made 15th Doctor t-shirt, and we all saw them bring the house down at this
06:41year's Oscars. However, Gatwa isn't the first Doctor to cross paths with the La La Land star.
06:47In 2013, 11th Doctor Matt Smith was cast in Lost River, Gosling's flawed yet fascinating
06:53directorial debut. Smith played Bully, a deranged criminal who's not above a bit of grandstanding.
06:59To play Bully, Smith had to shave his head, which is why he's wearing a wig throughout his final Doctor
07:04Who episode. Gosling has revealed that the Hello Stonehenge speech in The Pandorica Opens was his
07:10inspiration for casting Smith in the movie, which he caught a bit of when the episode was on TV.
07:15All of which is why, when Gatwa told Gosling he was going to be the Doctor, Gosling replied with,
07:20Doctor Who is the coolest show in the world, man. Interestingly, rumours emerged last year that
07:25Gosling will be appearing alongside Gatwa in Doctor Who. I mean, stranger things have happened.
07:30Number 3. He's a Doctor of many firsts. Shooter Gatwa's casting as the Doctor is incredibly
07:37progressive and groundbreaking for several reasons. He's the first black male actor to play the Doctor
07:43in its 60-year history, marking a huge step forward for the Hooniverse. Born in Rwanda in 1992,
07:50Gatwa is also the first actor to play the Doctor who wasn't born in the UK. When he was just two
07:55years old, his family left Rwanda, fleeing the genocide against the Tutsi and arriving in
08:00Scotland. Predominantly raised and educated in Scotland, Gatwa now joins the ranks of the great
08:05Scottish Doctors, Sylvester McCoy, David Tennant, twice, and Peter Capaldi. In another huge step
08:11forward for Doctor Who, Gatwa is also the first openly queer actor to play the Doctor. In an
08:16interview with Elle back in 2023, Gatwa movingly talked about the importance of representation,
08:22and effectively described his interaction with a queer Rwandan woman at Manchester Pride.
08:26Those charged looks between the 15th Doctor and Jonathan Groff's mysterious rogue could indicate
08:31that this will be part of the Doctor's identity too, boldly reinventing the character for modern
08:36viewers.
08:37Number two, he's a big fan of the Third Doctor. Gatwa has been brushing up on his predecessors
08:43ahead of Doctor Who's season one, and he found a surprising kindred spirit in the form of John
08:49Pertwee. Speaking about his love for the suave Third Doctor in a chat with Rolling Stone,
08:53he said, I love John Pertwee, the Third Doctor's outfits. Lovely velvet jackets and frilly shirts.
08:59I feel a connection to him. Our Doctors are the only two who dress like sluts. I mean,
09:04it's a hilarious comparison, but it's also interesting to look at the links between the
09:08Third and Fifteenth Doctor eras. Pertwee had a different jacket and shirt practically every
09:13serial, while Gatwa will have a different costume in seemingly every episode. Pertwee's
09:18Doctor was also teamed up with Unit, led by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, while Gatwa's
09:22Doctor will be working alongside a unit led by Kate Stewart. The flamboyant charisma of the
09:28real-life John Pertwee and the real-life Shooty Gatwa is also something that links both Doctors
09:32across the decades. And then, one final brilliant comparison between Pertwee and Gatwa, courtesy
09:38of Shooty himself in the Radio Times, is, quote,
09:41I do love a bit of Pertwee, he's always got his cha-chas out. Quite what that means? I don't think
09:46I want to know. Number one, he's an actual Doctor, sort of. Not only does he play the Doctor on
09:53screen, but Shooty Gatwa is also something of a Doctor in real life, too. In 2022, Gatwa was
09:59presented with an honorary doctorate by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the school at which he
10:04had studied acting. This made him not only our newest Time Lord, but also a Doctor of Drama.
10:10Located in Glasgow, the Royal Conservatoire is now a Doctor Who hitmaker, a chap you might have heard of
10:15called David Tennant, also studied there in his youth, meaning that this one school is responsible
10:20for the current era of Doctor Who we find ourselves in. Not too shabby, really. Meanwhile, the Glasgow
10:25School of Art, where Peter Capaldi studied, is also only a short walk away from the Royal Conservatoire.
10:31Let's all thank the Centre of Glasgow for being an incredibly important location in the history of
10:36Doctor Who. And that concludes this list, but for more stories about our Doctors, why not check out
10:42how every Doctor Who got cast. In the meantime, I've been Ellie for Who Culture, and in the words of
10:46River Song herself, goodbye, sweeties.
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