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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,
00:05and 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, who had previously voiced the Ood Elder in The End of Time.
01:13A year prior to Gatwa's episode of Bob's Servant,
01:16Cox had also played Doctor Who co-creator Sidney 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
02:51Doctor.
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
03:12money 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.
03:40Another 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,
04:17I'm not sure that I can take any credit for his ascension to Time Lord status, but I can remember
04:22his incredible smile and infectious personality. Given that Bond himself, Sean Connery, turned down
04:28a place at Boromir High School, it's no wonder they're so excited to count Shuty Gatwa among
04:32their notable alumni.
04:34Number 6. 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 felt they would
04:43have been in trouble if they'd been at school together. This turned out to be quite perceptive,
04:47as both he and Gibson got a telling off from head teacher Russell T. Davis quite early in their time
04:52on Doctor Who. In a fairly innocuous behind-the-scenes clip, Shuty and Millie were filmed walking past
04:58their trailers together, and Shuty introduces Millie as Millie effing Gibson. It's a throwaway
05:03off-the-cuff statement, but RTD didn't see it that way, and soon called Shuty into his office to give
05:09him a dressing down for his F-bomb. RTD said that he could say and do whatever he wanted while
05:14out
05:14of costume, but that he had to be more careful while dressed as the Doctor. Oh, how things have
05:19changed from the classic era, when Tom Baker swore a canine in one of the BBC's annual Christmas tapes.
05:24Number 5. 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 multiple
05:35awards for various stage and screen performances. The annual Newport Beach Film Festival honoured
05:40Gatwa and several other breakthrough British stars in 2020 as part of its celebration of UK talent.
05:46In that same year, he won a Royal Television Society Award for Best Male Comedy Performance
05:51for his work in sex education. Also in 2020, Gatwa won a Scottish BAFTA for Best Actor in Television.
05:58He was nominated again in 2022, but lost out to Dougray Scott, known to Doctor Who fans as Alec
06:04Palmer in Hyde. However, Gatwa didn't go home empty-handed that night, as Peter Capaldi used
06:09his acceptance speech for the Outstanding Contribution to Film and Television Award to give
06:13the new Doctor some words of wisdom about the trip of a lifetime. With all of time and space to
06:18explore
06:18and scripts by Russell T. Davis, it wouldn't be a surprise if Gatwa has to expand his trophy
06:23cabinet for the foreseeable future. Number 4. He's the second Doctor to work with Ryan Gosling.
06:29Everyone knows that Shooty Gatwa starred alongside Ryan Gosling in Barbie. We've all seen the image
06:35of Gosling wearing a fan-made 15th Doctor t-shirt, and we all saw them bring the house down at
06:40this
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 directorial
06:54debut. Smith played Bully, a deranged criminal who's not above a bit of grandstanding. To play Bully,
07:00Smith had to shave his head, which is why he's wearing a wig throughout his final Doctor Who episode.
07:05Gosling has revealed that the Hello Stonehenge speech in The Pandorica Opens was his inspiration
07:11for casting Smith in the movie, which he caught a bit of when the episode was on TV. All of
07:15which
07:16is 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
07:25that Gosling will be appearing alongside Gatwa in Doctor Who. I mean, stranger things have happened.
07:31Number 3. He's a Doctor of many firsts.
07:34Shooter Gatwa's casting as the Doctor is incredibly progressive and groundbreaking for several reasons.
07:40He's the first black male actor to play the Doctor in its 60-year history, marking a huge step
07:46forward for the Who-niverse. Born in Rwanda in 1992, Gatwa is also the first actor to play the
07:52Doctor who wasn't born in the UK. When he was just two years old, his family left Rwanda,
07:57fleeing the genocide against the Tutsi and arriving in Scotland. Predominantly raised and educated in
08:02Scotland, Gatwa now joins the ranks of the great Scottish Doctors, Sylvester McCoy, David Tennant,
08:08Twice, and Peter Capaldi. In another huge step forward for Doctor Who, Gatwa is also the first
08:13openly queer actor to play the Doctor. In an interview with Elle back in 2023, Gatwa movingly
08:19talked about the importance of representation, and effectively described his interaction with
08:24a queer Rwandan woman at Manchester Pride. Those charged looks between the 15th Doctor and
08:29Jonathan Groff's mysterious rogue could indicate that this will be part of the Doctor's identity
08:33too, boldly reinventing the character for modern viewers.
08:37Number 2. He's a big fan of the Third Doctor.
08:40Gatwa has been brushing up on his predecessors ahead of Doctor Who's Season 1, and he found
08:46a surprising kindred spirit in the form of John Pertwee. Speaking about his love for the
08:51suave Third Doctor in a chat with Rolling Stone, he said,
08:54I love John Pertwee, the Third Doctor's outfits. Lovely velvet jackets and frilly shirts. I feel
09:00a connection to him. Our Doctors are the only two who dress like sluts. I mean, it's a hilarious
09:04comparison, but it's also interesting to look at the links between the Third and 15th Doctor
09:09eras. Pertwee had a different jacket and shirt practically every serial, while Gatwa will have a
09:15different costume in seemingly every episode. Pertwee's Doctor was also teamed up with Unit,
09:20led by Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, while Gatwa's Doctor will be working alongside a Unit led by Kate
09:25Stewart. The flamboyant charisma of the real-life John Pertwee and the real-life Shooty Gatwa is
09:30also something that links both Doctors across the decades. And then, one final brilliant comparison
09:36between Pertwee and Gatwa, courtesy of 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
09:46think
09:46I want to know. Number one, he's an actual Doctor, sort of. Not only does he play the Doctor on
09:53screen,
09:54but Shooty Gatwa is also something of a Doctor in real life, too. In 2022, Gatwa was presented with an
10:00honorary doctorate by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the school at which he had studied acting.
10:05This made him not only our newest Time Lord, but also a Doctor of Drama. Located in Glasgow,
10:11the Royal Conservatoire is now a Doctor Who hitmaker, a chap you might have heard of called
10:16David Tennant, also studied there in his youth, meaning that this one school is responsible for
10:20the 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
10:36of Doctor Who.
10:37And that concludes this list, but for more stories about our doctors, why not check out
10:41How Every Doctor Who Got Cast? In the meantime, I've been Ellie for Who Culture,
10:46and in the words of Riversong herself, goodbye, sweeties.
10:49Ch essays.
10:49Let's go.
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