Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, Preview, TV, YouTube | Tagged: bbc, disney plus, doctor who, Millie Gibson, Ncuti Gatwa, russell t davies

Doctor Who: Bad Wolf Being "The Home of The Whoniverse" Very Promising

Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa's look at the Bad Wolf offices is a promising sign when it comes to Russell T. Davies expanding the "Whoniverse."

Only a week after a new round of casting news brought us word that UNIT, Jemma Redgrave's Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and Aneurin Barnard's (1899, Peaky Blinders) Roger ap Gwilliam would be joining the cast of BBC & Disney+'s Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson-starring Doctor Who Series 14, we have a slightly different kind of update to pass along. In case you didn't know, incoming/returning showrunner Russell T. Davies has never made secret the fact that he would like to see the "Doctor Who" universe grow to include spinoff series & other projects. And though he made some efforts in that direction during his first run, it was never able to take off in that Marvel Studios/MCU kinda way. But with his second go-around, Davies is sounding very determined to show that "The WHOniverse" should be open for business year-round. And what better way to show that commitment than to have it artfully displayed on a wall in the offices of the production company Bad Wolf? Because that's what we had a chance to check out when Gatwa visited Bad Wolf recently, sharing a look at the wall that reads, "THE HOME OF THE WHONIVERSE" (with an artistic rendering of Gatwa beside it).

And here's a look at Gatwa's Instagram post showing off the artwork at the Bad Wolf offices with that very cool & promising tagline/logo:

How They Found "Brilliant" Ncuti Gatwa to Lead "Doctor Who"

In Doctor Who Magazine #586 (which you can order here), Davies confirmed that Casting Director Andy Pryor was charged with bringing the creative team "the best in the land," with Davies and producer Phil Collinson confirming that they auditioned "all backgrounds, all genders," including one non-binary actor. The duo also confirmed that another actor was seriously being considered for The Doctor heading into the final audition… and then (as Collinson puts it), "in walked Ncuti [Gatwa] and absolutely stole the part. He took control of it and did things with it that I'd never seen an actor playing 'Doctor Who' do. It was just extraordinary." In fact, Tranter described Gatwa's audition as "the most extraordinary" one that she's ever seen ("He was the Doctor").

Davies On What They Were Looking For & "Brilliant" Ncuti Gatwa: "I think, as a rule, we were looking for younger – most of the people we saw were under 30 – but not as a definite rule, and kind of new talent. Ncuti's not exactly new. He's world-famous already with 'Sex Education.' But we weren't looking for an older, established face. And in he walked. The last person to audition. It sounds like one of those stories you tell as an anecdote, but Ncuti was absolutely the last person in, and everything clicked into place. I sat there thinking, 'Why didn't we just offer [Ncuti the role]? Why did we need to audition the man from 'Sex Education'? Of course, he's brilliant."

Welcoming "Brilliantly Confident" Millie Gibson to the TARDIS

Referring back to Gibson's September 2022 audition, executive producers Jane Tranter found Gibson to be "brilliantly confident and centered and just a shining star," who "held her own, in her own way, as Ruby would with [Gatwa's] Doctor"  and that things" just clicked between them." Collinson shared how Gatwa "came down to London on his day off and did a day of auditioning with us," with Davies reminding "Who-storians" that Christopher Eccleston did that very same thing when it came time to audition an actress to play Rose Tyler. And as impressed as they were with what Gibson was bringing to the role, they were soon far from alone. We showed those auditions tapes to the BBC and to Disney, and everyone instantly went, 'Millie, Millie, Millie.'"

Davies Had His Eye on Millie Gibson Since Her "Coronation Street" Days: I'd had my eye on Millie for a while because I'm still watching 'Coronation Street' [Gibson played Kelly Neelan from 2019 to 2022] and, I tell you, the writers obviously loved her. Over four years, I noticed her getting more and more to do. That reached the most extraordinary synthesis of plots where she was on a drug heist, and her father had been kidnapped, and she was being accused of murder, at the same time as she was winning North-West Regional Hairdresser of the Year!"

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