The new Dr Who is...

[DynamicSpirit]

Absolutely - not free speech without consequence though.

The consequence here being I can laugh at silly, narrow minded, bigots getting themselves into a puce faced rage over the fact that, checks notes, a gay black immigrant man has been given the role of an alien time traveller on, checks notes again, a TV programme. It is nonsense and some it unpleasant nonsense.

Why would they be so worried/angry about this? What is there to be scared of? What is the threat? What is going to happen to them because of this decision?

But are they worried/angry? I don't know what you saw in the screenshot that you were shown, but after reading the comments about the Daily Mail, I thought I'd look it up to see what the fuss is about. I found 5 Daily mail articles about the new Doctor:

Doctor Who: Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa announced as new Time Lord

Ncuti Gatwa will take over from Jodie Whittaker as the Time Lord in Doctor Who, the BBC has announced. The 29-year-old will become the 14th Doctor on the popular BBC show.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Can the TikTok generation fans of Ncuti Gatwa save Doctor Who?

The highly acclaimed Scottish actor, 29, who was a toddler when he came to Britain as a Rwandan refugee, is the first black actor to play the role full-time and will take over from Jodie Whittaker.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Father of new Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa tells of his family's joy

EXCLUSIVE New Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa 's father has told of his joy after his son became the first black actor to star in the lead role as the 14th Time Lord.

www.dailymail.co.uk

How new Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa fled war-torn Rwanda for Scotland

Ncuti Gatwa, 29, from Rwanda, took to the red carpet at the BAFTAs in London this afternoon as the news broke that he's set to be the new Doctor Who.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Ncuti Gatwa jokes about Doctor Who casting on stage at the BAFTA's

As the actor, 29, was introduced by fellow Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood on stage to present the Best Scripted Comedy category she set up a 'knock knock' joke.

www.dailymail.co.uk

On a quick glance through, the articles themselves all seem pretty complimentary towards Ncuti - so, nothing objectionable in the articles themselves.

So I scrolled down to eyeball the comments. Maybe I missed something, but I couldn't see a single comment for any of the 5 articles that objected to Ncuti on the grounds of his ethnicity or sexual orientation. The closest I could see were a couple of comments that erred towards suggesting that his being black may have played a part in his selection. There were also a fair few comments expressing general disgust with the BBC or with Dr Who in general that didn't give any reasons (things along the lines of 'stopped watching Dr Who years ago blah blah'), And there were a fair few complimentary comments too.

I wonder if those in this thread who are slagging off the Daily Mail and DM readers are just making assumptions about what they think the comments in the DM probably are, without bothering to check first?

 

[AM9]

David Tennant and Matt Smith were both relatively unknown when they got the role too.

I don't think David Tennant was relatively unknown, - he played is several plays whilst in the RSC and a few cinema films including a Harry Potter film. He also starred Casanova in the BBC's 2005 series production. Matt Smith was apparently quite well known to younger audiences.

 

[gg1]

I don't think David Tennant was relatively unknown, - he played is several plays whilst in the RSC and a few cinema films including a Harry Potter film. He also starred Casanova in the BBC's 2005 series production. Matt Smith was apparently quite well known to younger audiences.

According to wikipedia David Tennant was announced as the next Dr Who in April 2005, the Harry Potter film he featured in was released 8 months later in November 2005, his previous TV and film roles before that point were all minor ones. His theatre roles wouldn't have made him a recognisable name to most people.

Ncuti Gatwa's performance in Sex Education gives him name recognition amongst fans of that series in much the same way Matt Smith and David Tennant will have been known by fans of their previous roles, but in all three cases I highly doubt the vast majority of people would have heard of any of them at the time their Dr Who roles were announced.

 

[AM9]

According to wikipedia David Tennant was announced as the next Dr Who in April 2005, the Harry Potter film he featured in was released 8 months later in November 2005, his previous TV and film roles before that point were all minor ones. His theatre roles wouldn't have made him a recognisable name to most people.

Ncuti Gatwa's performance in Sex Education gives him name recognition amongst fans of that series in much the same way Matt Smith and David Tennant will have been known by fans of their previous roles, but in all three cases I highly doubt the vast majority of people would have heard of any of them at the time their Dr Who roles were announced.

Well I'm no Shakespeare fan but I'd heard of him in variouis places. His first full episode of Dr Who was braodcast iove Christmas 2005. The Harry Potter film was released in November 2005, the BBC Casanova four part production was aired in March 2005, three months before his very short regeneration scene at the end of the Eccleston reign. This prior Casanoa exposure was probably the cause of much female interest in him as a Doctor.

 

[gg1]

Well I'm no Shakespeare fan but I'd heard of him in variouis places. His first full episode of Dr Who was braodcast iove Christmas 2005. The Harry Potter film was released in November 2005,

He was announced as Dr Who in April so no one would have recognised him from Harry Potter at that point

the BBC Casanova four part production was aired in March 2005, three months before his very short regeneration scene at the end of the Eccleston reign. This prior Casanoa exposure was probably the cause of much female interest in him as a Doctor.

A similar situation to Ncuti Gatwa then, fans of his previous roles will have heard of him, the vast majority of the general TV watching public wouldn't have.

 

[AM9]

He was announced as Dr Who in April so no one would have recognised him from Harry Potter at that point


A similar situation to Ncuti Gatwa then, fans of his previous roles will have heard of him, the vast majority of the general TV watching public wouldn't have.

And nobody would have seen him act anything of consequence as Dr Who until December. but he had plenty of exposure in his RSC and other film/programme work. Of course those who had no interest in that might well have been ignorant of his existence but he was certainly known to many. Still, does it matter if some didn't know him, - not to me.

 

[Trackman]

...a bit on the young side. (or at least looks it) He's 29 and Scottish.

I'm a little surprised by the casting but maybe its another attempt at bringing Dr Who to the masses.

IMDB page link HERE

I'd prefer a dithering old man come mad professor light on his feet who turns out to be more intelligent and savvy than his companions... which I think was originally devised.
As a laugh I’d like the doctor to regenerate into a cat or a dog something and solve mysteries around the universe and defeat the Daleks - ’Lassie’ or even ‘Skippy’ style!, I suppose you could really go to town and have something like ‘Mr. Ed’ !

 

[Ashley Hill]

A similar theme runs with James Bond. Should the next one be coloured or female etc. I’ve always thought Richard Ayoade would have made a good Doctor and Idris Elba as James Bond. I was surprised at Peter Capaldi as a Doctor having already appeared in an earlier episode as a Roman. I still prefer the proper Dr Who’s which are currently being shown on Forces TV

 

[102 fan]

I'm 100% behind this Doctor! But if I may comment further?

When Jodie Whittaker was chosen as the Doctor, in several forums anybody who criticised the decision to change the sex of the Character after 55 years were immediately branded misogynist, despite claims that they liked Star Trek Voyager with Captain Kathryn Janeway, the Alien Franchise with Sigourney Weaver as the principle character and the latest Star Wars films with Daisy Ridley in the lead, the misogynist name was branded freely.

Now, history is repeating itself and anybody criticising the latest Doctor because of his skin colour, a character who was white for 59 years, are now being called racist.

Granted there will be genuine racists out there, but I do think that for most it's the feeling that established TV/Film characters are being changed to suit a narrative, not for any plot reasons.

 

[Berliner]

A similar theme runs with James Bond. Should the next one be coloured or female etc. I’ve always thought Richard Ayoade would have made a good Doctor and Idris Elba as James Bond. I was surprised at Peter Capaldi as a Doctor having already appeared in an earlier episode as a Roman. I still prefer the proper Dr Who’s which are currently being shown on Forces TV

Richard Ayoade would make a good Doctor Who and if he was ever to be involved in Bond, a great Q in my opinion. I never felt Idris Elba would make a good Bond, but always thought he would have been a good M, especially now he's older and would play a strong authority figure.

 

[gg1]

Now, history is repeating itself and anybody criticising the latest Doctor because of his skin colour, a character who was white for 59 years, are now being called racist.

The character is an alien who, even before the casting of Jodie Whitaker, was shown to radically change their appearance every few years.

With that in mind, if someone's objecting to the next incarnation being black, I struggle to see a reason other than racism

 

[PeterC]

It will be interesting to see if episodes in historical settings will be unrealistically colour blind or if the chara ter will experience the level of discrimination appropriate to the milliue.

 

[102 fan]

The character is an alien who, even before the casting of Jodie Whitaker, was shown to radically change their appearance every few years.

With that in mind, if someone's objecting to the next incarnation being black, I struggle to see a reason other than racism

Exactly my point.

 

[8A Rail]

David Tennant and Matt Smith were both relatively unknown when they got the role too.

I knew of and seen them before they got their role as Doctor Who though. The new Doctor from what I have read, has appeared in 'Sex Education' (what ever that was) and next thing he is the new Doctor! I would suggest that is relatively unknown to the majority of people who may watch Doctor Who. In the meantime I sincerely hope the scripts for the new series are much improved and have a story line that is more easy to follow - lately being going off in some weird ways and making no sense!

 

[DanNCL]

Ncuti Gatwa certainly does an excellent job of playing Eric in Sex Education. But going from playing a high school student to playing Doctor Who in one jump is quite a change!

 

[JamesT]

Richard Ayoade would make a good Doctor Who and if he was ever to be involved in Bond, a great Q in my opinion. I never felt Idris Elba would make a good Bond, but always thought he would have been a good M, especially now he's older and would play a strong authority figure.

Much as I enjoy his acting, I'm not sure whether Richard Ayoade quite has the range to play the Doctor. He always seems to be playing a fairly similar character in everything I've seen him in.

 

[Berliner]

Much as I enjoy his acting, I'm not sure whether Richard Ayoade quite has the range to play the Doctor. He always seems to be playing a fairly similar character in everything I've seen him in.

That's true, actually. He does tend to appear in comedic roles. I'm not aware of any serious roles he's had. The more I think of it, maybe he wouldn't be a great choice for the main character, although I'm sure there is a role somewhere for someone like him in the Who universe.

 

[Strathclyder]

Ncuti Gatwa certainly does an excellent job of playing Eric in Sex Education. But going from playing a high school student to playing Doctor Who in one jump is quite a change!

While I get where you're coming from, it's not quite as big of a jump - or life changer in general - as it was for Tom Baker, who went from a virtual unknown to a household name virtually overnight after he took over the role in 1974.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

The character is an alien who, even before the casting of Jodie Whitaker, was shown to radically change their appearance every few years.

With that in mind, if someone's objecting to the next incarnation being black, I struggle to see a reason other than racism

In principle, I would tend to agree. When they changed the Doctor to a woman, there was a plausible objection that had nothing to do with any misogyny: That we'd had 13 doctors, all men. Not only that but at the end of the last Patrick Troughton story, the War Games, the TimeLords offered the doctor several alternative choices of new appearance: 4 choices were shown in screen, all men. So the canon seemed pretty clear that doctor could change his appearance but not his sex. Doubtless many fans objected to casting a woman purely because they wanted to preserve the canon (although casting a woman as the Master had thrown some doubt on that).

But there doesn't seem to be any basis in Dr Who history to argue against casting someone of any particular ethnicity. So *if* someone were to object to a black doctor, it's hard to fathom what the reason could be other than racism.

But why are discussing this anyway? Has anyone objected to the Doctor being black? I've seen no objections on this thread or on any mainstream media or social media that I've seen. This all feels to me a bit like a strawman argument - arguing against a point of view that basically no-one holds anyway.

 

[Drogba11CFC]

I've never seen Doctor Who; is it the one with the lightsabers and the Starship Enterprise?

 

[Monarch010]

I was surprised to read recently that Graham Crowden was offered the part to follow Jon Pertwee, but turned it down because it entailed too long a commitment.

 

[nw1]

I think Matt Smith was around that age when he took over?





MARK

You know you're getting old when the Dr Who actor is younger than you. First happened with Matt Smith in my case, though it then swung the other way with Peter Capaldi. Not that I've watched it in a while, mind - last time I watched it was in the Eccleston/Tennant era.

 

[MattRat]

I’ve never really understood the appeal of the programme if I’m honest! I don’t get why casting the new “Doctor” is a big deal.

Because the show is at a record low in terms of viewing figures, at least for NuWho.

It needs a course correction, and everyone's hoping RTD and Ncuti can do it, although given the similarities to what Whittaker and Chibnall said when the first took over about progressive policies and pushing a narrative (seeing it as a good thing), I fear we are in for a repeat, and viewing figures will drop even further.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I've never seen Doctor Who; is it the one with the lightsabers and the Starship Enterprise?

Nah. It's the one with Arnold Schwarzenegger as a indestructible cyberman. Or something like that.

 

[Trackman]

While I get where you're coming from, it's not quite as big of a jump - or life changer in general - as it was for Tom Baker, who went from a virtual unknown to a household name virtually overnight after he took over the role in 1974.

This is true.
I’ve read/watched a lot about Tom Baker and when he asked the director (or even producer) how to play the role of the Doctor they said ‘Play it as Tom Baker’, which he did.
This would never happen these days.

 

[Pinza-C55]

I’ve never really understood the appeal of the programme if I’m honest! I don’t get why casting the new “Doctor” is a big deal.

It's a bit like Star Trek and Star Wars in that respect. As a very small kid I loved Dr Who when it was Patrick Troughton as the Doctor but I more or less gave up when Jon Pertwee took over.

 

[birchesgreen]

I'm not really into Nu Who, not due to the actors or any "woke-ness" but all the stories have become too high stake or high concept, there are only so many times you can watch the fate of the entire universe depend on one person before it gets a bit exhausting. Star Trek has become like that too.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I'm not really into Nu Who, not due to the actors or any "woke-ness" but all the stories have become too high stake or high concept, there are only so many times you can watch the fate of the entire universe depend on one person before it gets a bit exhausting. Star Trek has become like that too.

I think that's a fair criticism, and that's annoyed me a little bit too at times. As I recall that's quite a long standing issue - it started back in David Tennant days with big season-finales that typically seemed to involve the Daleks about to destroy parts of the Universe, and then really went over the top in Matt Smith days with the story, The Pandorica Opens, with the entire Universe about to be completely made to have never existed - only for practically the same thing to happen the following year in The Wedding of River Song. At least though, if you set aside the ridiculously high stakes, those were good stories that were enjoyable to watch and well acted.

I do much prefer stories where the Doctor is simply helping sort out a few local difficulties on a single planet. It's also much less likely that those stories will contradict something from previous Dr Who history.

 

[DarloRich]

I do much prefer stories where the Doctor is simply helping sort out a few local difficulties on a single planet. It's also much less likely that those stories will contradict something from previous Dr Who history.

in this weeks episode Dr Who must battle the evil Bureaucratbot 5000 and sort out out parking permit problems and glass recycling issues on the planet of Suburbia, the most middle class planet in the solar system.




Give me Daleks and Cybermen destroying the universe EVERY week. exterminate. exterminate. etc etc. I Would also like the Dr to lose once in a while. Have the Daleks kill off a few sidekicks and send him/her packing.

 

[nw1]

I'm not really into Nu Who, not due to the actors or any "woke-ness" but all the stories have become too high stake or high concept, there are only so many times you can watch the fate of the entire universe depend on one person before it gets a bit exhausting. Star Trek has become like that too.

I found that the stories became rather hard to follow around the time Matt Smith came in, and Peter Capaldi was the same. I did only see one or two of each, though - but it was enough to make me not want to continue watching.

I did like the Ecclestone/Tennant era though.