Former showrunner, Steven Moffat, has said that Ncuti Gatwa is a “magnificent” Doctor, and enthused about his time playing opposite David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor in The Giggle.
The writer — who scripted numerous fan-favourite episodes like Blink, The Day of the Doctor, and Heaven Sent — said:
“Well, I think Ncuti is going to be [an] amazing Doctor; he’s going to be different.
“But I’ve already seen this — I think we all have in The Giggle [60th anniversary special, which featured a surprise appearance from the Fifteenth Doctor] — that he’s got all the command and all the presence of a classic Doctor, plus a whole funky new thing that’s going on. And that’s what we need.”
And though these comments were made before the announcement, there’s extra weight added to his responses now that we know Moffat has written an episode for Gatwa’s Doctor in Doctor Who Series 14!
“And the thing I particularly like from The Giggle is when he orders David Tennant out of the TARDIS. He says, ‘Beat it, kid,’ and that’s great.
“He’s going to be a magnificent Doctor. And 20 years from now, people will be complaining that he’s not still in the show.”
Indeed, Ncuti made a (sort of) shock early debut in The Giggle — something many predicated and for which there were plenty of rumours, but which nonetheless must’ve come as a surprise to any casual viewers. Especially considering it came about thanks to a bi-generation, in which the Doctor split into two mid-regeneration.
We’ll see more of the Fifteenth Doctor alongside Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) when the new series hits TV screens in May.
