It’s always interesting to think about what happens in the audition room when actors try out for the role of the Doctor, and now, new showrunner, Russell T Davies, has shared more details about Ncuti Gatwa’s surprising audition as the next face of Doctor Who.

Russell recalls:

“I’d watched him on screen, and thought I had the measure of him, until he walked into the room for the Doctor Who audition. Bang! Thunderbolt. And bear in mind, for UK TV, the part of the Doctor is the Crown Jewels, it’s history, it’s tradition, it’s… oh, sod that, I said, and threw it at him. He’s conquered the world. Now all of time and space is his.”

Gatwa then shared the post on Instagram, adding:

“Your words are a constant blessing in my life it seems.”

Which is all kinds of lovely!

Ncuti is probably best known for playing Eric Effiong in Netflix’s Sex Education, a series which Davies notes took him across the globe — but now, of course, he’ll forever be known as the Doctor.

We don’t know when we’ll first see Gatwa’s incarnation of the Time Lord, but first, it seems we’ll be spending some time with David Tennant, returning to the part for the franchise’s 60th anniversary. Presumably, Ncuti will be firmly behind the TARDIS controls in 2024, although we might see him before that, i.e. taking part in the anniversary celebrations.

Either way, it’s wonderful to hear more about the casting process, and see Gatwa and Davies already getting on like a house on fire, it seems!