Doctor Who Russell T Davies talks keeping Ncuti Gatwa secret

Doctor Who's 14th Doctor has officially been announced as Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa after months of speculation, taking over the Time Lord role from Jodie Whittaker, who departs later this year.

Ncuti's appointment comes as Russell T Davies returns as showrunner for the first time since 2009. Davies spoke to Digital Spy and other press at the BAFTA TV Awards red carpet about his audition, and what it was like keeping the casting a secret.

"It was the most amazing audition and he was the last person to audition," Russell said. "I thought someone else was a guaranteed hit, and then in he came, and that person will never know, sadly.

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"I shouldn't do that because he simply stole it because he was so brilliant, and I just saw unlimited potential in him really, and that's what you're after, unlimited potential.

"We kept this secret for three months, and none of you got it. None of it leaked, none of you even guessed. He's so brilliant and so popular, it wasn't even a guess, so we're feeling a little bit victorious.

"There's been a few false stories out there and false tales and we posted a few posts ourselves, a couple of misleading things and we're very pleased that kind of worked. Not James Corden, we didn't plant that one. I never saw that one coming frankly, and I love James Corden. I talked to him about it, but we're very pleased."

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Just last month, Ncuti was announced to be part of Margot Robbie's upcoming Barbie movie, another big career move for him.

With all this going on, however, is he going to have the time for Sex Education series 4?

Doctor Who's next special premieres in Autumn 2022 on BBC One in the UK. In the US, the show airs on BBC America, with series 1-12 available on HBO Max.

For more information on Doctor Who: Time Fracture, head this way – tickets are also available via retailers including LOVEtheatre, London Theatre Direct, Fever and Ticketmaster.

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Joe Anderton

Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.

Tilly Pearce

Freelance writer, Digital Spy
Tilly is Gold-Standard NCTJ accredited journalist with eight years of experience in entertainment journalism.

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