Doctor Who boss reacts to Ryan Gosling's Ncuti Gatwa T-shirt

Russell T Davies has responded to Ryan Gosling being pictured wearing a Doctor Who T-shirt.

The La La Land actor was photographed in sunglasses and a baseball hat and a black Doctor Who T-shirt with a picture of Ncuti Gatwa as the Fourteenth Doctor.

Returning showrunner Davies reposted the picture on his Instagram, expressing surprise at the A-lister sporting a small business' "illegal" fan merch.

The caption read: "This is, genuinely, Ryan Gosling wearing a t-shirt of Ncuti Gatwa as Doctor Who."

ryan gosling wearing a doctor who t shirt

Goff Photo

He then joked: "We're suing him, of course. Illegal merch #rulesandrules"

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The Sex Education star was announced as the new Doctor in May, and is set to take over the role from Jodie Whittaker in the autumn.

Gosling and Gatwa are currently filming the upcoming Barbie movie together alongside The Suicide Squad's Margot Robbie and Gatwa's Sex Education co-stars Emma Mackey and Connor Swindells.

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Gatwa also took a snap of Gosling and shared it on his own Instagram Stories, writing: "Dolls supporting doctors, Yass King. As if I couldn't love him anymore."

He credited the original artist, Matthew Purchase (aka The Cyberdevil), who created the impressive mock-up of Gatwa as the Doctor.

Purchase is now selling items featuring the print on Redbubble, adding that "approximately 50% of the proceeds I make will go to The Goboka Rwanda Trust".

The BBC Doctor Who Twitter page also shared Purchase's artwork in a post that read: "We love this almost as much as Ryan Gosling does!"

Gosling has previously spoken about his love for the BBC science-fiction series after he cast Matt Smith in his directorial debut Lost River.

ncuti gatwa and russell t davies at the 2021 baftas

Dave J Hogan//Getty Images

Gosling told Digital Spy back in 2015 about casting Smith: "I was writing and I heard his voice. Doctor Who was on TV, and he was doing a scene where he had a microphone and he was literally ruling the universe just telling all these spaceships how it was going to be.

"He was just killing, and I've never really seen anybody that looks like him or is like him. He's his own thing. So I got really excited about working with him and I was so happy that he came on to do the film."

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

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Jess Bacon

Jess is a freelance writer and editor with a passion for over-analysing everyone’s favourite movies and TV shows. As an English graduate from the University of York with an MA in Creative Writing, Jess worked as a magazine editor before turning freelance. Since then, Jess has written for outlets such as GQ, The Guardian, Inverse, Huff Post, Stylist, and Insider. She specialises in the representation of mental health, grief, and women in film. She’s also a major Marvel nerd and is writing a YA fantasy novel. LinkedIn