The New Season of 'Doctor Who' Starring 'Sex Education' Favourite Ncuti Gatwa Will Start Streaming in May
Disney+ is releasing the first two episodes of the Fifteenth Doctor's run simultaneously worldwide, including Down Under.
After stealing every scene that he was in in Sex Education, playing a Ken in Barbie and dancing at the 2024 Oscars, Ncuti Gatwa has a date with the TARDIS from May. The first full season of the long-running British franchise starring the Rwandan Scottish actor will hit screens on Saturday, May 11, including Down Under — with Disney+ and the BBC releasing the first two episodes of the Fifteenth Doctor's run simultaneously worldwide.
That timing means that it will have been two years between Gatwa being announced as the new Doctor Who and series 14 arriving; however, this isn't the first time that viewers are seeing the Fifteenth Doctor. Gatwa made his debut as the time lord in 2023, in both 60th-anniversary special episode The Giggle and Christmas special The Church on Ruby Road.
Now that he police box-loving, time-travelling, Dalek-fighting character has regenerated into a new incarnation — which is how the series writes in its casting swaps — Gatwa has become Doctor Who's first Black lead. In a way, he takes over from two actors: Jodie Whittaker (Time), whose run came to an end in 2022 with series 13, after becoming the first-ever female lead back in 2017; and also David Tennant (Good Omens), who was the Tenth Doctor in three seasons from 2005–10, then also the Fourteenth Doctor in 2023's specials.
In a season that also features Millie Gibson (Coronation St) as the Fifteenth Doctor's companion Ruby Sunday, Gatwa joins a long list of other British actors who've stepped into the part — 11 other than Whittaker and Tennant, including OG Doctor William Hartnell back in 1963; 70s favourite Tom Baker; and Christopher Eccelston (True Detective: Night Country), Matt Smith (House of the Dragon) and Peter Capaldi (Criminal Record) since the show made a big comeback in 2005. And yes, the fact that it took 54 years for the character to become a woman and six decades for a Black actor to play the part is clearly far too long.
"At last, it's my great delight to unleash a whole new season of the Doctor and Ruby's adventures together. Monsters! Chases! Villains! Mysteries! And a terrifying secret that's been spanning time and space for decades. Don't miss a second!" said Doctor Who showrunner, executive producer and writer Russell T Davies (Nolly, It's a Sin, Queer as Folk) about the new season.
Fans can look forward to jumps to England's Regency era and into the future, as well as a guest cast that includes Aneurin Barnard (1899), Anita Dobson (Murder, They Hope), Yasmin Finney (Heartstopper), Michelle Greenidge (Mandy) and Jonathan Groff (Knock at the Cabin), plus Bonnie Langford (EastEnders), Genesis Lynea (Death in Paradise), Jemma Redgrave (The Beekeeper), Lenny Rush (Haunting of the Queen Mary), Indira Varma (Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One) and Angela Wynter (EastEnders).
Check out the teaser trailer for Doctor Who series 14 below:
Series 14 of Doctor Who will start streaming via Disney+ Down Under on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
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