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Hey there my Pop Clouds! I hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day holiday weekend. And to all the Mother’s out there, I hope you enjoyed the day with your family and friends. Amongst all the familial gatherings yesterday, the BBC surprised us all and announced who the next Doctor is going to be played by on Doctor Who. So join me as I reveal this individual to you all and give you a brief background and let you know when to expect our next Doctor to make an appearance!!
Sending Love To Our Current/Soon-To-Be Former Doctor
In case you stopped following Doctor Who within the last few years or so, we had the pleasure of having famed English actress Jodie Whittaker take over for Peter Capaldi to play the 13th incarnation of The Doctor. She broke major glass ceilings by taking on this position due to the fact that she is the first woman to take on this role in a full-time position. And when she immerged from the smoke in the TARDIS after the transformation, it was to a loud cheer felt all over the world and online. Previously, The Doctor was played only by white/Caucasian men with every incarnation since the show began back in 1963. And now after 3 seasons as The Doctor in this extremely popular English science-fiction TV series, she’s hanging up her coat and passing her sonic screwdriver to another actor who will continue to break more glass ceilings (more on that in a moment). Before we unveil this individual, I just personally wanted to thank Jodie for her amazing job as The Doctor.
The one thing I have to give major props to Jodie for is taking on such a huge role not just as a woman for the first time, but also with a new show-runner. All the Whovians were saddened and dismayed when it was announced that not only were we getting a new doctor with Peter Capaldi stepping down, but a new showrunner as well. The previous showrunner Russell T. Davies was leaving the Doctor Who world and passing on the baton to Chris Chibnall. As a result, Jodie had to also take on the responsibility of portraying The Doctor from a new showrunner’s point of view. As episodes of Jodie’s first season started airing, more and more fans were missing Davies as they were not too happy with how Chibnall was changing the Whoniverse around so much. Personally, I was the most dismayed during the episode where he basically gave The Doctor’s entire back-story away. After that episode aired, I felt shocked (not in a good way) because I was left thinking to myself “well wow. Now that it’s all be put out there, where do we go from here? What’s left to show or explain?” Jodie handled this beautifully. She kept going and kept giving us some good and some great episodes. And now that she’s moving on, I will keep these episodes near and dear to my heart(s). Thank you Jodie for portraying The Doctor in such a beautiful and fun way. I hope you have many continued successes in your future career endeavors!
Say Hello to Doctor Ncuti!!
As I mentioned earlier, we were recently surprised by the BBC announcing who our next Doctor is going to be played by. It was no secret that Jodie Whittaker was on her way out, but a lot of Whovians felt that the announcement for number 14 would be given further on down the road. That being said, let me introduce our newest Doctor: Ncuti Gatwa!!
Now before we continue on, let’s take on the big giant elephant in the room: the pronunciation of his name. I was thankful that I found a short video clip of Ncuti saying his name. Ncuti is: Shoo-Tee (N is silent) and Gatwa is: Got-wah. I hope that helps you all whenever you talk about him from this point forward with your fellow Whovians.
So who is Ncuti?? For some of us he’s a brand new face, for others, he’s a familiar face that they are very, very happy to see taking on this role. Ncuti is a 29 year old actor that was born in Rwanda and then raised in Scotland since 1994. He began his acting career in 2014 but it wasn’t until 2019 that he made himself known to Netflix fans. This was when he made his appearance as the character of Eric Effiong on the streaming series Sex Education. His portrayal of a gay, black individual on this series earned him many BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award nominations as well as a win in 2020 for Best Actor in Television. This is possibly one of the reasons why he was brought to the attention of the BBC for someone to portray the next Time Lord.
The great thing about Ncuti is that he is following in Jodie’s footsteps in breaking the mold of what was previously thought of as who would play each iteration of The Doctor. Ncuti will be the first black actor to play this role in a full-time position. Added to this, his age of 29 is the first time we had an actor play this part who is under 30 in over 10 years. The last time we had a Doctor around this age was Matt Smith (11th Doctor) who was 27 years old when he began his tenure back in 2010. Ncuti will be the 2nd actor in his 20s to play The Doctor. With the combination of his background and age, Ncuti is going to bring a fresh and more energetic feel to Doctor Who. I’m looking forward to seeing him emerge from the reincarnation flash and all the fun things that come along with that: what epic outfit will become his trademark look and how the inside of the TARDIS will change to reflect the new personality he will bring to the Time Lord. Welcome to the Whoniverse Ncuti!!
Welcome to the Doctor Who Family Ncuti!!
We’re Not Only Getting a New Doctor
The announcement of our 14th Doctor wasn’t the only surprise we received yesterday. Fans of Doctor Whohad known for a short while that showrunner Chris Chibnall was leaving the series. What was unknown was who was going to take over. Well fans did not have to look far because a little did we know that a very fond and familiar face was about to take over again. In addition to finding out about Ncuti as The Doctor, we also found out that Russell T. Davies was coming back as showrunner. This is actually such great welcomed news to Whovians. This means that we’re going to get that familiar flavor we had with all the episodes we came to love from when the show was rebooted in 2005 until Davies left in 2009. We should look forward to more classic episodes with the Daleks, the Weeping Angels, the Cybermen and the Sontarans just to name a few. But hopefully we’ll also get some episodes that are a bit lighter and even comical. Only time will tell.
When Will Number 14 Make His Appearance
By now you are all probably wondering when Ncuti will emerge from the smoke and show up on our TV screens. There has been a typical fashion in which this hand-off has been handled by previous actors & showrunners. In the past when an actor ends their time as The Doctor, the showrunners have given them a final special episode that usually airs around Christmas-time. And then sometime in the new calendar year, we get news of the premiere date of the new season of the show which is also when the newest actor is going to make their grand appearance. This is the pattern that the showrunners seem to be following for Jodie & Ncuti. . Jodie Whittaker will make her final appearance as The Doctor in a special episode that will air sometime this fall. And from the research I have done, as of the posting of this article, it seems like Ncuti’s Doctor will make a TARDIS landing in 2023. As we get closer to the new year, we should hopefully get a time frame as to when the new season will premiere. This is definitely an exciting time in the Whoniverse. I am excited to see what changes Ncuti and Davies bring to Doctor Who. I have missed this happy, excited energy and now I feel I have yet another exciting season to look forward to in one of the show series I love so much.
Well that’s a wrap for the newest Doctor Who news. As always please don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list and to follow me on my social media accounts to keep up to date on when new articles are posted (Twitter: @PopCloud1 and Facebook: @PopCloudBlog). And please comment below on what you thought about this article. I always love hearing your feedback and opinions. And finally my Pop Clouds: if you like what you read here, you do have the option to send cash tips to help support the site. You can use the PayPal button below the video or Cash App at $PopCloudBlog or Venmo at @ThePopCloudBlog. Every little bit helps to keep this site active. Thanks for any contributions you may send my way. It’s much appreciated. Have a great bright sunny day my Pop Clouds!
