By Kate Bryony

Sex Education’s Ncuti Gatwa has been announced as the next actor to take over the Iconic role of The Doctor. 

The casting was announced on the Doctor Who official Twitter account on Sunday. The 29-old year actor was previously best known for his role as Eric on the Netflix hit series Sex Education. 

Ncuti Gatwa will become the first black person to portray the titular Time Lord as a series lead. Jo Martin did appear as the character in 2020, appearing as a previously unknown incarnation of the Doctor. 

Gatwa is a Scottish actor who was born in Rwanda. He starred as Eric in the Netflix show Sex Education. The show follows the exploits of student Otis (Asa Butterfield) and his friends Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) and Maeve (Emma Mackey) after they decide to run a sex education clinic at their school, inspired by Otis’ mother (Gillian Anderson). 

The actor also appeared in 2021’s The Last Letter From Your Lover and 2019’s Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans.

The actor had this to say on this historic casting; “There aren’t quite the words to describe how I’m feeling. A mix of deeply honoured, beyond excited and of course a little bit scared. This role and show mean so much to so many around the world, including myself, and each one of my incredibly talented predecessors has handled that unique responsibility and privilege with utmost care.”

Gatwa has stated that he is particularly keen to work with Russell T Davies. He has said that working with the showrunner “is a dream come true”. 

He said; Russell T Davies is almost as iconic as the Doctor himself and being able to work with him is a dream come true. His writing is dynamic, exciting, incredibly intelligent and fizzing with danger. An actor’s metaphorical playground. The entire team have been so welcoming and truly give their hearts to the show. And so as much as it’s daunting, I’m aware I’m joining a really supportive family. Unlike the Doctor, I may only have one heart, but I am giving it all to this show.” 

Filming for the next season is set to start filming in June 2022 in and around South Wales. Residents of Axminister Road have reported that they have been informed that the road will be used for filming in early June. This won’t be Ncuti Gatwa’s first time filming in South Wales, Sex Education also filmed i the South Wales area.