Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa says he ‘felt like an alien’ growing up

Gatwa, 31, is the 15th actor to portray the iconic role on BBC One’s long-running sci-fi drama

Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa has said he “felt like an alien growing up in Scotland” after his family relocated to Edinburgh from Rwanda when he was two.

Gatwa, 31, was born in the city of Kigali in Rwanda on 15 October 1992, during the country’s civil war. Two years later, his family fled the East African country during the Rwandan genocide agains the Tutsi, when more than one million people were killed.

They settled in Edinburgh before moving to Dunfermline when Gatwa was 15.

Speaking to BBC News, ahead of his debut as the 15th Time Lord on the hit sci-fi show, Gatwa said his early experiences growing up away from his home helped him to portray the Doctor “more truthfully”.

“Yes, I think at many times in my life I have felt like an alien,” the actor said. “A kid like me growing up in Scotland - there’s been many times I felt like an alien, and so I feel like I get it.”

“It’s always a joy to get a character like that, where you’re able to draw on elements of your own life, your own upbringing, and deliver them through the character, because fundamentally it just comes out more truthfully,” he added.

Gatwa will make his full-episode debut as the 2,000-year-old time traveller in a Christmas Day special.

His portrayal as fan-favourite Sex Education character Eric Effiong on the hit Netflix series catapulted him into the spotlight.

In May last year, the BBC announced Gatwa would take over as the Time Lord, replacing Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor, making him the first Black actor to portray the character since the show premiered in 1963.

Reflecting on his casting on the “quintessentially British” show, Gatwa called it a milestone for “where we are in society”.

He said: “Doctor Who is a show that kind of reflects where Britain is at, in a way, because it’s so quintessentially British. It’s been on our screens for so long, it’s a bit of a mirror to where we are in society.

“And so I think it’s showing that we’re here, and we’re part of the cultural landscape. And we’re not going anywhere.”

In an interview with Graham Norton on Friday (15 December), Gatwa admitted the build-up to the release of the Christmas special had been “nerve-wracking”.

“Will you be sitting down to watch it yourself?” Norton, 60, asked Gatwa, who hesitated, before replying: “Yes.”

When asked about his reluctance to watch the episode, Gatwa said: “It’s nerve-wracking. My dad will give me notes, I feel.”

Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road will be released on BBC One on Christmas Day at 5.55pm.