Time for a change? Gatwa makes history as black male Doctor Who

IT WOULD have been unthinkable when Doctor Who was launched 60 years ago.

But Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa made history last night when he became the first black man to be handed the controls of the Tardis.

The Bafta-winning star, 31, made his formal debut as the Fifteenth Doctor in the dying minutes of The Giggle, the third in a trilogy of specials to mark the BBC show’s 60th anniversary.

The hour-long episode saw David Tennant and Catherine Tate reprise their roles as The Doctor and Donna Noble for a third and final time, with Tennant bigenerating alongside Gatwa’s version of the character, leaving two Time Lords, each with their own Tardis.

Gatwa was born in Rwanda but his family moved to Scotland to escape the genocide of the early Nineties. His casting as Doctor Who is the latest in a series of career highs for the star who came out as gay earlier this year. He won huge acclaim for playing Eric Effiong in the Netflix drama Sex Education, and had a role in the smash hit Barbie, which has taken £1billion at the box office.

Black actress Jo Martin played a version of the Time Lord called The Fugitive Doctor. She appeared during Jodie Whittaker’s tenure as The Doctor.