Mandip Gill (Yaz) on why she’s sticking around Doctor Who

Two out of three of the Doctor’s companions are leaving after the upcoming holiday special, but not Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan). Why is she sticking around?

Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan) has been making the rounds of late promoting the upcoming Doctor Who holiday special, “Revolution of the Daleks.” But it’s been a bittersweet tour, since the episode will mark the last time that her fellow companions Bradley Walsh (Graham) and Tosin Cole’s (Ryan) will appear as regulars on the series.

That will Gill as the last companion standing. Speaking with Radio Times, Gill spoke about Cole and Walsh leaving Doctor Who and how difficult it was knowing they’d no longer be around. “We knew it was coming so we’ve had a while to get our heads around it. Brad and Tosin are such big characters, and I’ll really miss them on set.”

"I just thought, ‘I’m not ready for this journey to end. Why leave something if you’re enjoying it, it’s working and there’s development? I don’t know when it will end for me because as a person and as a character, there’s so much more to explore."

Well, that’s a relief, because as much as Whovians get attached to the Doctor, we also love our companions. Losing two is difficult enough, so I’m relieved that there are still more Yaz/Doctor adventures to come.

Speaking of which, the fandom has been shipping Yaz and the Doctor for quite some time. The fact that it’ll just be the two of them for a while only adds fuel to the fire. Is there a possibility that we may see a love story brew between them? There’s absolutely no confirmation regarding this, but Mandip Gill was asked about it recently…and she’s not opposed!

But first we have “Revolution of the Daleks” to get through, airing on New Year’s Day. When last we left the Doctor, she was imprisoned shortly after learning that she was the “Timeless Child,” and had many more lives than she knew. According to showrunner Chris Chibnall, that will play a role going forward, although the holiday special may have more immediately things to do with. “The Doctor is still dealing with it emotionally,” he told Radio Times. “She’s not going to forget about it – it’s important to her and it raises its head in the special… not in a narrative way, but in an emotional way.”

"You’ll have to wait longer to see how it plays out. Obviously we pick up in Revolution and the Doctor is in prison, so you know that’s quite a big thing we have to deal with, and she’s been in prison for a long time when we meet her.But in terms of the events of The Timeless Children and what all that means… that’s not overly focused on in Revolution of the Daleks. It’s much more of a standalone episode, which is what you want in a festive special."

Jodie Whittaker herself also tossed in some hints. “Obviously I won’t chat about what direction the thought process is going,” she said. “But you know, the end of the season didn’t end with a big full stop. More of a dot dot dot!”

Pretty exciting! If you need to calm down, we invite you to relax in front of the Doctor Who Yule log:

See you on New Years!

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