Ncuti Gatwa was admonished for swearing while in his Doctor Who costume

This past weekend, Doctor Who debuted the Fourteenth Doctor, played by Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa. The actor came out of the gate swinging (and completely pantsless, for reasons I’m still trying to figure out), showing off abundant charm that should carry him through the next season of the famous sci-fi show, which is coming out next year.

Apparently, casting Gatwa in this legendary role was a no brainer for returning showrunner Russell T Davies. “I was very lucky that I did the audition with Ncuti, and it was one of the most astonishing afternoons of my life, because you were just so amazing – to actually be in a room with you and to see you face-to-face,” he said during a Q&A panel, according to Radio Times. “He did one audition. Normally there’s, like, 27 auditions – one! He just got it.”

It sounds like things have been just as crazy on Gatwa’s end. “It just was a magical adventure,” he said on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show. “It feels very mad to be here.”

As for what he specifically brings to the role of the Doctor, a role that’s been played by over a dozen people before him, he tried to do what he does best. “I guess they’ve just been themselves, and that’s what I have just tried to do,” Gatwa said of his new version of the Doctor. “He’s a bit mischievous, though. I guess he’s a bit flirty, he’s a bit cheeky, a bit mischievous.”

But the mischief only goes to a point, as Gatwa revealed to Radio Times Magazine. Apparently, while the Doctor has almost limitless power, there is one thing he can’t do, at least not when the cameras are rolling: use naughty words.

“The only time I’ve ever gotten in trouble for anything was when I swore while wearing a Doctor Who costume,” Gatwa said. “I got called into Russell’s office — whew! — and he let me know that’s not acceptable. He said, ‘Do what you want when you’re out of costume, but when you’re in costume do not let us catch you swearing.'”

"I guess that was a lesson. For the last four years, I’ve been co-leading an X-rated show and so I’m on a constant journey of learning what it is to be a PG role model in the lead of a family show."

Ncuti Gatwa will face down the Toymaker’s “legions” in Doctor Who season 14

With that lesson learned, it’s onwards and upwards to the next adventure, which will be facing down goblins in the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special:

And after that is season 14. Speaking on an episode of Doctor Who: Video Commentaries about the most recent episode, “The Giggle,” Davies hinted that the followers of the villain from that installment — the Toymaker, played with manic aplomb by Neil Patrick Harris — will be coming for the Doctor in the near future.

“[The Toymaker] says at the end, ‘My legions are coming,'” Davies said. “They are. And so, every so often we get a chance to do an episode that’s kind-of supernatural, not exactly supernatural, but where all the rules are suspended.”

Prepare for all of that come in 2024.

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h/t The A.V. Club, Screenrant