The BBC took a moment during their Children in Need charity event today to announce the companion to Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, a character who will go by the name Ruby Sunday…
During the Children in Need special, the TARDIS appeared and out stepped Millie Gibson, who has spent the last few years on soap opera Coronation Street as Kelly Neelan. Check out her emergence below:
Here's the moment Millie Gibson walked out of the TARDIS, LIVE on @BBCCiN! 😱 pic.twitter.com/CqHB2Wa9c7
— Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) November 18, 2022
Gibson said in a statement, “Whilst still being in total disbelief, I am beyond honored to be cast as the Doctor’s companion. It is a gift of a role, and a dream come true, and I will do everything to try and fill the boots the fellow companions have travelled in before me. And what better way to do that than being by the fabulous Ncuti Gatwa’s side, I just can’t wait to get started.”
Here are the first images the BBC has released of the duo (though these are undoubtedly not their costumes):
Millie Gibson joins the cast of #DoctorWho as the Doctor's companion, Ruby Sunday ❤️❤️➕♦️
Read more here ➡️ https://t.co/scR0Bekw0b pic.twitter.com/XTg8H1kL1F
— Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) November 18, 2022
Gatwa had his own words to add about her casting: “Millie just is the companion. She is full of talent, strength, she has a cheeky sparkle in her eye and is sharp as a razor. From the moment she walked into the room she captured all of our attention with her effervescence and then solidified that attention with the sheer torque of her talent. This adventure is going to be so wild and so fun, I cannot WAIT to sail the universe with Millie!”
Gibson certainly has a Rose Tyler-ish look (and age—Gibson is eighteen) about her, which is likely to draw comparisons from fans now that the series is back in the hands of the very same showrunner who conceived Rose—Russell T. Davies. It’ll be some time before we get to see Gibson and Gatwa together, however; before they can step onto the TARDIS, the BBC has three 60th anniversary specials to show us, starring David Tennant back as the Fourteenth Doctor and the return of his former BFF Catherine Tate’s Donna Noble. Those specials will air in November of 2023, meaning that we likely won’t see Gibson until 2024.
