Ncuti Gatwa, Doctor Who’s new Doctor, is not afraid to speak his mind about the British Tory government and their terrible track record on transphobia and racism. And it’s very refreshing.
Gatwa—who will share screentime in the upcoming Doctor Who season with Yasmin Finney, Doctor Who’s first recurring trans actress—gave an in-depth interview to Attitude magazine for its 30th-anniversary issue and discussed the British government’s disturbing tendency to make scapegoats out of trans people.
“Everything trickles down from the top, and when you see politicians openly attacking marginalized communities, when you see our politicians openly attacking trans people, it makes it okay for everyone else,” he said. Gatwa himself identifies as queer, and recollected in the interview how he had “internalized homophobia” in his earlier years.
“It is scary to see that we’ve got to a point where it is fine to attack vulnerable people because that’s essentially what’s happening. People who are the most vulnerable, the most disenfranchised, most disconnected from everyone else, are being told that they are the threats,” he said. If you want the perfect demonstration of this, look no further than J.K. Rowling. Her insistence that trans people are dangerous to women’s rights (they aren’t) has led her down a path of cruelty and abuse.
“It’s sick because it’s a hiding away of your own ineptitude,” Gatwa continued. And frankly, the list of inept things the Tory party has done would be longer than any post could hold. “You’re going to put the blame on immigrants, black and brown people, trans people, queer people, to hide the fact that you are not doing anything for people?” he said. “It’s easier to just create discord amongst people. It’s divide and conquer, isn’t it?”
It is—and the whole country seems to have fallen for it right now. It’s notoriously hard to be a trans person in Britain, especially a young trans person as puberty blockers, a necessity for many, have recently been banned on the NHS for anyone below the age of 18. Did that change anything about poverty, food insecurity, or NHS waiting times in Britain? Of course it didn’t.
Ncuti Gatwa on backlash to his casting
Ncuti Gatwa is the first Black person to play the Doctor full-time. (The very first Black Doctor was Jo Martin’s version of the character back in 2020. She was a sort of “secret” Doctor and only appeared in a handful of episodes.) And so, unfortunately, because of the world we live in, his casting was met with backlash from internet trolls and right-wing commentators.
But Gatwa is shrugging it off. “The hate? It is kind of fascinating to me because there’s so much energy they’re putting into it … I think they need to go find a hobby is one thing,” he said.
“But another thing is that we do see a shift happening in casting, in positions of power and in the status quo. I mean, not a fast shift, things could tip over the other way a little bit quicker, but you see people kind of malfunctioning because things are changing,” he went on.
Things are changing for the better, despite the attempts of bigots to push back on it. Gatwa’s first season of Doctor Who looks set to be a very inclusive one, and that’s exactly what Britain could use right now.
(featured image: BBC)
