It might so simply have been that final yr’s specials starring David Tennant have been merely a victory lap for his period. A celebration of the revived present on the peak of its energy, with everybody’s favorite and arguably dapperest Physician to have ever served within the function, coming again for one final reminder of why all of us fell in love with the sequence within the first place, farting aliens and all.
Fortunately, they have been simply the beginning of RTD’s second wind as Whovian-in-Chief. And what an announcement of intent: sure, that is the present as you keep in mind it. Vibrant. Gleaming. Brimming with all of the chaotic vitality of Ant & Dec’s Saturday Evening Takeaway and shot by with all the heat and world-weary empathy of Davies’ different, extra severe works, with a sixth sense for casting (bolstered by longtime collaborator Andy Pryor) that different showrunners would kill for. Having the ability to summon Neil Patrick Harris to Bristol to play the Celestial Toymaker is testomony to RTD’s Time Lord-like powers as a producer, and positioning him as a darkish mirror for David Tennant is divine genius.
However that is additionally a brand new period of Physician Who, future-proofed for Gen Alpha and reinventing itself for a jaded age that desperately wants new myths. Ncuti Gatwa is so removed from the “traditional” picture of The Physician – he’s not a middle-aged white man, clearly, however that’s not why. He’s effortlessly cool, rocking an ever-changing wardrobe and grooming routine that no earlier Doc might pull off. I imply, he even managed to look fashionable throughout his debut episode, which he spent in a shirt and underpants. There’s nothing stuffy or superior about him in any respect – he brims with the essence of creativity and invention. If all of the earlier Docs are Phil Collins, he’s Prince, and he can do something.
