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The global launch ofDoctor Who season 1has been rumbling along for quite some time.
An exciting new era awaits… SFX: First of all, can we c’mon put the tabloid rumours about Millie to bed?
Russell T Davies:Not leaving.
It will all make sense once you see it play out.
Its very unfortunate that these things make the papers.
So its that you cannot begin to answer this sort of stuff.
I guarantee you that.
That is a problem with shooting the second series while youre still doing the first series.
All sorts of problems can happen that way that we saw coming, but what do we do?
Were making such a good show.
Im burning for people to see the story of Ruby Sunday.
Its amazing and has so much mileage in it.
And its still burning.
I cant wait for you to see it.
Millie Gibson:Yeah, definitely.
Ncuti Gatwa:Yeah!
It feels good that its out there.
People have gotten a chance to get to know us a little bit.
It definitely was like it calmed both of our nerves though.
Like, it works and it looks amazing.
But of course, obviously we had Russells writing.
So that was always going to be the case, but yeah, it calmed us down.
It is slightly amping up again now with the series about to drop.
MG:Thats how I feel.
RTD:Is the feeling coming back?
MG:Just the anticipation.
We want to get to that level of the same love that the Christmas episode had.
RTD:it’s possible for you to never relax, can you?
That was so successful.
The fear is, how do we keep being successful for eight episodes in a row?
It is a worry, but the worry makes it good.
I really believe that.
Was there a moment on set where you thought, Oh, this is where it first clicks?
MG:Probably when I did the whole walk around the TARDIS thing.
Ive watched that TARDIS so much since I was a little girl.
So I think just being the one going into it is a really surreal and important memory to have.
Its such an iconic moment to do.
Thank you for giving me that little scene.
NG:That was my best friend Patsys favourite bit as well.
She was like, Thats the bit where were about to go into a new era.
The way the camera goes onto your face, and your reaction.
MG:Its the music in the background I love as well.
Mrs Flood going, [does impression] Good luck, Ruby!
It was the first time I said it [claps hands] properly.
Oh, this character that Im playing, which is?
Lets tease season one!
Starting with Space Babies.
Its that iconic companion meeting the Doctor properly, because we didnt really meet in the Christmas episode.
Lets tease season one!
Starting with ‘Space Babies’.
Its that iconic companion meeting the Doctor properly, because we didnt really meet in the Christmas episode.
MG:Shes just dying for adventure and dying to believe in it because shes just in awe.
Its a fun episode.
Give me a year just to be so random about it.
NG:The Doctor and companions first proper adventure, that theyve chosen to go on together.
And in the meantime, theres a hungry foe… We face the Bogeyman!
MG:We didnt know what the Bogeyman was gonna look like.
Remember when we were Googling it?
Going, What does it look like?
and we saw this cosy cute bear?
Then the prop designer showed it to us and we were like, Oh, good god!
MG:No wonder the babies are scared of that.
That was a really fun monster for sure.
Robert Strange as that monster was incredible.
Youre going to see that develop.
Every episode stands on its own.
Literally, the biggest finale ever.
Theres some shots of that in the trailers coming up.
Oh my god, youre gonna die.
‘The Devils Chord’.
RTD:Episode two, Jinkx Monsoon [drag star Hera Hoffer]!
initiate the door: Jinkx Monsoon.
MG:I love Jinkx.
That episode is for Jinkx.
Theres so many outstanding scenes where me and Ncuti were like, Shall we just go home?
NG:[Growls] Shes so good!
MG:She was insane.
NG:Such a delicious villain.
RTD:A huge villain.
NG:HUGE villain.
RTD:The like of which weve never seen before.
You almost forget the Beatles are in it, which is iconic!
RTD:Yeah, I know what you mean.
The Beatles were an important part of it, and that was fun casting them.
or Who are they going to talk to in this era?
What are Ruby and the Doctor going to be like with the Beatles?
Can you imagine two best friends going to chat to the Beatles back in the day?
Youd be like [screams].
RTD:And it visually shows what were doing.
Pam Downe on costume and Claire Williams on make-up.
Youve seen the photos of these two in the 1960s.
What an image, what extraordinary work.
That says a lot about our intent.
Were not sneaking into the 1960s, we are arriving, big time.
MG:[Gasps] Oh Russell, you have to do that!
Well not me, you two can do it!
MG:Well Ill do that any day!
RTD:What was I doing?
[Roars laughing]
MG:I would love to do that.
[To Ncuti] Youve got to do it!
RTD:You mustve been asked to be a judge on it, surely?
NG:Ive been asked a couple of times…
MG:Why didnt you do it?!
NG:Because Ive not watched it yet!
Ive never seen an episode yet.
I know, I know… Everyone keeps getting on at me about it.
MG:Just watch Jinkxs trust me, thats the best season.
RTD:Do you just not fancy it?
I resisted it for a long time, actually, and now I love it.
NG:Its not that Im resisting, I just dont have time.
[Laughs] Where is my time?
MG:Every single thing Ive recommended to Ncuti he doesnt watch.
[Laughs] I made a list of things and he doesnt watch them.
Hes just a busy, busy man
Had you not seen Jinkx doing stuff on Drag Race?
NG:No, never.
MG:I showed him her best moments and we were in stitches.
I thought, just what incredible casting.
MG:So clever.
NG:Such a master of her craft.
RTD:And who else could have played that?
MG:No one.
RTD:Its an extraordinary thing to look at that and go, Who else would we have got?
Who else would we have gone to?
Jinkx is the drag queen of drag queens.
Shes the winner of the super final.
MG:Yeah, she won her season and then she won All Stars.
No drag queens done that.
RTD:Thats the Olympic gold of drag queens.
But then the imagination…
The professionalism she brought with her was gobsmacking.
MG: She came prepared.
In that page turn [script read-through], me and Ncuti were like [drops jaw].
NG:I know!
Are you going to try and top the iTunes chart again?
RTD:Yes, there is music in there.
That would be nice we havent got the old goblin singer but weve got you two singing!
Its hard to talk about it, its a very musical episode.
We should be top of every chart, SFX.
Episode three, ‘Boom;.
RTD:Written by Steven Moffat.
The Doctor and Ruby kick off the TARDIS doors onto the surface of a war-torn world.
Rubys first alien planet and from that point on, its excitement and thats all Im saying.
Amazing episode and again, a fantastic character study for these two.
The director has a lot of praise for you in this episode!
NG: Oh my gosh.
So all the lines felt like we were in a theatre performance.
We were doing sevenminute takes and stuff like that.
By the end of it, were like, Oh my god, again?
RTD:Clever director though, clever.
MG:It was really cool.
It just adds to the whole intensity of it for sure.
RTD:Its tough.
MG: In-between that we were flipping between Space Babies.
We went from the most intense to Space Babies [laughs].
RTD:Steven Moffat at his best.
Episode four, ‘73 Yards’.
Theres legend, theres rumours, theres mysteries.
Theres a huge mystery for Ruby to solve.
We go to very unexpected places, and thats all Im saying.
Whats it like when you get a script like that?
MG:That was the first script I read.
I was like, Oh my god, really?
Written by Russell T Davies, oh my god.
So that kept me occupied for the three-hour journey back home.
But yeah, I was gobsmacked.
As soon as I finished it, I read it again.
RTD:You sent me the loveliest text.
MG:I texted you straight away.
I was like, that is some episode!
Its a really cool episode.
MG:Great ending.
RTD:Dame Sian Phillips is in that one.
We can say that, itll be out by then.
Ninety years old and an astonishing woman.
Its amazing she hasnt been in Doctor Who before.
What an honour to be in a read-through with her, it was amazing.
What was the episode like for you, Ncuti?
NG:Umm, it was… [Laughs] It was cold.
MG:That was our first scene!
NG:It was our fi… [Looks quizzically] No?
MG:We filmed our first scene in that episode!
RTD:I thought that was the barrage… Was it not the barrage?
MG:First leaving the TARDIS scene, going Where are we?
So that was our first experience doing that.
NG:It was amazing.
Got to see Millie shine, and it was a delight.
Well, lets move on to episode five…
Episode five, ‘Dot And Bubble’.
RTD:Theres a barrage in Cardiff down by the bay.
That made a very good location for Doctor Who.
Thats quite spoilery but its existence is fine.
Also very nice and enclosed where no one could find us filming, that was a nice secret shoot.
How would you sum up episode five?
RTD:Im rubbish at this!
Dont ask me to lip read again!
[Laughs]
MG:I think thats quite Black Mirror, that one.
Its an alien planet.
[Millie and Ncuti roll their eyes and laugh]
MG:He just tells everything!
Were trying to keep it vague!
RTD:Theres trailers going out this week, youll see alien colonies!
Callie Cook is the leader.
Shes phenomenal, a phenomenal guest star and is stunning in this episode.
Its a difficult one this episode therell be more to say about afterwards than any other.
Episode six, ‘Rogue’.
RTD:Travel with us, SFX, to 1813.
[Millie squeals and claps] The Bridgerton episode, lets just say it.
MG:We had to learn the waltz!
NG:The waltz and the fandango.
MG:You had to learn the…
NG:I had to learn the tango!
Getting to do period stuff twice, with wigs and costume, whats that been like?
MG:Oh my god.
Bridgerton I had the most fun filming.
I just was floating around in my princess dress like I was the queen or something.
I was just taking myself off we were filming in the most beautiful manors.
We filmed in three different manors.
It was like when I used to play dress-up when I was younger.
I was loving it [both Russell and Ncuti are in hysterics].
All the runners were like, Has anyone seen Millie?
RTD:Shes just walked into the forest!
NG:[Laughing] Ive got my own castle!
That one was so much fun for me.
Hes such a deep actor.
[Millie and Ncuti are falling about laughing]
MG: I was throwing pebbles…
This is what I was doing when you were working with Jonathan.
I was covering for Ncuti so he could live his Beyonce dream.
NG:Jonathan took me to Beyonce, yes.
[Laughs] That was amazing.
He had that in his contract [Bursts out laughing again] Incredible.
What was it like working with Indira Varma?
MG:So funny.
I could talk to that woman for hours and just be entranced by her.
But her level of quick wit and improvisation in the scenes that we were doing… Oh my god, the humour, shes just hilarious.
I had so much fun.
NG:You could see her just eating that role up.
It was like, this is just so much fun [laughs].
RTD:A good old-fashioned Doctor Who villain.
NG:[Laughing] Shes the sort of actor that can make the ridiculous sublime.
MG:She committed to it, so skilled.
RTD:Ive got to say, also, about these two, that they work so hard.
Its a proper Bridgerton episode with dances and waltzes.
Thats a lot of work and you must have packed that into your spare time on your Saturdays.
You worked so hard.
MG:Can I say about…
RTD:The psychic earrings?
NG:Like, literally we have to be perfect.
[Laughs]
RTD:The psychic earrings beam the choreography into your head, thats scene one.
So let go of that dream!
MG: Id better get learning!
Episodes seven and eight, ‘The Legend Of Ruby Sunday’ and ‘Empire Of Death’.
RTD:Thats a two-parter, its a great big series finale.
Kates back, played by Jemma Redgrave, Bonnie Langfords back, hurray, hurray, hurray.
Lenny Rush is in it as Morris, the scientific advisor at UNIT, who was delightful.
Alexander Devrient as Colonel Ibrahim is back.
And things get spoiled to an extraordinary degree.
We found one script Im going to say this we found one script on an open server in Brazil.
NG:[Looking ill] I was going to say, oh my god I was in Brazil.
RTD:It wasnt you!
[Laughs] If it’s possible for you to reach this finale without spoilers, its stunning.
Honestly, you will have the best time if you watch this finale unspoiled, its shocking.
So hey do that, honestly.
Doctor Who is streaming weekly on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK andDisney Plusin the US.
For more, check out theDoctor Who release schedule.
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