Ncuti Gatwa had to hire protection after Doctor Who announcement, claims co-star

David Tennant, who formerly played the Doctor, previously compared the intense experience of fame that comes with the show to ‘losing a layer of skin’

Ncuti Gatwa had to hire protection after the announcement that he is the new star of Doctor Who, fellow actor Simu Liu has claimed.

Gatwa, 29, was announced as the successor to Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor earlier this month – news that set social media alight as soon as it broke.

The actor, who shot to fame on the Netflix show Sex Education, will be the 14th actor and the first Black man to play the Doctor in the beloved, long-running science-fiction franchise.

Speaking at an event on his book tour for his new memoir We Were Dreamers, Liu – who stars in Barbie with Gatwa – said the actor had kept his casting a secret for weeks.

“[He] didn’t tell anyone a thing,” Liu said (via Variety). “And then all of a sudden over the weekend he was announced. We came to work on Monday we were like, ‘Dude, how long have you been holding this in for?’ And he’s like, ‘Two months.’ I would have combusted.”

Liu added: “He had to get security in and around not only his place of residence, but the places of residence of his entire family.”

Doctor Who is such a hugely popular show that it does change the lives of the stars who play the Time Lord. David Tennant, who played the role from 2005 to 2010, previously compared the intense experience of Doctor Who fame to “losing a layer of skin”.

David Tennant in ‘Doctor Who’ (BBC)

He also spoke about how filming Doctor Who “wasn’t like a normal job”.

Tennant said: “When we were on location, we’d be surrounded by crowds. There were people buzzing around wherever we went. We were bundled in and out of cars and whisked into places through the back door and chased by photographers.”

Read the jubilant reactions to Gatwa’s casting here, and a summary of his life and career leading up to Doctor Who here.