Nobody could stop Russell T. Davies from making Doctor Who queer: "We’re not delivering a neutered Doctor"

Doctor Who made headlines casting Ncuti Gatwa as the latest Doctor, not only because he’s the first Black actor to play the role but because he would be, in the words of Neil Patrick Harris, “the first gay Doctor.” (Sorry to the doomed romance of 14 and Yaz, and any headcanons you might have floating around.) Although if you ask once-and-future showrunner Russell T. Davies, the Doctors “weren’t exactly the straightest men in the past.”

Gatwa’s Christmas special already injected some fun queer undertones, including an introductory dance at a club wearing a kilt. “You’re talking about someone who does have a lightness and a joy about him that, to me, chimes with queer energy,” Davies says of Gatwa in a new Variety profile. “It’s very rarely driving the story vehemently, but you will see moments exploring it. We’re not delivering a neutered Doctor.” (Case in point: the Doctor’s reference to a “long, hot summer with Harry Houdini.”)

Nevertheless, one might expect moving over to the family-friendly platform Disney+ might dampen some of the queerness or queer themes. Instead, Davies’ 60th anniversary specials put a trans character (Rose, played by Yasmin Finney) and her experience front and center. “It’s very hard for anyone to stop me doing these things,” Davies, who created Queer As Folk and It’s A Sin, proclaims. “You’d have to be a pretty brave executive to say, ‘Don’t go there’ to me. I’m sure there are people thinking that, but I wouldn’t work with them, would I?”

Gatwa feels his casting “makes perfect sense” within the context of Doctor Who. “I feel like anyone that has a problem with someone who’s not a straight white man playing this character, you’re not really, truly a fan of the show,” the Barbie star says. “You’ve not been watching! Because the show is about regeneration, and the Doctor is an alien—why would they only choose to be this sort of person?”

If anyone does have a problem with a queer, Black Doctor, “Don’t watch. Turn off the TV,” Gatwa says. “Go and touch grass, please, for God’s sake.”