Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa: 'Skins had a big impact on how I lived my life as a teenager'

Fresh from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, which recently ended its run at the National Theatre, Ncuti Gatwa is back on our screens as the Time Lord in Doctor Who. But he’s kindly taken some time out from his Tardis to answer our Big Questions.

What TV show had a big impact on you growing up? 

The first time I saw Top Boy I was in drama school. I was still a teenager, still growing up. There was also a show called Youngers with Arinzé Kene. They were the first times I thought there might be casting opportunities for me. Skins also had a big impact – but just on how I lived my life as a teenager! 

Was there a big album for you growing up? 

Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange was such a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful album. There is a song called “Bad Religion” where he talks about same-sex attraction – he was an R&B star that no one thought was gay, so this was a coming out for him. It resonated a lot. It also felt like an elevation in my music taste. I started listening to Frank Ocean and was like, oh my god, I’m so cultured! 

What made you want to be an actor? 

Hotel Rwanda was the film that made me think I could be an actor. I thought, I could do that. It opened a lens of possibility for me in my head.  

What was the big political issue from your youth that had an impact on you? 

The political issues in Rwanda were how I came to live here. It brought me to this country. And I guess leaving Rwanda was the biggest thing that happened to me.  

Is there something you’d like to be able to tell your younger self? 

Definitely. I’m reading a book right now called The Courage to Be Disliked [by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga]. So I would tell him to have the courage to be disliked, be authentic to yourself and stop people pleasing. Because that is going to mess you up and make life harder for you and others around you. Be yourself and stay true to what you believe and things will be easier because everyone will know where they stand. It’s a good book. I’m loving it.  

What is your current big issue? 

Climate change. It’s really scary that we’re not doing a thing about it. And it’s not slowing down anytime soon. As a people, I don’t think we are going to get it together in time. Covid happened, we were all inside, and the natural world got a lot healthier without us. We all got let back outside, jumped on planes – I’ve just come back from New York, so I’ve been on a couple – and the lifestyle we’ve set up for ourselves is not helping us. Climate change really worries me. It’s not going to care about who you are or what you do. It is going to come for us all. Governments and huge corporations that have huge power could make a big difference. But they don’t. 

What’s your big idea to save the world? 

It feels like such a privileged thing to say, but therapy. Just a deeper sense of self-awareness. Certainly it’s allowed me to stop like blaming the world or other people for my problems. We have to look introspectively sometimes. Everyone has to question themselves.  

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Did you always think you would make it big? 

I always felt I was going to stay in theatre. I thought I would tour up and down the country – Darlington Town Hall, set up, do the play, set down, onto the next town. So my younger self would be like: Wow, this is how your childhood trauma has manifested! Have you filled the void yet? No. But there we are. 

What’s your big ambition? 

I’d love to play a Bond villain one day. Not James Bond but certainly a Bond villain.  

What would surprise your younger self about your life now? 

I don’t know if this is appropriate for Big Issue, but my younger self would be like, you are a gentrifier! You’re one of these fuckers you used to cuss – moving into these areas and pricing people out. And I never anticipated this level of success.  

Is there an organisation making positive change you would like to shout out? 

Flock Together! They are a POC-led bird watching troupe that started with wanting to get Black and brown people into natural spaces. We have to take care of our natural spaces and pride in them as well – but they can feel quite bourgeois and off limits to people of colour and working-class people.  

Doctor Who starring Ncuti Gatwa is on BBC One and iPlayer

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