Millie Gibson On The 'New Era' Of Dr Who: 'It's So Beautiful & Important'

After swapping the Coronation Street cobbles for Doctor Who’s Tardis, Millie Gibson’s career is about to go stratospheric. Ahead of her first outing in the Doctor Who Christmas special, she chats to Josh Smith for his GLAMOUR column, Josh Smith Meets, about bringing the Time Lord and his companion into our times.

How do you picture getting the call that you've landed your dream job? Well, when Millie Gibson found out she landed the role of Ruby Sunday, the new companion to the fifteenth Doctor Who, played by Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa – she was in a sticky situation to say the least.

“I had just got a spray tan,” Millie laughs, telling me from her home via Zoom: “So I was just in the waiting room, waiting for it to dry, standing there and then my phone just kept buzzing. And I was like, ‘What is going on with that phone?’ It was a group call, and when you get a group call from all three of your agents, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, I've either been cancelled or I've got a good part.’ So I picked it up. And they were like, ‘Can you keep a secret? You got the part!’ But it was so top secret, I couldn't tell anyone. I was too scared to tell my mum, but obviously I did!”

And just like that, with the unmistakable scent of biscuit/fake tan wafting around her, Millie’s life changed. Did she manage to keep it a secret for long? “I got backed into a corner a little bit with fear. They were literally just like, ‘If you tell anyone, it could jeopardise this part.’ No secret is worth that,” she shares. “When I got announced on Children In Need, I had so many of my friends and family messaging me, being like, ‘What the hell? Why didn't you tell us that you got this part?’ It's so funny because I'm too scared to even take pictures on set sometimes, because you just don't know what's going to happen if I accidentally put it on my [Instagram] Story or something when I'm drunk.” Millie truly gets more iconic by the second when you speak to her, so it’s easy to see why she landed the role.

Before she finds a whole new fandom when she makes her Doctor Who debut in the Christmas Day special, the 19 year-old is currently best-known for her four-year stint playing Kelly on the nation’s longest running soap, Coronation Street. But where was Millie at in life when Doctor Who came calling? “It was on my very, very last day on Coronation Street. My agent rang me up and he was like, ‘Hi, how are you feeling?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I'm a little bit put out today. It's my last day. I'm going to miss everyone... and wondering if I made the right decision or not.’ And then he was like, ‘Well, this will cheer up!’”

“It was my third audition since I started auditioning again, and I was like, ‘That'll be a laugh, let's see what happens – and it escalated from there,’” she continues. “I did a self tape and I sent it off to my agent and thank god he actually said, ‘Redo that, because I don't think that one's right.’ I did another one and then I got a recall to see Ncuti in London – and then all of it was a blur.”

Tense moments followed though, as Millie didn’t hear back from her recall for a whole month. “That month everyone was asking, ‘Do you want to go out tonight?’ I was just like, ‘Actually, no, because I might hear today and I might have a breakdown.’ So I was just cooped up trying to be in the most sensible places possible if the phone rang.”

Luckily, the phone rang – and Millie officially joined the cast for a very different Doctor Who. This new re-imagination of the show is not the Time Lord of yesteryear, it's a Time Lord of our year, and our time… he’s even wearing a skirt during tea time viewing. Oh yes. And whilst Ncuti Gatwa is the first openly-queer doctor, it also comes as Heartstopper’s Yasmin Finney joined a recent Doctor Who special, becoming the first transgender character in the show.

“This season especially is so coming of age and going with the times,” Millie shares. “Me and Ncuti said that whilst we were filming it, the storylines are so new and rich and to be honest, they're quite Black Mirror in a way and that'll attract new people too. There's a specific episode where people will be a bit like, ‘Oh my God, this is the new era of Doctor Who.’ It is very magical and so heartwarming to watch.”

Whilst the Christmas special and the new series are still shrouded in secrecy, Millie continues in teaser mode. “There's a scene where I watched Ncuti, and the whole crew felt it as well and I just started crying. I was just so in awe. In awe of his acting and this moment, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is Doctor Who! People are going to lose their sh*t over his performance and his persona of the doctor.”

With change though, some pushback comes along. Recently, some viewers review-bombed the latest Doctor Who episodes just because there was a trans character. How does Millie feel about potential criticism of the show? “I'm prepared for that,” she replies. “But the episode I'm talking about, I actually think it'll split a few minds, but also open so many others and that's what TV's about. If you don't like it, switch it off. No one's forcing you to watch it.”

On the topic of representation, Doctor Who itself shows how far we have come with the treatment of women on screen. Formally called ‘assistants’ in the show, they are now ‘companions’ – and they are no longer the sidekick, they are formidable players in the drama. It’s a change that isn’t lost on Millie, as she joins the legacy carved out by the likes of Billie Piper.

“I saw a comment the other day, it was like, ‘Ruby's his sidekick.’ No she's not! She's not some parrot. She's her own person,” Millie says. “Me and Bonnie Langford (who previously starred in Doctor Who) were talking about this and how the companion's role has evolved and changed, and is so beautiful and important. Ruby's got her own family – people will explore her own personality. Bonnie made jokes that when she was in it, her lines were just ‘Doctor, what do we do now?’ It was just a gap filler. But as the role has changed, people really become connected to the companion, and it's really important that the companion is a person – instead of just the sidekick.”

In changing times for women on screen, and in an industry still dominated by men, I wonder how much work, in Millie’s opinion, is left to do? “Proving your worth in that role is really important too and the storylines show that,” she replies. “Ruby's got a lot to do that I am so grateful for. Not a lot of companions had that opportunity and that just goes to show how much it's grown. The pay gap is still a massive thing. But Doctor Who wise, it's just been refreshing as the female lead to have that voice for women on television and experience whole new ways of voicing the companion in not just a ‘gap fill’ way.”

Aside from creating change on screen, working with and becoming real-life companions with Ncuti has been a life changing moment for Millie personally. “It was almost like we were Bluetoothed to the same emotion,” she shares. “If we were having a little bit of a wobbly day, we knew. But with me and Ncuti, it was just non-stop laughter. For the majority of the time we were delirious. There were some scenes where we were having so much fun I got to bed at the end of the day and I was like, ‘Did I act today because I was just having so much fun?’ I kind of got confused that I was working. There were definitely hard days as well, and we held each other's hand through that.”

What has Millie learnt about herself through this life changing companionship? “I've definitely grown a lot during this job and experience, and the people around me can see that,” Millie responds. “I feel like I've become a better actor just from working with Ncuti. He's so amazing to learn from. It's like a masterclass when we're doing a scene. Sometimes he's kind of doing his line and I'm like, ‘Oh my God, sorry I have to reply,’ because I'm just too busy watching him. I've definitely learned to become a lot more stronger minded and a lot more appreciative of lighter schedules,” she laughs, reflecting on the gruelling nine-month filming schedule in Cardiff before continuing.

“Getting to know new people, you have to really get out of your comfort zone and introduce yourself to everyone and get on with everyone, which is beautiful as well. It was kind of like a university, but supernatural. Corrie was my college and Doctor Who is my university,” she says.

It doesn’t get more iconic than Gail Platt and the Doctor being your teachers, does it?

Doctor Who’s Christmas Special, ‘The Church on Ruby Road’ will air on Christmas Day on BBC One at 5:55pm.

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