The 15th Time Lord went to great lengths for special scenes in up upcoming episode with much-loved EastEnders star
Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa learned sign language for a special story in the new series on the cult show, featuring deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis.
The former EastEnders star and Strictly Come Dancing champ, 30, is making a guest appearance in an episode called The Well, which is set on an inhospitable alien planet. She will be seen playing a mysterious woman called Aliss Fenly who is deaf so needs to sign to communicate. Sex Education star Ncuti, 32, had lessons to learn signing so the Time Lord can “talk” to Rose’s character – a mum who is trapped on the planet and desperate to get home to her daughter.
She praised his hard work saying: “It’s not easy but he has done a fantastic job. It takes about seven years on average to become fluent in sign language. So it was a bit challenging for him – especially as he was learning it after he finished filming all day. He’s naturally got it in him and he learned it so quickly. I think he needs to go and do a Level One BSL course!”
British Sign Language consultant Sarah Lawrence, who assisted with the BBC episode of Doctor Who, said Ncuti’s knowledge of languages was a huge help. The actor – who was born in Rwanda – is fluent in English and Kinyarwanda, and he has some knowledge of Igbo (spoken in Nigeria) as well as Arabic.
She explained: “He’s bilingual and people who are bilingual or trilingual are much easier to teach because they are open to different grammatical ways of putting a sentence together. BSL and spoken English have a very different sentence structure. Ncuti had no previous knowledge of BSL but he was very professional – you can see it because he wants perfect BSL.”
Rose claims landing a part in the BBC sci-fi show was a dream come true. She tells Doctor Who Magazine: “It was always on my bucket list to perform in. I watched it growing up as a kid – especially Chris Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith. Those were my days as a Doctor Who fan.”
The new series of Doctor Who starts on April 12 and other famous faces joining the show include Alan Cumming, Rylan Clark and Freddie Fox.
Rylan will play himself, hosting a space version of Eurovision called the Interstellar Song Contest. The Radio 2 presenter, 36, part of the BBC’s regular presenting team for Eurovision, said: “As a massive Whovian, getting the call to be in Doctor Who was a call I’ve always dreamed of getting.
“The episode is all my favourite things about the show with an added song contest set in space. It really is a dream come true. I can’t wait for everyone to see it. It is going to be out of this world.”
The episode has been written by sci-fi author Juno Dawson, 43, who said last month: “It’s the most ridiculous episode they’ve ever done – and the most expensive.”
Ncuti 32, is back as the 15th Doctor and he now has new companion Belinda, who is played by Varada Sethu, 32. Former favourites spotted in the trailer were Anita Dobson, 75, as Mrs Flood, Bonnie Langford, 60, as Mel Bush and Jemma Redgrave, 60, as UNIT chief Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. Ariyon Bakare, 53, who played the lion-like Leandro alongside Peter Capaldi’s Doctor in 2015, is returning as a different character.
