Physician Who’s shapeshifting Time Lord nearly all the time has a plan once they encounter new threats from past the celebrities. And the Physician’s companions can normally rely on them to drag a convoluted, crisis-averting trick out of their sleeves each time issues get too bushy. Prior to now, the Physician has usually been offered as extra of an eccentric chief whose human buddies want them to take cost in harmful conditions. However Doctor Who’s latest season is poised to modify issues up by pairing the Doctor with someone who already is aware of a factor or two about staying levelheaded in instances of disaster.
Although Ruby Sunday — the mysterious keyboardist performed by Millie Gibson — will nonetheless be a part of Physician Who’s upcoming season, that dynamic goes to be difficult by the arrival of a brand new companion. Like most of the Physician’s earlier touring companions, Belinda Chandra (Andor alum Varada Sethu) is an abnormal lady who isn’t clued in to the extraterrestrial happenings continuously popping off throughout the planet. She’s an overworked nurse who loves her job greater than she loathes her aggravating roommates.
As a result of there’s all the time a physician who wants her consideration at work, Belinda doesn’t suppose something of it when a colleague offhandedly mentions that the Physician (Ncuti Gatwa) is searching for her. However after final season, when Sethu made her Physician Who debut as an Anglican Marine from the 51st century who looks just like (but isn’t) Belinda, it’s clear that the Physician sees this new character as an necessary individual he wants by his aspect.
After I lately sat down with Sethu, Gatwa, and showrunner Russell T. Davies, they informed me that, greater than the rest, Belinda and the Physician’s interpersonal dynamic defines the present’s new season. Whereas Physician Who opening tales normally give attention to companions assembly the Physician earlier than being whisked via area and time, Davies needed to do issues otherwise this season by establishing that Belinda is already (unknowingly) the principle character of her personal wild story.
“The Physician is actually chasing after Belinda as a result of he’s been informed to look out for her and he is aware of that she needs to be on board his TARDIS,” Davies defined. “However Belinda isn’t the kind of one that’s going to face there ready. Her life is accelerating far into the gap, the Physician’s working to catch up, and in lots of ways in which power is what shapes their relationship all through the collection.”
Davies was impressed to make Belinda an accident and emergency (A&E) nurse after listening to a doctor good friend describe emergency rooms as “the Wild West the place it’s actually powerful and medical doctors are working on the edge of medication.” Whereas the Physician has traveled with medical consultants earlier than, Davies informed me he was eager on pairing Fifteen up with a nurse as a result of “everyone knows that nurses do the true work whereas medical doctors swan round.”
“Belinda and the Physician are equals, however when there are injured individuals who need assistance, she simply rolls her sleeves up and will get to work as a result of that’s who she is,” Davies continued. “And that’s a shock to the Physician. Immediately, he’s seeing somebody not ready for his each phrase, and it’s clear that he isn’t all the time in control of the state of affairs.”
Sethu sees her new character as a naturally empathetic individual. Belinda’s expertise working in chaotic triage conditions is a part of what makes her in a position to keep clear-minded because the Physician and different unusual aliens come into her life. However Sethu famous that Belinda’s empathy has its limits, and he or she’s fast to name the Physician out when he begins getting too filled with himself.
“As a healthcare employee, you may have to have the ability to learn individuals who flip up at the doorstep in so many various states of misery, and you need to be compassionate as you assist them discover the solutions they want,” Sethu stated. “However you additionally must have your boundaries. So, Belinda’s very very like ‘sure, I’ll completely allow you to as a result of I need to assist save the world. And sure, I’ll care about you. However don’t you dare converse to me like that.’”
Physician Who’s most up-to-date Christmas particular, “Pleasure to the World,” was, partially, a mirrored image on the loneliness Gatwa’s Fifteen feels after having misplaced so many family members over the course of a number of lifetimes. Gatwa informed me Fifteen continues to be grappling with these emotions as the brand new season opens, and the Physician’s intense yearning for emotional connection is what drives him to hunt Belinda out. However there’s an depth to the Physician’s pursuit of his new companion that offers her pause and leaves him needing to do some soul-searching.
“His intentions are pure, however he’s very, very tunnel vision-ed in the way in which he’s pursuing them,” Gatwa stated of the Physician’s marketing campaign to rope Belinda into his adventures. “He desires to take her off to the celebrities and journey the universe, however Belinda isn’t precisely down with that plan. Her difficult the Physician actually pushes him to consider how he connects with folks, how he lets folks in, and the way he lets folks go.”