Doctor Who actor Ncuti Gatwa blamed viewers abandoning the show on prejudice.
Millie GIbson as Ruby Sunday and Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor in Doctor Who (2024), BBC
In an article published by NPR on May 10th, the day before Series 14 released its first two episodes in “Space Babies” and “The Devil’s Chord,” Ncuti Gatwa blamed racism for why people were abandoning the show.
He told the outlet, “I don’t want to diminish racial aggression at all. But for me, personally, I find it fascinating that it matters so much to these people. … You are going to limit yourselves from a show that … you claim to love … because you don’t like something about someone’s appearance or their race.”
Gatwa added, “It’s just … really sad for them.”
Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday in Doctor Who (2024), BBC
READ: ‘Doctor Who’ Sets Another Record As Viewership Plummets Nearly 400,000
Gatwa’s comments are not out of the ordinary, in an article published by Variety on April 25th, Gatwa addressed Doctor Who fans who might not be happy with his casting saying, “Don’t watch. Turn off the TV. Go and touch grass, please, for God’s sake.”
All of these comments came in the wake of Gatwa’s debut episode having the second worst ratings of any premiere of the Doctor. “The Church on Ruby Road,” which debuted on Christmas day, only saw viewership hit 4.7 million in overnight numbers. That is far worse than Jodie Whittaker’s debut episode “The Woman Who Fell to Earth,” which had viewership of 10.96 million.
In fact, the only episode that Gatwa’s debut beat was the very first episode of Doctor Who with Will Hartnell as the First Doctor in “An Unearthly Child.” The episode, which aired back in 1963, premiered with 4.4 million viewers. However, Hartnell’s First Doctor would see viewership increase over the next 10 episodes. Initially, it increased to 5.9 million. In the third episode it went up to 6.9 million. By episode 7 it hit 8.9 million. With episode 8 it increased to 9.9 million. By episode 10 it hit 10.4 million.
Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor and Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday in Doctor Who Christmas Special “The Church on Ruby Road” (2023), BBC
Interestingly, the ratings for Doctor Who have continued to decline since Gatwa’s comments. As reported by Doctor Who TV, “Space Babies” only had overnight viewership of 2.6 million. “The Devil’s Chord” only clocked in at 2.4 million. And the third episode “Boom” only brought in 2.04 million viewers.
Consolidated figures have also been released for “Space Babies” and “The Devil’s Chord.” Space Babies only brought in a total of 4.01 million viewers across all screens in the week since the episode debuted. “The Devil’s Chord” only brought in 3.91 million viewers in the week across all formats since it released.
For comparison, “The Church on Ruby Road” had a 7-day consolidated viewership number of 7.49 million. That’s a loss of 46% viewership from “The Church on Ruby Road” to “Space Babies.” It’s a 47.8% decline to “The Devil’s Chord.”
Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor in Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special “The Giggle” (2023), BBC
If Gatwa’s assertions are right and that people are abandoning the show due to racism, that’s quite a bit of racists in the United Kingdom. However, this assertion is highly unlikely. Reviews on IMDb indicate viewers are unimpressed by how Gatwa portrays the Doctor, the overall vibe of the show, and the poor stories.
One user gave the show a 5 out of 10 and wrote, “I have no issues with the cast and they have a good vibe, I’m particularly enjoying Ncuti in the role. I wasn’t actually aware of him before this but he really does have some good energy. Too early to tell regarding the writing so I’ll reserve judgement. It’s been better than Chibnall but that’s not a difficult accomplishment. My biggest issue is the overall feel of the show. They say Disney has no real input so why does it feel like a Disney show? If it doesn’t pick up I may just give up and go back to watching the older seasons. Given the recent performance of Disney shows this really isn’t a good start and I hope beyond all hope it finds it feet because this isn’t what the majority want.”
Another wrote, “I am an avid doctor who fan but of course since the ending of capaldi, I’ve sadly not been so interested. Jodie’s performance was wack let alone some of the storylines and history lessons that were a part of that season. I was hooked again after David tennet came back which led me to watch a bit more. Ncuti is an okay actor but I would put him in the same lines as Capaldi. But watching the first two episodes, I’m not really feeling it. The storyline is as boring as last season and half the time it’s either cringy acting or weird plots that don’t have enough substance. Please I really want to enjoy Doctor who again!'”
Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor in Doctor Who (2024), BBC
Still a third wrote, “If I were to describe in one word how the New Who looks like it would be “stale”. Let’s put aside politics and all that stuff and look at actual material itself. Episodes feel so uninspired. I know RTD made some bad episodes doing it’s first run, but there was always some sort of charm about them or at least something. It feels like he got his ideas from Chat GPT. I was excited about the second episode because of all the teasers we got, but again it looks so unispired and tacky. But that being said the cast is good, even Maestro had some potential to be great villian but in the end if was kinda eh beacuse of the writing. To sum up, I would like to quote 10th doctor’s famous monologue – ‘You could do so much more! So much more, and this what I get… Well it’s not fair!'”
A fourth wrote, “Ok, it’s clear this manifestation or DrWho has a decent budget, but what a waste. It’s jarring to watch… Why does the Music woman have an overdubbed (and badly synchronised ) voice. The whole Beatles section was uninteresting, unfunny and almost unwatchable. Clearly the generations of people who have grown up, sweaty-palmed behind the sofa, aren’t the target for this new incarnation, which is a shame. Most of the earlier series managed to appeal to a multi-generational audience. My guess is that this will not appeal to the older generation who will switch off, and I’m by no means convinced it will attract the Gen Whatever it’s supposed to appeal to. Sorry Russell. Nil points from me (and not just because I can’t wait for this to finish so I can watch Eurovision. Budget wasted. Not my thing.”
Millie GIbson as Ruby Sunday and Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor in Doctor Who (2024), BBC
What do you make of Gatwa blaming the drop in viewership due to racism?
Ncuti Gatwa told the white straight men that the show wasn’t made for them so they are not watching it. We already knew right from the beginning that he was going to play the race card. What an idiot, literally anybody can be an actor these days.
Ncuti Gatwa can take his victimhood, and shove it up his rear end.
He’d probably enjoy doing that too much.
In other news, my sinuses have been bothering me today. My breakfast repeated on me a bit too. I blame racism.
Well, Shooty, I don’t think it’s the millions of viewers who are rabid racists so much as the people who know you’re full of it. If the writing is good then people will watch.
I did not realize that refusing to watch Marxist propaganda made me a racist, thank you so much for educating me Ncuti Gatwa. Narcissism and gaslighting go hand in hand for people like this.