12 14 DECEMBER 2023 News&Views Millie Gibson would like it to be known that she doesn’t get out of bed for any any old TV show. She insists on one that’s been running for six decades, at the bareminimum. She’s joking, of course. But in swapping the Coronation Street cobbles for adventures in space and time with DoctorWho, the actor has moved seamlessly fromone long-running TV institution to another – and all before her 20th birthday. “I actually got the call for the DoctorWho audition onmy last day at Coronation Street,” saysMillie – who spent three years on the Street playing teenage tearaway Kelly Neelan. “I was like: ‘What are the chances?’ It felt like fate. So watch out…”We both try to think of a comparable show shemight use to finish that sentence, but decide there isn’t really one. By coincidence, Millie joined both series in their 59th years, on the eve of their diamond anniversaries. But while DoctorWho’s recent David Tennant-led specials nodded to the show’s storied past, all eyes are now on the future, as the TARDIS blasts o into its seventh decade with a newDoctor, Ncuti Gatwa, accompanied by his new best friend, the mysterious Ruby Sunday, played byMillie. The pair will make their debuts together on Christmas Day, in a festive episode from showrunner Russell TDavies. Story details are being kept under wraps, but we do know that, years after she was found abandoned in the snow one Christmas Eve, Rubymeets the Doctor, somemythical goblins – and DavinaMcCall. As her world is turned upside down by the arrival of this mysterious man in his blue box, might she also be about to discover the secret of her birth? “I’d describe Ruby as very charismatic, very bubbly and On Christmas Day, Millie Gibsonwill make her debut as The Doctor’s new sidekick, Ruby Sunday. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she tells Paul Kirkley WHO AND ME
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDY5NzE=