The following conversation took place before Doctor Who’s New York Comic Con panel in October…
It’s no secret that series 11 of Doctor Who has been a major reset for the show. Not only did Jodie Whittaker step in to replace Peter Capaldi as the first female Doctor and Chris Chibnall take over showrunner duties from Steven Moffat, but three brand new companions have been introduced as well.
In addition to Whittaker, over the past few weeks, Whovians have fallen in love with Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill and their characters of Graham O’Brien, Ryan Sinclair and Yasmin Khan, respectively.
When speaking to Whittaker at New York Comic Con in October, Flickering Myth asked the actress about finding her footing and comfortability with the supporting cast, to which she answered, “It was immediate.”
“Tosin in the audition was hilarious — I had been cast, Brad was cast because Chris had a relationship with Brad previously to a season — Mandip and Tosin there was an audition process for them, and I was brought into their audition,” she continued, diving into the casting process and relationship she built with each actor.
“Tosin had been away and had completely missed the whole reveal of the Doctor and was like, ‘Who’s this in my audition?’ (laughs). He was like, ‘Ah they brought someone in to read with me,’ and his agent was like, ‘That was the Doctor!’ And he was hilarious. Mandip, from the second she walked in the room, she had me in stitches over some like anecdote that she told, and I just sat there going, ‘Please, please be my best friend, please be my best friend.’ And Brad, who I didn’t have any previous relationship with, but I’ve got a lot of friends who know and love him and knew he was going to be an absolute riot — it was instantaneous, the chemistry and the love. And I’m not a method actor, but as far as being in love with those people on and off-screen, there is no effort required for chemistry. And their performances as well as being good people, as phenomenal actors in this journey, and on and off-screen, a support network and team players. We are an ensemble, and it feels strange to be here without them because it feels like an ensemble piece, but it’s wonderful knowing they’re there.”
Doctor Who airs on BBC One and BBC America every Sunday.
Justin Cook
