Jonathan Groff on joining the Doctor Who universe: 'Ncuti Gatwa is all heart and soul'

Jonathan, what made you switch from Broadway to south Wales?

"I was familiar with Russell T Davies’s work from Queer as Folk and It’s a Sin. I’m still crying about It’s a Sin years after watching it. Russell has meant a lot to me as a gay actor through the years. So, when he wrote me a letter to invite me on the show, that drew me into it.

"When I read the script, I hadn’t yet seen an episode of Doctor Who and I had never shot anything in the UK. But the script really grabbed me. I was quite breathless reading it. I’ve been getting an education on Doctor Who ever since."

Were you aware of what a big deal Doctor Who was before you got the part?

"When they announced the casting of this episode, my phone was blowing up with people reaching out to me from all over the world, telling me, 'Oh my God, you’re in Doctor Who. I’m freaking out' – almost more than anything. So I am now starting to comprehend the epic-ness of the show."

Have you been told, then, that there’s a possibility that there’ll be merchandise with your face on it, and possibly an action figure of you?

"Oh, God, I haven’t been told that. Are you telling me that now? Is that going to happen?"

You’re probably going to be a doll.

"That would be so cool!"

As part of your homework, you watched six specific episodes from the show’s 60-year history, including the very first one from 1963. Which were the others?

"I can’t tell you! But even in that first episode in 1963, there was something that felt alternative or queer about it to me. When they go inside, and the Doctor says to them – you know, they can’t understand how something so small that they walk into is so expansive. And he sort of explains that it takes time to understand things that you don’t immediately know.

"That idea that you can look at things from different angles, and what you expect things to be always are not. It felt beautifully 'other', even from that first episode, which kind of made me a little emotional, watching it. And I was surprised in the other five episodes how much I was crying. I thought it was a sci-fi show, which of course it is, but I didn’t anticipate how human and moving it also is."

How are you enjoying the Jane Austen trousers?

"For this particular episode, we’re in a kind of Regency period, and that’s why I’m dressed this way. I played George III in Hamilton on Broadway but had never done this sort of period-drama dress before. It feels like I’m living my Carey Mulligan fantasy right now!"

There’s a lot of dancing in this episode. How are you finding it?

"I’ve always wanted to be a dancer. When I first moved to New York, I’d go to the dance calls for musicals and get cut immediately. I’m more of a singer. But dancing brings me so much joy.

"Jack [Murphy, series choreographer] started teaching me the dance about a week ago. In our first session, I got emotional dancing, because doing this kind of period dance, is more about the interpersonal interaction than it is about executing moves. That’s the whole thing with Regency, isn’t it? It’s that repressed excitement!

"The articulation of the choreography, for me, is quite intimate, and quite confronting, because it’s not for show, it’s for communication."

And what’s it like working with Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor?

"I admired him so much from Sex Education. Getting to play with him, now it’s been halfway through my second week – so I’m about halfway through shooting this episode – he’s just so present and so alive and so charismatic. I never know what to expect.

"He’s got this presence and aliveness that you can’t teach. You just have it, or you don’t. It’s amazing to act with him. He is just all heart and soul. And that vibration permeates the set on the day-to-day, and turns it into a dream experience.

"I love it here so much. It’s sci-fi, so it’s fun, and you never know what to expect. I’d come back any time they want me! Those guys create such a good vibe."

A condensed version of this interview originally appeared in Radio Times magazine.

Read more:

• Doctor Who - Rogue review: Fun Regency romp sees the Doctor meet his match
• Doctor Who star Jonathan Groff says Rogue is not "who he appears to be"

Doctor Who continues on Saturday 8th June on BBC One and iPlayer.

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