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Amelia Eve Gibson[3][4] (born 19 June 2004[1]), known professionally as Millie Gibson, is a Mancunian actor[5] who will play Ruby Sunday in Doctor Who from 2023 onwards, as the companion to Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor.[2][3]
Outside of Doctor Who, Gibson is perhaps best known for her tenure as Kelly Neelan in Coronation Street, from 2019 to 2022.[3][2]
Biography
Early life
Amelia Eve Gibson was born on 19 June 2004,[6] later claiming that there was never a time she didn't want to act, having pretended to be in the role of a CBBC presenter and its ilk, recording videos of herself. She joined Oldham Theatre Workshop, exploring a new part of her personality and becoming more confident, before being talent spotted when she was thirteen.[3]
Gibson grew up watching the David Tennant and Matt Smith eras of Doctor Who with her dad,[3][7] with Smith being her favourite Doctor. Gibson was in awe of Amy Pond and loved Rory Williams, and was in particular being brought to tears by The Angels Take Manhattan. She also particularly enjoyed The Vampires of Venice, and her mum took her to the Doctor Who Experience.[3]
Career
Millie Gibson's first role on television was a regular role in the CBBC football drama series Jamie Johnson,[3] debuting as Indira in the first episode of the second series — Hero to Zero, April 2017 — until her final episode, the eighth episode of the third series — Out of the Game, May 2018.[8] Her next roles included Mia in the third episode of the BBC series Love, Lies and Records,[9][7] and as Lily Duffy[10] in the ITV series Butterfly.[3][7]
Gibson went on to portray Kelly Neelan in Coronation Street,[2][3] beginning in 2019, for three episodes. Despite this initially short batch of episodes, Gibson stayed on Coronation Street for two-hundred and seven episodes over the course of three years,[3] having impressed viewers and executives with her acting.[11] In June 2022, Gibson received the Best Young Performer Award at the British Soap Awards.[3][7] In August 2022, Gibson announced her departure from the series,[12] explaining that she wanted wanted to explore different roles while she was still young and had the freedom to do so.[13]
Gibson also had minor roles on radio and stage.[14]
Doctor Who
Casting and announcement
On her last day of filming Coronation Street, her agent called her to tell her that she had got the audition for Doctor Who as Ruby Sunday, which she deemed to be fate. She submitted a self-tape[3] where she performed a script truncated from scenes specific to Ruby from the character's first two episodes, before getting a callback on the day following the broadcast of Gibson's final episode[15] on 23 September 2022,[7] for an in-person audition in London, meeting Ncuti Gatwa, Russell T Davies, and Phil Collinson, who Gibson described as a very lovely and at-ease group, although she was still very nervous. She acted alongside Gatwa, in-character,[3] reading from a longer script adapted from the first episode of series fourteen.[15] After the audition, Gatwa tried to reassure her about her nervousness,[3] and Davies found that Gibson was as good as he had expected, having spoken to one of the writers of Coronation Street who highly commend Gibson.[15]
Gibson got the call from her agents that she had the part during a spray tan in preparation for the National Television Awards, despite having attempted to prepare for the call more sensibly during the week leading up to that point.[3] On 3 October,[16] Gibson was nominated for Serial Drama Performance at the National Television Awards for her role in Coronation Street.[3]
Gibson and Gatwa met once after the audition for their first photoshoot.[7]
File:Millie Gibson is announced as the new Doctor Who companion 💙 - Children In Need - BBC On 18 November, the Doctor Who social media accounts began teasing Gibson's casting with the emoji sequence ❤️❤️➕♦️. Just a few hours later, during the broadcast of the Children in Need telethon on BBC One, Gibson's casting was officially revealed when she exited a TARDIS prop on stage;[7] Gibson, in nervousness, missed her cue to exit the prop, so Mel Giedroyc had to knock on the door to break her out of it.[3] She was greeted by Giedroyc and Jason Manford, and she introduced herself and revealed the name of her character as Ruby Sunday.[17] Gatwa had Facetimed Gibson before the telethon to encourage her.[7]
The same day, doctorwho.tv put out a post about Gibson's casting, revealing her debut will be in the "festive season" of 2023, and included Gibson's, Gatwa's, and Davies's thoughts on the casting and role.[2]
Several of the images from Gibson and Gatwa's first photoshoot were released on 18 November[18] and 23 November.[19]
In DWM 585, released on 8 December, Gibson's casting was covered in Gallifrey Guardian. The article covered her casting and her prior filmography, before transitioning into an exclusive feature where Gibson spoke to Doctor Who Magazine, where she spoke about her feelings about her casting, her thoughts on Gatwa, and the reaction to her casting.[7]
In DWM 586, released on 5 January 2023, Gibson had a longer interview with Doctor Who Magazine, wherein she spoke in more detail about her casting, subsequent announcement, and reception thereof, her memories of Who as a child, and hinting at the dynamic of both her character and the Doctor.[3] In another article, Davies wrote about the background of Gibson's casting.[15] The first article also revealed that Gibson's first scenes would be filmed within the week following the issue's publication.[3]
Casting reception
to be added
In the role
to be added
Credits
Doctor Who
As Ruby Sunday
- to be added
Gallery
18 November promo pic[18]
18 November promo pic (with Ncuti Gatwa)[18]
23 November promo pic[19]
23 November promo pic (with Ncuti Gatwa)[19]
17 December promo pic (with Ncuti Gatwa)[20]
Millie Gibson with two Pudsey plushies of the Fourth and Eleventh Doctors
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Millie Gibson on Famous Birthdays
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Millie Gibson is the new Doctor Who companion, Ruby Sunday on doctorwho.tv via the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 DWM 586 - Hello, Ruby Sunday, Pages 16-20
- ↑ Millie Gibson on famousfix.com
- ↑ Who is Millie Gibson? Meet new Doctor Who star and Corrie favourite on Radio Times via the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Millie Gibson on Famous Birthdays
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 DWM 585 - Gallifrey Guardian, Page 4
- ↑ Jamie Johnson on genome.ch.bbc.co.uk
- ↑ Love, Lies and Records on bbc.co.uk
- ↑ Meet the cast of ITV's Butterfly on radiotimes.com
- ↑ Coronation Street signs Kelly Neelan actress Millie Gibson on permanent contract on mirror.co.uk
- ↑ Coronation Street's Millie Gibson enjoys glam leaving party alongside host of co-stars on mirror.co.uk
- ↑ Who is Millie Gibson and why did she quit Coronation Street? on thesun.co.uk
- ↑ Millie Gibson's CV on sainou.com via the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 DWM 586 - A Brand New Face, Page 21
- ↑ National Television Awards postponed to later date after the Queen’s death on standard.co.uk
- ↑ Millie Gibson is announced as the new Doctor Who companion 💙 - Children In Need - BBC
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Millie Gibson joins the cast of #DoctorWho as the Doctor's companion, Ruby Sunday ❤️❤️➕♦️ on Twitter via the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 The Doctor and Ruby ❤️❤️➕♦️ on Twitter via the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Introducing the Doctor and Ruby Sunday, played by Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson ❤️❤️➕🟦 on Twitter via the Wayback Machine