Millie Gibson

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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 plays 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]

She is the first regular cast member of Doctor Who to be born in the 21st century.

Biography

Early life

Amelia Eve Gibson was born on 19 June 2004,[1] 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][6][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][6] and as Lily Duffy[10] in the ITV series Butterfly.[3][6]

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][6] 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,[6] 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] initially using a neutral accent before slipping into her natural Mancunian accent.[3] After the audition, Gatwa told Russell that Gibson was "the companion[7] and Davies found that Gibson was as good as he had expected, having spoken to one of the writers of Coronation Street who highly commended Gibson.[15] Gatwa also reassured Gibson that she hadn't seemed nervous.[3]

"It's the great honour of my job to find the next generation of talent, and Millie shines like a star already. She's brilliant, dynamic, clever and a wonderful actor."Russell T Davies, DWM 585

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] she had to try not to cry as to not ruin the spray tan. After leaving the salon, Gibson told her mother about the news.[7] 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.[6]

▶︎
YouTube
Millie Gibson's reveal during the 2022 Children in Need telethon.

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;[6] 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.[6]

Gibson at the telethon.

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]

On 19 November, Gatwa interviewed Gibson for a video released on the official social media accounts, asking her about the casting and her ideas for adventures the Doctor and Ruby should go on, such as "the witches' era" and ancient Egypt with the pyramids and Cleopatra, though didn't think the first idea was tenable due to "Jodie Whittaker [doing] that".[7]

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.[6]

"I was honestly blown away to just be considered for an audition. Doctor Who is such an iconic show so to be thought of, let alone be given the part, still blows my mind."Millie Gibson, DWM 585

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

Commenting on the reception to her casting, Gibson said that "[her] phone blew up" from friends and family, impressed that she was able to maintain secrecy; Gibson had been told "it would go crazy" after the announcement, but felt that that didn't quite prepare her.[6] Gibson also spoke about she was pleasantly surprised about the love that Whovians, how they were "just so overwhelmingly nice and welcoming." Gibson also was impressed with how fast people made fan art of Ruby. Mandip Gill and Jodie Whittaker both reached out to Gibson, the latter contacting her while she was in the car with her boyfriend, who was surprised about the casualness of the interaction.[3]

In the role

The first piece of footage of Mille Gibson as Ruby Sunday was in the Whoniverse ident premiered online on 31 October 2023, although her character was referenced briefly in First Day of the Doctor [+]Loading...["First Day of the Doctor (short story)"], a short story printed in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024.

Credits

Doctor Who

Season 1

Gallery

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Millie Gibson on Famous Birthdays
  2. ↑ 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. ↑ 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 3.19 3.20 DWM 586 - Hello, Ruby Sunday, Pages 16-20
  4. ↑ Millie Gibson on famousfix.com
  5. ↑ Who is Millie Gibson? Meet new Doctor Who star and Corrie favourite on Radio Times via the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 DWM 585 - Gallifrey Guardian, Page 4
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Ncuti Gatwa interviews Millie Gibson, the new companion! - Doctor Who
  8. ↑ Jamie Johnson on genome.ch.bbc.co.uk
  9. ↑ Love, Lies and Records on bbc.co.uk
  10. ↑ Meet the cast of ITV's Butterfly on radiotimes.com
  11. ↑ Coronation Street signs Kelly Neelan actress Millie Gibson on permanent contract on mirror.co.uk
  12. ↑ Coronation Street's Millie Gibson enjoys glam leaving party alongside host of co-stars on mirror.co.uk
  13. ↑ Who is Millie Gibson and why did she quit Coronation Street? on thesun.co.uk
  14. ↑ Millie Gibson's CV on sainou.com via the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 DWM 586 - A Brand New Face, Page 21
  16. ↑ National Television Awards postponed to later date after the Queen’s death on standard.co.uk
  17. ↑ Millie Gibson is announced as the new Doctor Who companion 💙 - Children In Need - BBC
  18. ↑ 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. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 The Doctor and Ruby ❤️❤️➕♦️ on Twitter via the Wayback Machine
  20. ↑ Introducing the Doctor and Ruby Sunday, played by Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson ❤️❤️➕🟦 on Twitter via the Wayback Machine
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