Doctor Who stars Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson and showrunner Russell T Davies are in a Zoom room squeezed together on seats with a blue curtain draped ignominiously behind them.
They're somewhere in New York, facing an onslaught of press interest and media questions about the launch of the first full season of Gatwa's Doctor. With millions pumped into the marketing and a new co-funding partner brought in in the form of Disney+, the launch on May 10 is being seen as a soft reboot of the show that's been running since its UK launch on the BBC on November 23, 1963.
As the connection is made with a sea of press waiting to question them, they're taken aback by the sheer number of faces on the Zoom before them.
"Hi," a clearly surprised and ever-enthusiastic Davies says softly, with both Gibson and Gatwa grinning away in the background, seemingly attempting not to appear overwhelmed.
Davies will later share with his millions of Instagram followers that he's doing 28 interviews that day. But you would be hard-pressed to tell of any sign of fatigue for this life-long fan of Doctor Who. Not once does his megawatt smile drop as he discusses the series that he returned to in 2022, having left in 2010 after initially overseeing the show's big budget relaunch in 2005.
While Gatwa and Gibson made their first appearance as the Doctor and his companion Ruby on Christmas Day, 2023 - with a goblins-themed fantasy romp entitled 'The Church on Ruby Road' - fans have had to wait five months for a full season, which will last just eight episodes. Two episodes, described as "madder, more bonkers and bigger" than ever before by critics, will kick off the new run.
"I cannot believe we used to make 14 episodes - 14! Blimey, we were dying," Davies chuckles to Newshub.
"Can you imagine? It's actually more complicated to make that. So, it takes as long to make the nine now as it does to make the original 14. You cut your cloth to fit. So, it's jam-packed. I couldn't think of an extra episode you could possibly squeeze into this, but, you know, it's my job to make things fit."
One element that fits into the first episode is babies; more precisely, some 10 of them. The debut episode of the new run is called 'Space Babies' and sees the Doctor and Ruby whisked away in the TARDIS to a space station that houses an abandoned baby farm.
Gatwa loses it when asked what it was like to film on a set full of toddlers.
"They are so cute," he begins, when Gibson chimes in: "So cute."
"But they are absolute divas," he laughs. "We could see the ones that would make it [in showbiz]," he reveals, to howls from Gibson and Davies.
"It was very bonding, though. The whole crew and everyone on set had to get involved."
"There was a scene where I had to give them a really sad speech about Ruby's upbringing," Gibson shares. "There's so much direction to get them to pay attention to, to make sure the babies are so absorbed in what Ruby's saying. But the only thing that could get them to listen to me was having a nursery rhyme on my phone [off camera]. They were like, 'Wow, what a nursery rhyme!'
"What I love is that in 17 years' time, it'll be all those 18th birthday parties where their mums will be like, 'Look at you when you were in Doctor Who!' and the kids will be so bored with it," Davies giggles.
The team has a right to be jubilant.
As it returns to screens, the show is embracing a new world of genre as opposed to sticking to the sci-fi themes Doctor Who has previously been known for.
From space babies to The Beatles, from a Bridgerton-style regency romp to Welsh folk-horror, the show's determined to subvert expectations. But central to it all is the casting of Sex Education's Ncuti Gatwa, a black, queer actor who Davies believes has injected the show with the energy it needed.
"It's all about now. I just wanted it to be 2024, but to feel like 2024 for the production standards. But casting these two, that right there is 2024, right? That energy and the youth and the spirit and the optimism that these two bring to it, the imagination, the insight and the dexterity you two have," Davies says, turning to both Gatwa and Gibson.
"When it comes to the comedy, we cast you, but we never knew how funny you'd be together. Nobody could do the comedy like you two did. That's a really rare gift. So, you know what, you just cast it well and you sit back," Davies reveals.
"It feels lovely, but something the show has been doing for a long time is making people feel included and it's a show that you can escape with. That's certainly how I fell in love with it," Gatwa says.
"It was like, 'Oh my gosh, I get to switch off the world around me and just tune in to the show in the TARDIS and we nip off to the universe and forget my PR calling me, my agent calling me, everyone annoying me'. Just forget all my earthly troubles and all the rest of the craziness of the world and just have a great time with the show.
"Now that I'm at the helm of that, it's lovely - so, so great. But also it's a credit to Russell. His writing is so inclusive."
When asked by Newshub about the exact moment they felt they were immersed in Doctor Who, rather than just acting, Gibson rushes first to answer.
"My scene where I go around the TARDIS and realise it's bigger on the inside - I mean. I absolutely loved filming that. It was a big moment for me. Especially watching it at the December premiere of the episode in the UK."
Gatwa takes a moment to reflect, before his soft rolling Scottish burr pours forth his answer.
"The first time I had a scene with the exterior of the TARDIS. We shot a scene from my first episode. I shot a scene from episode five, and the exterior of the TARDIS was in the shot. That was the first time I locked eyes on it and I thought, 'That's THE blue box, oh my gosh - that's my house!'"
Davies is a little more whimsical with his response, admitting he was "happy from the get go."
"Actually it's the season finale," he admits, before turning to Gatwa and Gibson, "which you two haven't even seen yet. Partly I came back to Doctor Who because you never get to write anything like the season finale on any other show. It's a great big two parter, ending the series with the legend of Ruby Sunday. And then the last episode is called 'Empire of Death', and it's colossal.
"I remember as we slotted all that into place with these two in so much danger, and so much bravery and so much friendship between the two of you - that's what I thought when I thought, 'yeah, we pulled that off. I love that'."
Plans are already being made for a third season, although there's no official word yet. The initial deal with Disney+ was for two seasons, but it has been reported in UK media this week that Gatwa is keen to take on a third, despite being confirmed for a theatre role at the end of 2024.
The second season is currently being filmed, but for now Davies and his new TARDIS team are looking forward to the fruits of their creation being received globally.
Davies is particularly keen to see fans react to drag queen Jinkx Monsoon, who plays the evil Maestro in the show's second episode 'The Devil's Chord'.
"When you're up against someone like Jinx Monsoon as Maestro, all rules are off. You can't stand there and talk Maestro down. Maestro, you can't press a button on the computer and that stops Maestro.
"I think that's when we end up with a great show."
Gibson says two of her favourite episodes will come later in the eight episode run, but she's cagey to reveal more.
"There's two that have special places in my heart. One is '73 Yards' and the second is 'Rogue'."
"I do love episode three, 'Boom!' It's so clever. So clever," Gatwa says, before he's needled into silence by his colleagues.
As Newshub's time with the TARDIS team winds down, there's questions about the return of some of the show's iconic villains, including the Doctor's long-running nemesis rogue Time Lord the Master, last played by Sacha Dhawan in Jodie Whittaker's finale episode, 'The Power of the Doctor'.
"The Master, the Master - nope. We have lots of new villains coming up, and there's no room for that lovely old character."
Sensing the disappointment in the room, Davies offers a tease.
"No plans yet. But maybe one day…" he chuckles.
Doctor Who's new season is streaming now on Disney+.
