Doctor Who’s shapeshifting Time Lord almost always has a plan when they encounter new threats from beyond the stars. And the Doctor’s companions can usually count on them to pull a convoluted, crisis-averting trick out of their sleeves whenever things get too hairy. In the past, the Doctor has often been presented as more of an eccentric leader whose human friends need them to take charge in dangerous situations. But Doctor Who’s latest season is poised to switch things up by pairing the Doctor with someone who already knows a thing or two about staying levelheaded in times of crisis.
Though Ruby Sunday — the mysterious keyboardist played by Millie Gibson — will still be part of Doctor Who’s upcoming season, that dynamic is going to be complicated by the arrival of a new companion. Like many of the Doctor’s previous traveling partners, Belinda Chandra (Andor alum Varada Sethu) is an ordinary woman who isn’t clued in to the extraterrestrial happenings constantly popping off across the planet. She’s an overworked nurse who loves her job more than she loathes her aggravating roommates.
Because there’s always a doctor who needs her attention at work, Belinda doesn’t think anything of it when a colleague offhandedly mentions that the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) is looking for her. But after last season, when Sethu made her Doctor Who debut as an Anglican Marine from the 51st century who looks just like (but isn’t) Belinda, it’s clear that the Doctor sees this new character as an important person he needs by his side.
When I recently sat down with Sethu, Gatwa, and showrunner Russell T. Davies, they told me that, more than anything else, Belinda and the Doctor’s interpersonal dynamic defines the show’s new season. Whereas Doctor Who opening stories usually focus on companions meeting the Doctor before being whisked through space and time, Davies wanted to do things differently this season by establishing that Belinda is already (unknowingly) the main character of her own wild story.
“The Doctor is literally chasing after Belinda because he’s been told to look out for her and he knows that she should be on board his TARDIS,” Davies explained. “But Belinda isn’t the type of person who’s going to stand there waiting. Her life is accelerating far into the distance, the Doctor’s running to catch up, and in many ways that energy is what shapes their relationship throughout the series.”
Davies was inspired to make Belinda an accident and emergency (A&E) nurse after hearing a physician friend describe emergency rooms as “the Wild West where it’s really tough and doctors are working at the edge of medicine.” While the Doctor has traveled with medical experts before, Davies told me he was keen on pairing Fifteen up with a nurse because “we all know that nurses do the real work while doctors swan around.”
“Belinda and the Doctor are equals, but when there are injured people who need help, she just rolls her sleeves up and gets to work because that’s who she is,” Davies continued. “And that’s a surprise to the Doctor. Suddenly, he’s seeing someone not waiting for his every word, and it’s clear that he isn’t always in charge of the situation.”
Sethu sees her new character as a naturally empathetic person. Belinda’s experience working in chaotic triage situations is part of what makes her able to stay clear-minded as the Doctor and other strange aliens come into her life. But Sethu noted that Belinda’s empathy has its limits, and she’s quick to call the Doctor out when he starts getting too full of himself.
“As a healthcare worker, you have to be able to read people who turn up at your doorstep in so many different states of distress, and you have to be compassionate as you help them find the answers they need,” Sethu said. “But you also need to have your boundaries. So, Belinda’s very much like ‘yes, I will absolutely help you because I want to help save the world. And yes, I will care about you. But don’t you dare speak to me like that.’”
Doctor Who’s most recent Christmas special, “Joy to the World,” was, in part, a reflection on the loneliness Gatwa’s Fifteen feels after having lost so many loved ones over the course of multiple lifetimes. Gatwa told me Fifteen is still grappling with those feelings as the new season opens, and the Doctor’s intense craving for emotional connection is what drives him to seek Belinda out. But there’s an intensity to the Doctor’s pursuit of his new companion that gives her pause and leaves him needing to do some soul-searching.
“His intentions are pure, but he’s very, very tunnel vision-ed in the way he’s pursuing them,” Gatwa said of the Doctor’s campaign to rope Belinda into his adventures. “He wants to take her off to the stars and travel the universe, but Belinda isn’t exactly down with that plan. Her challenging the Doctor really pushes him to think about how he connects with people, how he lets people in, and how he lets people go.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
