Yasmin Finney Will Portray This Character In New ‘Doctor Who’
Doctor Who is a sci-fi tentpole for those in the know of the genre. In the early days, the BBC would give the show a shoestring budget, and they would cobble together a set design with bits and bobs from other shows from the BBC; yet they would still put out a great product, albeit with a slightly cheap look and feel.
There was an attempt to make the show more “American” with the release of a one-off film featuring direct-to-video staple Eric Roberts as the main villain. A resurgence since the early 2000s has kept up since then. In 2023, the show will be celebrating its 60th anniversary, and the BBC has promised us absolutely cracking shows, specials and behind-the-scenes looks.
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It was announced that Jodie Whittaker’s time as the Doctor is over. She will be replaced with the new fresh-faced actor Ncuti Gatwa. Earlier this year we learned that Russell T Davies, the previous showrunner during what some call the golden age of the return in the early to mid-2000s, will return for the next season and the 60th anniversary celebrations. This week saw two other dynamite announcements for the upcoming season with the return of Doctor Who favourites David Tennant and Catherine Tate, the 10th incarnation of the Doctor and Donna Noble his companion during his run, respectively. We saw another companion synonymous with Tennant will return: Rose Tyler.
Now before we all get excited about the prospect of the return of Billie Piper—who played the companion to both Christopher Eccelston (the 9th incarnation) and the aforementioned Tennant—reports are out that, while the character of Rose Tyler is back, she will have a new look and will be played by actress Yasmin Finney.
If you haven’t heard of Yasmin, she is a new actress on the scene who started her acting career within the last year as the character Elle Argent, a trans female in the Netflix series Heartstopper. But it’s her TikTok account that truly brought Yasmin fame because she used the social media platform to bring to light her own day-to-day as a black, trans female in Manchester England. Russell T. Davies himself is excited to bring Yasmin Finney to the screen saying,
“Life on Doctor Who gets brighter and wilder, how can there be another Rose?” said showrunner Russell T. Davies in a statement. “You’ll find out in 2023, but it’s an absolute joy to welcome Yasmin to the ’Doctor Who’ set. We all fell in love with her in Heartstopper, one of those shows which changes the world — and now Yasmin can change the Whoniverse!”
It would appear we will get an alternate-reality version of Rose Tyler, who hopefully will join the new Doctor, Gatwa, to bring a truly diverse spin to the roles not only in representation but to those within the LGBTQ+ community. And I think we are absolutely ready for this change within the Doctor Who universe. The LGBTQ+ community has certainly been on the show before, especially with my personal favorite character, Captain Jack Harkness, played by another LGBTQ+ actor, John Barrowman.
However, if you are wondering how we could have a new actress play a popular character, I think we need to look no further than current films from the MCU: Spiderman: No Way Home and Doctor Strange 2: Multiverse of Madness. Doctor Who, at its core, is a time-travel show where the Doctor travels up and down the timeline. I don’t believe we have traveled into different and alternative timelines, so this news only adds to the excitement of the upcoming season, and I look forward to it.
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