AS HE TAKES OVER OUR SCREENS IN SEX EDUCATIONANDBARBIE, NCUTI GATWA IS MAKING HISTORY
‘TELL YOU WHAT I DID LAST NIGHT, I came home, say around a quarter to three…’ Eyes locked on the camera in a sultry gaze, Ncuti Gatwa is lip-syncing to Tweet and Missy Elliott. Knowing grin, oscillating hips, torso gleaming in a Daniel W Fletcher corset: Gatwa is in his element. He feels good, he’s having fun.
‘There’s something about being in a corset that makes me feel so masculine,’ says Gatwa after his cover shoot. It’s London Pride, and outside the studio the streets are full of revellers who are equally well-dressed in delighfully subversive outfits. ‘Clothes are to play with,’ he says. ‘I love seeing men in “women’s” clothing. There doesn’t need to be a label. I believe that fully: that’s why I don’t like to label myself – and I don’t owe it to anyone.’
We’re talking about clothes, but we’re also not talking about clothes. Success and celebrity often lead to speculation about the private lives of public figures. In the past few years, Gatwa has been propelled from breakout actor to star of some of the most era-defining films and television series. That might sound hyperbolic, but he’s appearing in blockbusters (Barbie), British institutions (Doctor Who) and shows that have captured the cultural zeitgeist (Sex Education). He’s also been embraced by the fashion industry, not least Tiffany & Co, for which he starred in an advertising campaign for its Tiffany Lock collection. Though he has never publicly disclosed his sexuality, many have drawn assumptions from his portrayal of Sex Education’s beloved Eric, and his role as the first Black, queer iteration of the Doctor.
At times, Gatwa’s casting in those projects has been dismissed as an exercise in ‘box-ticking’. Gatwa scoffs. ‘First of all, you don’t know anything about me. Secondly, tick f*cking boxes! People need to be f*cking seen. What are you going to do, tell the same stories? Have the same people fronting things for all of eternity? Representation and inclusivity and branching out… it enriches us all. How embarrassing. You people with your tiny mindsets – open a book, look out the window and then f*ck off.’
There’s something stirring about witnessing Gatwa angry – and not just angry. In some ways, it’s unexpected. Like many of the characters he’s played, Gatwa is a
