Ncuti Gatwa will play the fourteenth Doctor Who, succeeding Jodie Whittaker in the role. He will be the first black actor to play a primary incarnation of the character and the second overall, following Jo Martin’s appearance as the Fugitive Doctor.

He gained fame as Eric Effiong on the Netflix comedy-drama series Sex Education (2019–present), which earned him a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor in Television and three BAFTA Television Award nominations for Best Male Comedy Performance. He’s already popular among viewers in their teens and 20s, with more than 2.5 million Instagram followers.

Showruhner Russell T Davies said the decision was made in February, and kept secret to be launched as part of the coverage leading up to today’s BAFTA Awards ceremony in the UK. Gatwa impressed him in a “blazing” audition. “It was our last audition. It was our very last one,” the writer and producer said. “We thought we had someone, and then in he came and stole it. I’m properly, properly thrilled. It’s going to be a blazing future.”

[Thanks to Jon Meltzer for the story.]