When all is said and done, the Disney+ years of Doctor Who are probably going to be remembered for spawning an awful lot of drama in a relatively short time frame. And honestly? Rightly so. Whether it’s Ncuti Gatwa’s regeneration after just two seasons, the controversial season 15 finale that saw the (seemingly last-minute) return of former companion Billie Piper, or the offscreen sniping between various behind-the-scenes parties, there’s just been a whole lot going on beyond the story that’s unfolding onscreen. And that’s just some of the stuff that went down in the show’s most recent season! 

Russell T. Davies’ first year back at the helm of the franchise also provided plenty of grist for the tabloid and online gossip mills. From David Tennant’s return to the TARDIS (again!) for the show’s 60th anniversary to the show’s (quite frankly, insane) renumbering of its Disney+ seasons and whatever the heck the whole Sutekh thing was, well. However, one of the most bizarre incidents involved actress Millie Gibson, who made her debut as Gatwa’s first official companion in the 2023 Christmas special, “The Church on Ruby Road.” 

Gibson, who was already fairly well known — at least in the U.K. —for her role on Coronation Street, was suddenly the subject of a series of reports from the British press that insisted she was leaving the show after a single season. Several even intimated that she’d actually been dismissed from Doctor Who, citing earlier tabloid reports that alleged the actress (who was then just 19) had been behaving like a “diva” on set. 

This was all made exponentially more awkward by the fact that fans had then only ever seen Gibson’s Ruby in one episode, and had barely any time to connect with the character. And although the official announcement confirming that Varada Sethu had joined the series as Gatwa’s new companion also revealed that Gibson would continue to appear on the show (albeit irregularly) as part of the 2025 series, it was too little too late. (Not to mention that almost everyone assumed she’d be back for a quick cameo at best, if only to pass the torch to her successor.) 

At the time, neither Davies nor anyone from Bad Wolf or the BBC formally acknowledged the firestorm of reports, leaving fans confused and Gibson stuck in an awkward (and uncomfortably public) position, unable to confirm or deny any of the stories about her. She went on to play a key role in several season 15 episodes, but has only now begun to share her side of what happened.

Speaking to The i Paper, Gibson says she was unable to respond at the time out of concerns about jeopardizing then-upcoming storylines on the show. “I couldn’t be like, ‘It’s a lie!’ [because] they’d be like, ‘Well, that’s spoilers,’” she said. “It was quite hard to stand up for myself without ruining the show. I was like, ‘Oh, this is horrific because it just looks like it’s true.’”

Apparently, even many of those in Gibson’s everyday life believed the reports of her alleged dismissal.

“It was awful,” she said. “What was frustrating was the amount of people that were like, ‘Oh, sorry, this has happened mate and I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s not [happened], but thank you.’”

But if anything, Gibson appears to have taken it all as something of a learning experience, naming Gatwa as a source of comfort during the resultant upheaval, what with him having gone through his own tabloid firestorm when he was first cast as the Doctor. “He’s had his time with that, and it’s just about just being able to try and shut it out,” she said.

Gibson’s next major role will see her play a lead in the forthcoming period drama The Forsytes. As for Doctor Who, we’ll see it again… eventually, though the BBC is certainly playing as coy about the show’s future as it once did about the specifics of Gibson’s job. 

The post Former Companion Millie Gibson Opens Up About Her Doctor Who Departure appeared first on Den of Geek.