Passion & Perfection

What does Chris make of the ‘Thasmin’ phenomenon? “I’m aware of what that is,” he says, smiling. “I’m aware of its existence!” The Doctor’s burgeoning relationship with Yaz (Mandip Gill) was something that evolved during the series.

“It wasn’t part of the plan,” he says. “You’re in a constant dialogue with the show because you see things come through and you think, “That’s interesting - we can slow burn that.” And that’s sort of what happened with this. If you look at Arachnids in the UK (2018) it’s there front and centre in the scene where Yaz’s mum asks, ‘Are you two seeing each other?’ and the Doctor says, ‘I don’t think so. Are we?’ Later in the episode, when Yaz describes the Doctor as the best person she’s ever met, we noticed a real intensity to Mandip’s performance. “It started to read on-screen, maybe partly because of Jodie and Mandip’s friendship off-screen, but partly because it just came through. We started making very deliberate decisions in terms of costume and started laying some things in.

I remember Maxine [Alderton) adding the line to The Haunting of Villa Diodati (2020) where Claire talks about Byron being an enigma and Yaz says, ‘I know someone like that.” “We talk about how great Jodie is, but Mandip is just as good. She’s the most incredible person, so funny. There’s so much she can do. She could easily play the Doctor.”

- Chris Chibnall for the Doctor Who Magazine