Bly Manor’s T’Nia Miller coyly addresses rumours she’ll be Doctor Who’s first queer lead

T’Nia Miller has weighed in on the Doctor Who casting rumours swirling ahead of Jodie Whittaker’s exit.

Whittaker’s final appearance as the Thirteenth Doctor is set to air later this year.

She’ll bow out along with showrunner Chris Chibnall, making way for Russell T Davies to take over in 2023 with a new Tardis team – and a new Time Lord.

It’s currently unknown who Davies will cast for his new Doctor Who lead, but there’s much speculation he’ll turn to It’s a Sin actors Olly Alexander, Omari Douglas or Lydia West – who ​​Whittaker herself nominated for the role.

Another name that keeps cropping up is T’Nia Miller, who played housekeeper Hannah Grose in Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor and had a starring role in Davies’ 2019 drama Years and Years.

Miller told Digital Spy the rumours have been a “nice ego boost” – but kept tight-lipped on whether there’s any truth behind them.

“It’s a lovely compliment. It really is,” Miller said. “I must give them a call.”

She continued: “I keep saying this, and I haven’t done it yet – I’ve got to call Russell, because I know he’s back on it, and he is phenomenal.”

In a separate interview with Radio Times, Miller played down speculation by saying she probalby won’t be picked for the Fourteenth Doctor as Davies wouldn’t “go with the expected choice”.

“It might be someone that you don’t even know, because Russell is very good at doing that – making people’s careers,” she said.

Miller added: “He made mine. Him and other people, but he was certainly instrumental.

“I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you today if it wasn’t for Russell T Davies taking a gamble.”

If T’Nia Miller were cast in Doctor Who, it wouldn’t be her first time on the long-running series.

She previously appeared in an episode opposite Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor. In the episode “Hell Bent”, Miller played a regenerated version of the General, marking the first time a Time Lord changed gender on screen.

T’Nia Miller as the General in Doctor Who episode “Hell Bent”. (YouTube/Doctor Who/BBC)

She told Digital Spy that it was “super-exciting” for her to play the “ground-breaking” role, which was “super-exciting” for her.

“It was ground-breaking because it was the first time we’d seen another Time Lord metamorphosise into another person – you know, as the Doctor does – and she was going to be female,” Miller said.

She continued: “She was going to be a Black female. So that was super-exciting for me.”

To save Davies the hard work, we’ve already rounded up five queer actors who could take on the Doctor Who mantle, including T’Nia Miller.

• TV
• Dec 16 2023

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