Doctor Who: 5 Cool Facts About Ncuti Gatwa's New Sonic Screwdriver Design
Contains spoilers for "Doctor Who: The Giggle"
After almost two long years of waiting, Ncuti Gatwa is finally on screen as the Fifteenth Doctor. The Rwandan talent, previously best known for starring in Netflix's original series "Sex Education" as Eric Effiong, makes his triumphant debut in the third "Doctor Who" 60th Anniversary Special, "Doctor Who: The Giggle," where he plays a rousing game of catch alongside the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) to defeat an old nemesis. Gatwa's time in the TARDIS marks several firsts for the BBC series, not the least of which is that his Sonic Screwdriver is unlike anything that Whovians have ever seen in canon before.
Showrunner Russell T. Davies really broke the mold with this one, so much so that the BBC published a guided video tour to explain the new device. As Gatwa himself says "[The Sonic Screwdriver is] a magnificent piece of Galifreyan technology that helps the Doctor through all his scrapes and has lots of nooks and crannies to it." This is a sentence that has never been more true than it is now. Gatwa's next outing as Fifteen is the 2023 "Doctor Who" Christmas Special, which means that we don't have to wait very long to see the new Sonic Screwdriver in action. Even so, here's everything we know about it so far.
Fifteen's Sonic Screwdriver is ... a 2000s flip phone?
At first glance, Fifteen's Sonic Screwdriver resembles a cordless mouse and then, just as you're getting comfortable with the thing that you're looking at, it unfolds because the latest version of the Time Lord's trusty MacGuffin is not-so-secretly a 2000s flip phone. Most modern iterations of the Sonic Screwdriver extend, such as Nine's (Christopher Eccleston) and Ten/Fourteen's. They can also change shape, much like Eleven's (Matt Smith). However, Ncuti Gatwa's is the first to wholly collapse in on itself. Unlike standard flip phones, it doesn't fold in half; rather, it swivels like two conjoined circles. The movement looks so fluid that it wouldn't be surprising if we hear reports that Gatwa keeps breaking his props because his Sonic Screwdriver functions beautifully as a fidget spinner.
In the guided video tour, Gatwa shows how Fifteen will typically hold the device. Honestly, it looks as much like a TiVo remote as it does a smart flip phone, especially in the way that the actor holds it with the buttons facing up. Yes, it's kind of goofy but it offers Fifteen a certain versatility that no other iteration of the Doctor has ever enjoyed with their preferred multitool. Speaking of ...
It's a genuine sci-fi multi-tool (still not a screwdriver, though)
Aside from being a collapsible smartphone without any of the drawbacks of such a device, Fifteen's Sonic Screwdriver also functions as a literal multi-tool. It's got a flashlight, an extendable magnifying glass, and an array of mysterious buttons and knobs. Hilariously, there's also what appears to be a large flathead screw in the dead center of the thing, which means that his Sonic Screwdriver cannot be used to disassemble his Sonic Screwdriver. Oops.
Of these additional features, Ncuti Gatwa makes special mention of the flashlight and what he describes as a futuristic USB port. It ... does not look like a USB port, but who's going to argue with the Doctor? When does that ever work out well? In the guided video tour, Gatwa says, "It has this little thing that can flip out that the Doctor uses when he wants to connect to another piece of technology. Like a USB port, if you will."
Since the Sonic Screwdriver never needed a physical port before, we can probably assume that Russell T. Davies intends the next season of "Doctor Who" to include some weird new sci-fi tech. Conversely, it's also possible that Gatwa didn't feel like waving around the scientific equivalent of a magic wand.
What does the purple crystal battery mean?
"Doctor Who" has never been afraid to risk it all on a retcon. In the time it takes you to read that last sentence, there's a non-zero chance that Russell T. Davies or Steven Moffat rewrote the Daleks to have always had legs. Keep that in mind when we tell you that Fifteen's Sonic Screwdriver is powered by a purple crystal. Since when did the Sonic Screwdriver need a crystal battery? Why does it matter that it's purple? The answer to both of these questions is a vague shrug of the shoulders because, as far as we know, no other Sonic Screwdriver has ever required a crystal battery.
Nonetheless, Ncuti Gatwa states that Fifteen's Sonic Screwdriver is, "powered by a crystal, a purple one." Technically speaking, Thirteen's (Jodie Whittaker) Sonic Screwdriver is part crystal, too, although it's never framed as being powered by that aspect of its design. In all likelihood, it's just a neat bobble that helps distinguish it as belonging to Fifteen. In more recent years, the Doctors have each been assigned a specific accent color for their Sonic Screwdriver. Thirteen's was amber, Eleven's was green, that sort of thing. That said, Davies is a wily one, so who knows what it could eventually mean.
The Gallifreyan symbols honor Ncuti Gatwa's heritage
The lion's share of the guided video tour belongs to Ncuti Gatwa showing off his favorite aspect of Fifteen's Sonic Screwdriver, which is an homage to his Rwandan heritage. On the top side of the device, there's a circular plate etched with Gallifreyan symbols. According to Gatwa, they translate to a Rwandan proverb that reads, "The sharpness of the sharpness of the tongue defeats the sharpness of the warrior." Aside from being a neat way to make Gatwa feel more welcome, have you ever heard a turn of phrase that better captures the Doctor's true essence?
Sometimes, the Doctor must fight. When he does, he fights hard, and his violent deeds are scarred on the collective memory of the universe. There's a reason that the War Doctor (John Hurt) is a part of the Doctor's history that he would just as soon forget. Still, despite his battle prowess, he prefers to wield his wit and his words rather than his fists.
Gatwa says goodbye in the guided video tour by repeating the proverb one last time, which either means that he is incredibly proud of its inclusion, or that Russell T. Davies feels the same, or that it's going to be narratively relevant at some point, just like the purple crystal or The One Who Waits.
Fifteen's Sonic Screwdriver is weird but Twelve's is weirder
There's no denying that Fifteen's Sonic Screwdriver is a little silly. It's a multi-tool shaped like a flip phone but it's actually a smartphone, it's got a purple crystal where it should have Double-A batteries, and it's got the science fiction equivalent of a foreign language tattoo quote that could very well say "pasta," but offers Fifteen a versatility of play that no other Doctor has ever had the fortune to receive. Besides, it's not even the weirdest Sonic Screwdriver to ever feature on "Doctor Who." That honor belongs to Twelve's (Peter Capaldi) Sonic Sunglasses. No, seriously.
During Twelve's tenure, he grew bored of his Sonic Screwdriver and replaced it with Sonic Sunglasses, presumably because the BBC wanted to branch into fashion merchandising. Unlike Fifteen's fancy USB port, Twelve's sunglasses just looked like Capaldi found them at a local retail shop. Audiences loved them so much that they were immediately destroyed during Thirteen's first episode. So maybe call that to mind before judging Fifteen's gadget too harshly. It's silly in a way that fits "Doctor Who" perfectly.
Fifteen will return on Christmas Day with his new Sonic Screwdriver — and his new companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) — for "Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road."