Doctor Who star Mandip Gill enthusiastic about idea of spin-off return – wants to see Yaz evolve
“I wouldn’t even have to think about it.”
While Doctor Who is known for its frequent and constant cast changes over its 62-year history, it’s also not a show that’s afraid to dive into its past and see companions, and even former Doctors, return.
In recent years, the likes of Catherine Tate, Bonnie Langford, Janet Fielding and Sophie Aldred have made returns to their past companion roles, and now another star has made clear she would also be up for coming back – Mandip Gill.
Gill, who played Thirteenth Doctor companion Yaz between 2018 and 2022, appears on this week’s episode of Lacey Turner’s soap-focused podcast We Started Here, which will be released on Tuesday 4th March, after she started her career on Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks.
In an exclusive clip for RadioTimes.com, which you can watch at the top of this article, Turner is seen starting to ask whether Gill would return to Doctor Who or star in a spin-off if showrunner Russell T Davies asked her to.
At that point, Gill jumped in to say: “Oh, a million per cent. I mean, I’m not even gonna let you finish the sentence, I’m so sorry.”
Turner responded, “You wouldn’t even think about it,” to which Gill said: “No, because the writing is so good. I just love it so much.
“But the worlds that they create and the props and the sets… and we filmed in so many brilliant places. And everything that it’s done for me thereafter, I’m like, absolutely.
“Like, I wouldn’t even have to think about it. And especially if it was like a spin-off in a new world. I don’t like my characters to stay the same. I like to see them going through a journey, and a lot of that journey that they go through is also me getting to know the character more.”
The two went on to talk about how characters can change and develop on soaps, with Gill joking about how characters could be a mass murderer at the end, with no sense of that when they started out.
Whether Gill does return to play Yaz on screen, we know she will be back as the character in audio, with the actor reuniting with Thirteenth Doctor star Jodie Whittaker for a series of Big Finish audio dramas this summer.
