Adam Kendrick with the second of our three observations on the character of the Fifteenth Doctor, first published in The Tides of Time 50.

The most remarkable characteristic of the Fifteenth Doctor is how relaxed and casual he is when he talks. He uses “Hell” as an expletive (“What the hell are you doing?”) He’s a bit of a flirt and uses nicknames such as “honey” and “babes”, most often with Ruby or Belinda. When he speaks, he talks with energy and confidence, and Ncuti Gatwa’s Scottish-Rwandan accent results in a unique delivery.

The other distinctive characteristic about Fifteen is that he’s openly emotional. I always get very uncomfortable when I see fans mocking him for “crying too much”, considering how men are notorious for bottling up their feelings out of fear of ridicule. It’s very significant that Ncuti’s bigenerated Doctor follows David Tennant’s Doctor, who effectively retired to manage all the emotional luggage that he had accumulated (who in turn followed Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor, who noticeably never opened up to anyone about the Timeless Children revelations). Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor isn’t afraid to express his emotions and I think it’s incredibly bold to have a male lead on television who isn’t afraid to shed some tears.
The Fifteenth is the most fashionable Doctor, wearing different outfits and haircuts as his way of expressing himself. He’s also the first Doctor to be explicitly queer and to suffer from discrimination based on his appearance. Perhaps the first sign of this Doctor’s confidence is that he stays in his pants in The Giggle, from the moment he comes into existence during the bigeneration until the credits roll.