In the June 2024 issue of Empire magazine, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies revealed the name of the character Jinkx Monsoon plays in the second episode in the 2024 series of the programme, The Devil’s Chord.
“And as for Jinkx, she actually stepped off the stage after a Broadway run of Chicago to get straight on a plane to be the character of Maestro in Doctor Who, and I think we can say she enjoyed that part somewhat,” Russell T Davies told Empire magazine with a cackle. “It’s a performance and a half!”
“She absolutely blew us away.” Ncuti Gatwa (the Doctor) added. “It was so cool to see her transfer her skill set to this show. She fits Doctor Who so well.”
Maestro means teacher but could also be translated as Master. Davies didn’t reveal whether Monsoon is playing yet another incarnation of the Doctor’s arch nemesis The Master in this episode, set in 1963 and featuring The Beatles.
Speaking to Empire magazine in a joint interview with Gatwa, Davies explained that though the notion of doing a Beatles episode has always hit a certain stumbling block, that stumbling block became a source of inspiration.
“I knew instantly you can never play Beatles songs on screen because the copyright is too expensive. So I’m thinking, ‘How would you do a Beatles episode without Beatles music?’ And that becomes the entire plot. That’s where the idea came from – copyright law! There’s a young director called Sam Arbor who I’ve kind of been mentoring for a while, and when I told him I was going back to Doctor Who, he was just 21 and said, ‘Oh my God, if I had a TARDIS, I’d go back and watch the Beatles recording their first album. And I thought for a 21-year-old to say that must mean there’s something to that idea.”
Doctor Who, starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson returns on 11 May 2024 midnight, 00:00 BST (10 May 7:00pm ET) streaming on BBC iPlayer and Disney+ with Space Babies and The Devil’s Chord. Both episodes will broadcast on BBC One in the UK and Ireland on 11 May immediately before Eurovision. The remaining six episodes will stream at 00:00 BST on the six subsequent Saturdays.
Read Empire’s full interview with Russell T Davies and Ncuti Gatwa on the return of Doctor Who in The Acolyte issue – on sale at newsstands in the UK and by order Thursday 11 April.