With Doctor Who episode The Story and the Engine comes an intriguing new villain, in the form of Ariyon Bakare's the Barber.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Bakare admitted there were fears that his villain would be too frightening – but, as a lifelong Doctor Who fan, he knew that would be the key to the character.
"There was a fear that I might be too frightening. But I think children like to be frightened. It makes them more excited.
"So I pushed into that element and played it more like a drama and let everything else, the softness, come out through other characters."
"I wanted to be that kind of character... I had to find dig deep inside myself to find something completely different to what I am."
"I wanted him to be like Anansi," he explained. "And I thought about spiders. So I was like, it'd be really good if we've got the locks, and we have this hair that just constantly kept growing.
But, alongside the fun of creating the character, there were also some "difficult" moments – including one scene in which the Doctor realises that the Barber isn't Anansi, or any of the gods he's claimed to be.
"So there's constantly the layers. If I want to be quite political about it, it's years and years of the code switching of a Black man – constantly having to be something for everyone to accept.
The episode being set in Nigeria is apt for Bakare, following his recent trip with WaterAid to Lagos.
"I remember there were stories in Nigeria, of people, especially in a maternity hospital, where nurses would have to stop work, walk miles to go to a borehole and carry buckets and then come back.
To support WaterAid, visit wateraid.org.
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