Doctor Who Christmas trailer 2023
Doctor Who's Millie Gibson first found her fame on ITV soap Coronation Street back in 2019 and played the role of Kelly Neelan for three years, leaving in September 2022. Millie is set to take on a new challenge as she stars alongside Ncuti Gatwa in a new series of Doctor Who, playing the Time Lord's trusty sidekick.
Millie had a spectacular exit from the ITV soap and was involved in a huge storyline which saw a lot of the residents of Weatherfield involved. She has since been working hard on her role in the BBC series as well as spending some time with her new boyfriend.
Express.co.uk has taken a look inside Millie's life including her reasons for leaving Coronation Street, the excitement of working on Doctor Who and the reason behind the scar on her eyebrow.
Coronation Street
Kelly Neelan was first introduced to the show as Rick Neelan's (played by Greg Wood) teenage daughter, who was making Gary Windass's (Mikey North) life difficult back in 2019.
Rick was a nasty piece of work, and Gary ended up killing him in self-defence and burying his body in the woods, Kelly was unaware of this crucial fact, but all changed pretty quickly.
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Kelly Neelan left the ITV back in 2022 (Image: ITV)
Kelly had a tough year after attempting to take her own life while serving time in a Young Offenders Unit over the murder of Seb Franklin (Harry Visinoni).
After being released, Gary and Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon) took Kelly in and soon thought of her as part of their family.
Kelly was soon set to find out that as well as Gary killing her father, he also allowed her mother Laura Neelan (Kel Allen) to take the blame for Rick's murder just before her death from cancer.
The troubled teen was looking forward to a happy future after becoming engaged to Aadi Alahan (Adam Hussain), but her hopes were destroyed when she heard Gary's killer secret.
As she investigated more into her father's death and got involved with the wrong crowd, it all came down to a tense rooftop showdown which saw hers and Gary's life at stake.
Luckily, the pair managed to walk away unscathed but their relationship was fractured, forcing Kelly to leave the cobbles.
When discussing her exit from the soap and her plans for the future, Millie told The Mirror: "I’m looking forward to just having a bit of a break.
"I'm going on holiday at the end of the month with my cousin Amy and we’re going to Italy for a week. I think I’ll really need it by the time that comes around.
"I have no responsibilities – I don’t have kids, I don’t have a mortgage to pay or anything like that, I’m still grateful to be living at home.
"So I thought I’m just going to see what else the world has. If it does, it does - that would be quite good, wouldn’t it? I just thought I might as well see what happens while I’m still young.
"Because I’m so young I thought I’ve got to leave. It was a decision where it would always be in the back of my mind if I didn’t make it, so I had to just go with it and see what happens."
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Millie Gibson addressed the scar and revealed it was real (Image: ITV)
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Kelly Neelan's iconic scar
During her time on the show, many fans wondered whether the scar on Kelly Neelan was a make-up effect or whether it was a real scare for Millie.
Before leaving the show, Millie opened up about where the scar came from and admitted that it wasn't a fashion choice for her character.
She joined ITV's Lorraine Kelly who asked: "Now a lot of people have commented, and I know you’ve had this a lot, your little eyebrow, and they said, 'Oh did you do that on purpose as part of the character.
"You know to make her a bit edgy or whatever, but it’s not, what happened to you, it was an accident, wasn’t it?”
Millie laughed and explained: “It’s a scar, everyone thinks I’ve done it myself, but no, I was very young, and in all my baby pictures, I look like a right thug.
“I fell down the stairs when I was a baby, and the hairs have never grown back, but everyone thinks I’ve done it for the character. I think it kind of works, especially for Kelly, yeah everyone done it myself."
Lorraine added: “Well, it’s very distinctive, and that makes sense, and it doesn’t matter for that character though you, right.”
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Millie Gibson is starring as Ruby Sunday in the new Doctor Who series (Image: BBC)
Doctor Who debut
Going from Weatherfield filled with drama, Millie is taking on the role of Doctor Who's (Ncuti Gatwa) sidekick Ruby Sunday to travel in and out of different galaxies to save the world.
Opening up about her new role, she told the Times: “So many people have sat me down and said, 'Look, your life will change.’ It is hard to accept that. It’s a baffling thing to be told, to be honest.
"The first part was actually doing the job, preparing for that. And then the second part will be preparing for when it comes out.”
Starring alongside Millie and Ncuti is Davina McCall who will play herself, Michelle Greenidge as Carla Sunday, Angela Wynter as Cherry Sunday, Mary Malone as Trudy, Anita Dobson as Mrs Flood, and Hemi Yeroham as Abdul.
Following the Doctor Who Christmas special, a full series will air in the spring with the Christmas special, The Church on Ruby Road, airing at 5.55pm on December 25, on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Millie Gibson gives a small insight into her relationship on social media (Image: INSTAGRAM )
Millie's private life
Whilst a lot is known about Millie's work life, she keeps her private life under wraps and even keeps her relationships off of the internet.
Earlier this year, Millie appeared loved-up with her boyfriend Tom Neatis as they were snapped strolling the streets of Salerno, Italy.
She walked hand-in-hand with her beau, who is a music label owner, and kept her outfit casual as she sported a pair of light-wash denim mom shorts, teamed with an oversized white shirt.
She hasn't yet debuted the relationship on social media, sharing some scenic snaps from the Italian trip but not who she was there with.
Millie bundled her blonde locks into an upstyle, crossing a black bag over her torso while she did some sightseeing.
Despite not much being known of their relationship, the actress has been leaving sweet comments on her music head beau's recent posts.
Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road, airs at 5.55pm on December 25, on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.