Doctor Who return date confirmed as Alan Cumming joins cast
'Doctor Who' is back this spring as Alan Cumming joins in a guest role for Ncuti Gatwa's second season.
'Doctor Who' is returning in April for Ncuti Gatwa's second season.
The BBC has confirmed the Fifteenth Time Lord will be back in the TARDIS and on screens on April 12, with Alan Cumming joining the cast in a guest role as cartoon character Mr Ring-a-Ding.
Season two will launch at 8am on iPlayer before airing on BBC One later that evening in the UK, while the series will air on Disney+ in the US and beyond.
The Doctor (Gatwa) will be joined by new companion Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu), while 'The Traitors US' host Cumming is joining the fray.
Teasing his character, the BBC said in a press release: "He’s a happy, funny, singalong cartoon, who lives in Sunny Town with his friend Sunshine Sally.
"However, in 1952, after years of repeats in cinemas across the land, Mr Ring-a-Ding suddenly looks beyond the screen and sees the real world outside - and the consequences are terrifying."
Showrunner Russell T Davies heaped praise on the actor for bringing "so much wit, malice, danger and fun" to the role.
He added: “Only Alan Cumming could give a runaway cartoon so much wit, malice, danger and fun.
"He makes the whole universe of 'Doctor Who' wilder and madder than ever, and it’s an absolute honour to welcome him on board the TARDIS.”
The new season will also see Millie Gibson reprise her role as Ruby Sunday, while Cumming joins previously announced guest stars Rose Ayling-Ellis, Anita Dobson, Christopher Chung, Michelle Greenidge, Jonah Hauer-King, Ruth Madeley, Jemma Redgrave, and Susan Twist.
One star who won't be returning is Lenny Rush, who played Morris Gibbons, UNIT's new scientific advisor, in the 2024 series.
Although he was "very honoured" to be invited back for the second series, his schedule - which includes a second series of comedy thriller 'Am I Being Unreasonable?' - was too packed.
In December, he was quoted by the Daily Star's Hot TV column as saying: "The team at 'Doctor Who' came to me and said, 'We could put you back in somewhere.'
"I was very honoured. It's mad that they asked me to be in it again.
"But I couldn't do it because I was too busy filming. I loved playing Morris. It was so much fun. I'm so, so lucky."
