The Traitors star in Doctor Who cast: Ncuti Gatwa's second season as the Fifteenth Time Lord to feature Alan Cumming

The BBC has confirmed Doctor Who will return for Ncuti Gatwa's second season. The Fifteenth Time Lord will be back in the TARDIS and on screens in April with a big name joining the cast in a guest role.

The Doctor will be joined for the latest series by new companion Belinda Chandra, played by Varada Sethu who you might recognise from BBC crime drama Hard Sun where she played Detective Sergeant Mishal Ali and as Cinta Kaz from Disney+ Star Wars series Andor.

The Traitors US host, Alan Cumming, will also join the cast in a guest role playing cartoon character Mr Ring-a-Ding. Teasing his character, a BBC spokesperson said: "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 was full of praise for the actor saying it was an “honour” to have him on the team. He said: “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 said 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 busy.

Quoted in the Daily Star's Hot TV column, he reportedly said: "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."

Season two for Gatwa's version of the Doctor launches at 8am on April 12 on iPlayer before airing in the UK on BBC One later that evening. The series will also air on Disney+ in the US and beyond.