Jinkx Monsoon in Doctor Who: drag queen plays villain in 14th series, are they in 2023 Christmas special?

Jinkx Monsoon is the stage name of drag queen, actor, singer and comedian Jerick Hoffer, who won the fifth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2013. They then took part in a special all-winners version of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars in 2022, and won that series, becoming the queen of all queens.

Jinkx has a career spanning all forms of entertainment - they have released two studio albums, Inevitable Album, and The Ginger Snapped, and has taken on acting parts in films and TV shows, often playing themself, before having a Broadway debut this year.

They have appeared in documentaries Drag Becomes Him, Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts, and The Queens, and the 2020 Christmas romcom Happiest Season, in which they played Em K. Ultra. Outside of Drag Race, Jinkx has had dramatic TV roles in Blue Bloods, Blame The Hero, AJ and the Queen, and Adventure Time.

Who does Jinkx Monsoon play in Doctor Who?

The BBC has not yet confirmed the part that Jinkx will play in the new series of Doctor Who, but did say that it will be a ‘major role’.

It has been reported that Jinkx will be a full musical villain, bending the genre of the sci-fi show, a move that was teased in the previous episode The Giggle, when Neil Patrick Harris’ Toymaker burst into a lip sync of Spice Up Your Life. The previous incarnation of The Master showed us a penchant for dance when he bust a move to Boney M.’s Rasputin.

It’s possible that Jinkx could play a new incarnation of The Master, given the foreshadowing at the end of The Giggle which saw an unknown person pick up the Toymaker’s gold tooth that the Time Lord had been trapped in.

However, some are predicting that Jinkx will play The Rani, a villain who appeared in two classic Doctor Who serials in the 1980s, and was then played by Kate O'Mara. The Rani is a renegade Time Lady who is as evil as The Doctor is good. She was an enemy of the Sixth and Seventh Doctor and his companion Mel Bush, who has also returned for the new season, which is further evidence for a Rani comeback.

The Rani last featured in a 2015 audio drama, voiced by Siobhan Redmond, but given that Doctor Who loves to bring back old villains, it’s entirely possible that The Rani could be making a comeback in the new season.

Is Jinkx Monsoon in the Doctor Who Christmas special?

It has not been confirmed when Jinkx will appear in the new season of Doctor Who - she has been credited as being in the cast of the upcoming Christmas special on IMDB, but the website previously listed inaccurate cast members for the 60th anniversary specials.

The Doctor and Ruby Sunday probably have enough on their plate with a goblin horde to contend with this Christmas, so if Jinkx does appear in the special it is most likely to be towards the end as a setup for the new season later in 2024.