BAFTA award-winning actor Lenny Rush has joined the cast of Doctor Who, the BBC has announced.
The 14-year-old will star in the sci-fi show as Morris alongside Ncuti Gatwa’s new Doctor and his companion, played by Coronation Street’s Millie Gibson.
Rush, who bagged the Best Male Performance in a Comedy award at this year's Baftas for his role in Daisy May Cooper's Am I Being Unreasonable, said of his new role: “It’s an absolute honour to be part of Doctor Who. It's one of the most iconic shows on television and, wow, what a dream come true.”
Showrunner Russell T Davies added: “This is what Doctor Who's all about, brand new talent from the next generation, and no one’s more talented than Lenny.
“He joins the Tardis team just in time for the Doctor’s greatest nightmare, so hold on tight.”
Rush has starred in a string of shows, including Dodger and A Christmas Carol, but it was his scene-stealing performance as the formidable Ollie in last year's offbeat sitcom Am I Being Unreasonable? that made him an award winner.
As well as the BAFTA, he also won at the National Comedy Awards and the Royal Television Society Programme Awards for the role.
This news of his Doctor Who casting comes as David Tennant, who will reprise his role as the Doctor for the show’s 60th-anniversary specials, admitted that he wanted to play the character again before he became “too old”.
“The specifics of coming back to Doctor Who took a bit of wrangling,” he told Radio Times. “But we were always receptive to the notion. Initially, it was a casual conversation going, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to do a one-off?’
“Then Russell was back running the show and suddenly it could be something bigger. But there’s really no pressure. It’s a victory lap, in a way – you get to enjoy something that had meant so much to you, one last shot before you get too old to do it again.”
Doctor Who returns in November 2023 with three special episodes with Tennant to coincide with the 60th anniversary.
Gatwa’s first episode as the 15th Doctor will also air over the festive period.
Also joining Gatwa and rounding off the cast are EastEnders' Anita Dobson, It's a Sin's Michelle Greenidge, RuPaul's Drag Race two-time winner Jinkx Monsoon, Frozen's Jonathan Groff, Dunkirk's Aneurin Barnard, Mindhunter's Jonathan Groffand and Game of Thrones' Indira Varma.
Jemma Redgrave, who first appeared as Kate Stewart in 2012's The Power of Three' will reprise the role in the upcoming season in a recurring capacity, while Bonnie Langford will return as Mel Bush.
