RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon will play a “major role” in the new series of Doctor Who, the BBC has announced.
The US drag artist, real name Jerick Hoffer, joins the programme alongside Ncuti Gatwa as the new Time Lord and Millie Gibson as his new companion Ruby Sunday.
Monsoon won two seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race including an All Stars season where she was crowned “Queen of Queens” after triumphing over other previous winners.
She is the latest casting from It’s A Sin writer Russell T Davies, who was behind the 2005 revival of the long-running BBC show, and is returning to succeed Chris Chibnall as showrunner.
Monsoon said: “I’m honoured, thrilled and utterly excited to join Doctor Who. Russell T Davies is a visionary and a brilliant writer – I can’t wait to get into the weeds with him and the crew.
“I hope there’s room in the Tardis for my luggage.”
Davies said: “In a galaxy of comets and supernovas, here comes the biggest star of all.
“Jinkx Monsoon is on a collision course with the Tardis and Doctor Who will never be the same again.”
Monsoon’s arrival comes after her sellout run playing Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago – the first drag queen to play the role on Broadway.
She has released a series of studio albums and describes herself as an “internationally tolerated drag queen, singer, actor and cabaret star”.
Monsoon has toured globally performing cabaret shows with music partner Major Scales.
In 2018, she partnered with fellow RuPaul’s Drag Race star BenDeLaCreme for a tour titled To Jesus, Thanks For Everything!
On TV she has appeared in CBS police drama Blue Bloods and Netflix’s original comedy AJ And The Queen.
Monsoon has also been the subject of two documentaries – Drag Becomes Him and The Queens.
Doctor Who returns in November 2023 with three special episodes with David Tennant as the fourteenth Doctor to coincide with the 60th anniversary.
Sex Education star Gatwa’s first episode as the fifteenth Doctor will air over the festive period.
Gibson, 18, will feature as sidekick Sunday, becoming the youngest Doctor Who companion in the show’s history.
