Bad Education star Michelle Gomez joins Doctor Who cast

Michelle Gomez is the latest actor to join the cast of the upcoming series of Doctor Who.

The actress plays terrifying deputy headteacher Miss Pickwell in BBC Three sitcom Bad Education, which Doctor Who writer and producer Steven Moffat said qualified her perfectly for the part.

He told The Sun: "She's everything we need - brilliant, Scottish, and a tiny bit Satanic."

Michelle will play the Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere in series eight of the hit BBC One sci-fi show, which features fellow Scot Peter Capaldi in his first full season as the Time Lord.

Meanwhile, Moffat seems to have confirmed he will be around for another series of Doctor Who after teasing a big cliffhanger for his ninth season of the programme.

According to Metro, he wrote: "Sitting here, right now, just before the [series eight] finale shooting block, I've figured out the cliffhanger to the penultimate episode of the next series.

"Ohh, I don't think you'll see this coming!"

Meanwhile, a new trailer for series eight has been released, which shows Capaldi's Doctor apparently struggling with who he is, asking: "Am I a good man?"

Series eight of Doctor Who is due to screen on BBC One in the autumn.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.