BBC EastEnders icon blamed by Doctor Who boss over loss of £1k bet amid soap anniversary

Russell T. Davies had no clue Anita Dobson would return to Albert Square last February - and he now regrets not to have used their connection to his advantage.

The EastEnders legend reprises her role in the latest season of Doctor Who - airing on BBC One from Saturday, April 12 - as the enigmatic Mrs Flood.

Doctor Who boss Russell T. Davies has hinted at major revelations around Anita Dobson's character. “There are big reveals and big shocks coming," he said.

Anita was most recently seen on screens during EastEnders' 40th anniversary live episode, reprising her role as Angie Watts and saving on-screen daughter Sharon (Letitia Dean) from the afterlife. But she kept her comeback a secret, even from Russell.

“The day before, I texted Anita and she didn’t reply – she always replies straight away,” Russell remembered. “I thought I was going mad but I could have gone to the bookies and made a thousand quid.”

But for Anita, revisiting Angie, 23 years after the character's off-screen death from cirrhosis, was necessary. “It was a good closure for Angie and me,” she says.

Anita was taken aback by Doctor Who fans’ reaction to Mrs Flood, but her husband, Queen guitarist Brian May, saw it coming. “When I was first cast, Brian said, ‘You’re going to be trending,’” Anita, 75, says. The rock star even wore a Mrs Flood T-shirt to show his support. “My godson gave me a badge with Mrs Flood’s face on it, too!”

Whovians, brace yourselves! Doctor Who is taking an unexpected turn. As Ncuti Gatwa reprises his role as the 15th Doctor, he warns fans that his Time Lord is no longer the bright-eyed hero they once knew.

“You can see a change in The Doctor in one of the episodes, we already explored it during the Christmas special,” Ncuti says. “He’s been around for hundreds of years and has picked up some anger. But the big bad this season? That’s just as exciting.”

A lot has changed since Ncuti, 32, first stepped into the TARDIS. The biggest shift? The Doctor has a new companion. Varada Sethu, who made her Whoniverse debut last year as Mundy Flynn in Boom, returns as Belinda Chandra – Mundy’s ancestor.

For Varada, 32, the return is a dream come true. “I was devastated to leave because I’d had such a beautiful time,” she says, adding that she feared the Hollywood strikes would harm her career. “I thought I wasn’t going to work again.”

However, showrunner Russell T. Davies had other ideas. “I watched Boom about 50 times,” Russell, 61, says. “I thought it was a shame to say goodbye to such a good actor. We’d auditioned a lot of Belindas before and it wasn’t clicking.”

Now, Varada is woven into the Whoniverse as pragmatic nurse Belinda. In the season opener, The Robot Revolution , she is kidnapped by alien robots who declare her their queen.

Their planet – named MissBelindaChandra after Belinda herself – is in crisis, torn apart by a brutal civil war between the robots and the humans.

But she’s not alone for long. The Doctor, deeply involved in the planet’s uprising, has been searching for her for months. Their eventful journey back takes them from 1950s Miami (where they’re turned into cartoon characters) to Lagos, Nigeria. “In this situation,” Ncuti says, “he goes somewhere on Earth that makes him feel at home. It was really beautiful.”

While Belinda takes centre stage, former companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) faces the fallout of her decision to leave the TARDIS. At the end of the previous season, Ruby chose to reconnect with her long-lost mother. But life after time travelling isn’t easy.

“She has PTSD from all these adventures,” Millie says. “We see how Ruby is getting on with her family but she still feels lost.” Her story brings a fresh face to the cast – Jonah Hauer-King plays Conrad Clark, a key figure in Ruby’s journey.

Meanwhile, three special guest stars join Doctor Who in the new series. First up is Alan Cumming, who stars in episode two as Mr Ring-a-Ding, a singalong cartoon, who lives in Sunny Town with his friend Sunshine Sally.

Then, deaf actress Rose Ayling-Ellis appears in episode three, The Well. Ncuti relished the chance to learn British Sign Language for Rose’s story.

“That’s how our characters communicate and it was really amazing to learn. We should all learn it, even in school,” he says. “Rose delivers an incredible performance, but the episode is terrifying.”

And reality star-turned-broadcaster Rylan Clark pops up in episode six, The Interstellar Song Contest. However, Rylan’s episode is due on screens at the end of Eurovision week, but may not air if The FA Cup final goes to extra time and penalties.

“The FA Cup is going live on BBC One, and then you have Eurovision going live in the evening, we’re squeezed in the middle,” showrunner Russell says. “We don’t know if we’ll even be transmitted that day. It will be on iPlayer but you’ll have to sit through a football match to know whether Doctor Who will be out that night.”

But he enjoys the thrill of uncertainty. “They asked if we wanted to move it,” Russell recalls, “But I said, ‘That’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever heard. Let’s find out!’”

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