7 Years Later, One Doctor Who Actor Repeats a Weird Tradition
Meet Mr. Ring-A-Ding. He may sound a bit familiar.
Doctor Who Season 2 — or Season 15, depending on how you’re counting — is coming in a matter of months, meaning anticipation for Ncuti Gatwa’s sophomore season as the Time Lord is only growing. We don’t know much about the series ahead of the April 12 premiere on Disney+, but we have learned the Doctor will be joined by a new companion: Belinda Chandra, played by Varada Sethu.
Now, we know an iconic British actor will join the new season, and his character shares a strange trait with Belinda, one that repeats a longtime Doctor Who tradition.
Alan Cumming will provide the voice for Mr. Ring-A-Ding in Doctor Who Season 2.
Disney+ recently announced Scottish icon Alan Cumming will join Doctor Who in Season 2. Cumming gained prominence for his role as the Emcee in Sam Mendes’ 1993 production of Cabaret, but is probably best known today for his role as host of the US version of Traitors, where he plays a fictionalized villainous version of himself.
It’s fitting, then, that Cumming will play a villain in the new season. He’ll provide the voice for Mr. Ring-A-Ding, a “happy, funny, singalong cartoon, who lives in Sunny Town with his friend Sunshine Sally.” How could a classic cartoon serve as a villain? In the adventure set in 1952, “after years of repeats in cinemas across the land, Mr Ring-a-Ding suddenly looks beyond the screen and sees the real world outside — and the consequences are terrifying.”
Cumming taking on this role is especially interesting because the actor has appeared in the series before. He played King James I in the 2018 Thirteenth Doctor episode “The Witchfinders,” but because this new role is voice-only, there won’t be a need to explain.
Alan Cumming as King James I in the 2018 Doctor Who episode “The Witchfinders.”
But repeating actors is nothing new. Multiple actors cast as The Doctor or a companion have a previous Doctor Who credit on their resume, from the Sixth Doctor Colin Baker to Season 3 companion Freema Agyeman. In fact, the Season 4 episode “The Fires of Pompeii” contained both a future Doctor, Peter Capaldi, and a future companion, Karen Gillan.
He won’t even be the only repeated actor in that episode. Varada Sethu may be playing Belinda Chandra in the upcoming Season 2, but in the Season 1 Episode “BOOM,” she played Mundy Flynn, an Anglican marine living in the distant future.
Repeating actors in Doctor Who is now a beloved tradition, but it has a practical use as well. The series utilizes so many one-off characters that fun guest stars or fan-favorite actors can’t easily get extended screen time. Thanks to this choice, we get more Alan Cumming alongside Varada Sethu, the kind of devil-may-care storytelling Doctor Who is best at.
