Mrs Delphox – Keeley Hawes to Play New Doctor Who Villain

BBC has revealed that Keeley Hawes will play a villainous banker in Doctor Who, Series 8. Called Mrs Delphox, the new villain is described as ”a powerful out of this world character with a dark secret”.

Hawes, who played D.I. Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes, and who currently stars as D.I. Lindsay Denton in Line of Duty, has enjoyed being a part of the show:

I am delighted to join Doctor Who and to be working with this incredible team. Ms Delphox is a great character and someone I’ve had a lot of fun playing.

Clara and the Doctor are set to meet Mrs Delphox, on “a strange and puzzling planet” in an episode written by Steve Thompson (“The Curse of the Black Spot”, “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS”) and directed by Douglas Mackinnon (“The Sontaran Stratagem”, “The Power of Three”, “Cold War”). Mackinnon has previously worked with Keeley Hawes on Line of Duty, while Steve Thompson has also penned three episodes of Sherlock (The Blind Banker, The Reichenback Fall and The Sign of Three).

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat described Line of Duty as “amazing”, saying that Hawes has had “one hell of a year”. He continued:

now it’s about to get even better as she achieves the greatest villainy yet attempted on Doctor Who: she plays a banker.