A galaxy of guest stars

THIS new series is littered with big-name guests, many of them teased at the end of the opener.

Julie Hesmondhalgh, best-known as Corrie’s much-missed Hayley, looks smart but distinctly other-worldly with white-blonde hair, glasses and a clipboard with its own lighting system.

Game of Thrones and Full Monty star Mark Addy plays a normal-looking bloke, although he appears to be crying, which suggests a heartbreaking storyline.

Alan Cummings stars as King

James I in an episode set in the 17th century called The Witch Hunters.

“I’m a kind of dandy, foppy, coward,” says the Goldeneye star.

“And they said he might come back.”

Let’s hope Shobna Gulati, another

Corrie veteran, does not mind spiders.

Her guest-starring episode involves the discovery of some particularly scary-looking giant cobwebs. No wonder she’s reached straight for her phone. It is not only home-grown talent livening up the cast list. In his sharp suit and tie, Chris Noth, best known as Mr Big from Sex And The City, looks as though he has walked straight off the set of the US series (if you disregard his grey locks). He plays a “powerful” character, maybe a baddie, but the producers are reluctant to give too much away. Other big names to cross the Doctor’s path include Downton Abbey and Lovejoy favourite Phyllis Logan and Art Malik from The Jewel in the Crown and True Lies. He appears in next weekend’s episode set on an alien planet. Susan Lynch, fresh from the hit BBC1 drama Killing Eve, is another familiar face, along with Would I Lie to You’s Lee Mack, whose role seems to be surprisingly mundane – a warehouse worker in a hi-viz jacket. If only a police box containing an alien Time Lord would arrive to spice up his life. Sit tight Lee, she’s on her way...