Cilla Black is about to be immortalised in Doctor Who (Picture: Redferns)
As BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who gears up to return they’ve revealed their most exciting historical casting yet – iconic British TV host and singer Cilla Black.
The late media personality will appear in the second Doctor Who episode, alongside Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifiteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson as companion Ruby Sunday.
The episode, titled The Devil’s Chord, will air next Saturday and is centred around British band The Beatles. Given Cilla’s close bond with the famous band, her cameo is no surprise.
The Beatles – Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison – encouraged Cilla’s singing career throughout the 1960s, where she went onto release chart-topping hits such as You’re My World.
She also hosted Blind Date and the TV series Surprise Surprise which birthed the now virally memed song of the same name.
With such a memorable legacy, casting the actor to play Cilla would have been no easy feat. Now we know Chicken Run star Josie Sedgwick-Davies landed the role, confirming the news on X with the apt caption: ‘Surprise surprise…’.
Josie Sedgwick-Davies will play the legandary TV host Cilla (Picture: WireImage)
Cilla in the 1960s (Picture: Redferns)
Doctor Who fans have already fallen in love with the casting choice, praising how close Josie looks to the real deal.
‘The cilla black casting is a perfect double for her, funny really,’ @jamie_bate1 posted.
‘Omg there’s nobody better to play this than you! Absolutely made for this role!’ @PaislieReid echoed.
‘W casting,’ as @shemdellashem4 eloquently put it.
Josie is relatively new to the British TV scene, previously voicing Frizzle in Netflix’s Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.
Although it is unclear exactly how or why her character Cilla will be involved in the episode, she did spend plenty of time with fellow Liverpool artists The Beatles in the early days.
She was one of the first female artists to sign under their manager Brian Epstein, according to the Liverpool Echo.
In 1964 she featured in the television special Around the Beatles which also starred PJ Proby, the Vernon Girls, Long John Baldry and The Jets.
Cilla with The Beatles in 1963 (Picture: Redferns)
And again in 1968 (Picture: Getty)
For those wondering if Josie will be bringing her vocal talent to the show, the jury is still out since showrunner Russell T Davies has already confirmed there will be no music from The Beatles themselves.
During the premiere Q&A attended by Metro.co.uk, Russell said: ‘I knew that the Beatles music was so expensive under copyright, even with the Disney budget, we couldn’t afford that. You literally can’t afford to do it.’
Whether that’s the case with Cilla’s songs such as her number one single Anyone Who Had a Heart or Abbey Road Decade album hit Where Is Tomorrow, remains to be seen.
Cilla’s career spanned 50 years (Picture: Redferns)
Josie is a rising star in her second major role (Picture: Wirelmage)
The OBE recipient, whose full name is Priscilla Maria Veronica White, died in August 2015, aged 72.
Also starring in The Devil’s Chord is drag legend Jinkx Monsoon who will play the mysterious villain Maestro.
Doctor Who returns to BBC One on Saturday, May 11 at 6.20pm with double bill episode Space Babies and The Devil’s Chord.
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