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Bonnie Langford has praised Doctor Who’s returning showrunner Russell T Davies for honouring the show’s history with a classic villain.

Langford, who first played companion Mel Bush in the 80s and is back for the current finale, spoke to The One Show about Davies resurrecting villain Sutekh.

Barney Walsh and Cyndi Lauper also joined her in Friday’s celeb-packed episode.

What, how, and why?

Bonnie Langford is not the only returning star for the new series of Doctor Who – it has also included classic villain Sutekh, brought back by former showrunner Russell T Davies who is back in his old spot at the sci-fi series’ helm.

Russell T Davies has been welcomed back to Doctor Who with open arms by fans since returning as showrunner, and now classic era star Langford, back as companion Mel Bush after first playing her in the 80s, has praised his “brilliance” too.

Langford has a special part to play in the series finale, where Mel is part of UNIT, the military organisation that often works alongside the Doctor, who have been enlisted to help him solve the mystery of Ruby Sunday’s (Millie Gibson) birth.

The EastEnders star has already worked as the companion of Doctor incarnations played by Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, and now she’s enjoying working alongside Ncuti Gatwa.

She said: “Because it’s been on 60 years on and off there are so many different threads. And what Russell does, he’s so brilliant at going back into the foundations of it all, finding a character like Sutekh who’s been in there since the 1970s and then finding he’s been there all this time.

“So it gives it this historical aspect but also it’s current and the fact that there’s always a threat and you never know what’s round the corner.”

Cyndi Lauper, who joined Langford on the couch as a guest, revealed she was a Doctor Who fan but admitted: “I was very confused, I’ve been watching since the 80s, I just found out the guy’s an alien and he transports himself.”

Talking later about why she was reluctant at first over a new documentary about her life, Lauper explained: “Well I’m not dead, so I said I don’t think so, but they said if you’re alive you can tell them what’s right and wrong.”

What else happened on The One Show?

Barney Walsh joined Friday’s show to talk about his current starring role as Cam Mickelthwaite in Casualty, and getting back into the Gladiators ring with his dad Bradley for a new series.

Casualty’s Cam is going through a traumatic time as a huge storm hits Holby, leaving him coping with his first infant death at the hospital.

Walsh said: “I’ve been acting all my life and it’s just a thrill to be able to play such a character and to man a storyline for Casualty which is such a wonderful show.”

On returning for series two of the Gladiators reboot with his dad, Walsh added: “It’s been a great show. The thing I love is that we’ve tried to keep it true to the original and the original fans have grown up and had kids of their own. So it’s a real full circle moment of this is what TV was like when we were kids.”