Frank Skinner to star in Doctor Who

Frank Skinner has long been a fan of the show

Comedian Frank Skinner is to take a guest star role in the forthcoming series of Doctor Who.

Skinner will appear in one episode of series eight - the first with Peter Capaldi playing the Doctor.

The Room 101 presenter, a longtime fan of the show, said he was "beyond excited" at being given the role.

"It's no secret that Frank's been pitching vigorously to get into Doctor Who for a while," said the show's executive producer, Steven Moffat.

"He's been volunteering to be 'third monster on the left' as long as I've been in this job."

"But now, in Jamie Mathieson's sparkling script, we finally have a part that can showcase all of Frank's famous wit and charm. Hopefully he'll get out of my garden now."

Mathieson, a writer on Being Human, said that writing for Skinner was "very cool" - as the comedian had inspired his own career.

"I was a stand-up for a living for quite a few years," Mathieson wrote on his blog.

"When I was trying to figure out how to do it in 1996, his first two stand up videos were part of my boot camp, so there is a nice synchronicity for me to be writing lines for him to deliver nearly twenty years later."

Keeley Hawes is to play a villain named Ms Delphox in Doctor Who

As yet, no details of the character Skinner will play have been revealed.

He previously appeared in the one-off comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, where he played a Dalek operator.

Currently, the comedian is touring the UK with his stand-up show Frank Skinner: Man in a Suit. He also hosts BBC One's Room 101 and the Saturday morning Breakfast Show on Absolute Radio - for which he won a Radio Academy Award earlier this week.

Talking about his role in Doctor Who, Skinner said: "I love this show.

"I subscribe to Doctor Who magazine, I've got a Tardis ringtone, a five-foot cardboard Dalek in my bedroom and - when I got the call saying they wanted me to read for the part, I was in the back of my tour bus watching episode three of The Sensorites."

He joins other previously announced guest stars including Samuel Anderson, Ben Miller and Keeley Hawes.

The new series will begin this autumn.