Doctor Who's Bonnie Langford returns – and explains Mel's fate

The actress first appeared as Melanie Bush in 1986, alongside Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor, staying on for part of Sylvester McCoy's run as the Seventh Doctor before leaving in 1987.

She later returned for a cameo in Jodie Whittaker's final episode, The Power of the Doctor, last year, and it was announced that she's going to join Ncuti Gatwa during his first season as the Fifteenth Doctor.

However, we didn't have to wait that long to see her back in action – Mel rocked up in the third 60th anniversary special, The Giggle, now working at UNIT with Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave).

As David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor enters UNIT HQ, Mel hands him some papers – and the Doctor almost misses her, before doing a double take.

"Oh, no way! That is the best news. Melanie, hello!" he says, with the pair catching up later in the episode and Mel sharing some more details about her life. After all, a lot of time has passed since she left to travel with Sabalom Glitz on board the Nosferatu II in Dragonfire.

She says: "I travelled the stars. Good old Sabalom Glitz, he lived 'til he was 101. Died falling over a whisky bottle - it was the perfect way to go. He had this great big Viking funeral and I thought, 'Time to go home'. So I got a lift off a zingo and came back to Earth.

"And then I had to face up to the one thing I'd been running away from – I've got nothing. My family are all gone. Remember? But then Kate offered me a job and here I am!"

McCoy previously opened up to RadioTimes.com about Bonnie's initial exit from the show, saying he had to fight for her to have a proper exit scene.

He said: "She decided to leave. And they were going, 'That was it.' And I said, 'No you can't let her leave without a scene! We need a scene!' I was the Doctor... She was Colin [Baker's] companion, she's been with me, he and me are the same. You can't just say goodbye and close the door.

"They went and found a scene that I'd done a screen test for and they took that scene and they wrote it up to do. I remember that being an emotional moment and I was so pleased I argued to get that in, so that I could say goodbye."

The actor also admitted Langford was "underused" on the show – but that she was able to explore her character more in later Big Finish audio dramas.

Upon hearing the news of her return to Doctor Who, he told us: "How wonderful to hear Bonnie is coming back to Doctor Who.

"I’m sure she won’t mind my stating, when she was with me, the production underused Bonnie. She has shined brightly since in the Big Finish Doctor Who stories she recorded with Colin and I."

He added: "How brilliant it will be for us all to see how bright beautiful Bonnie can be in Who. She was bloody marvellous in EastEnders!"

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