Freema Agyeman has worked with Bradley Walsh and says he'd make an "absolutely fantastic" Doctor Who companion

“I’d love to see it, I think he’d be absolutely fantastic,” Agyeman told RadioTimes.com. “He is so talented, I mean he’s just an exquisite actor to watch, in the room, on screen, I was totally bowled over by his stuff in Law & Order, and so were all the audiences, you’ve only got to look back at the reviews."

Freema Agyeman and Bradley Walsh in Law & Order: UK

Many viewers will know Walsh best from his hit game show The Chase, which provides plenty of laughs along with the quiz questions, and Agyeman believes that if he does turn out to be the Doctor’s next partner in time, Walsh’s comedy skills will stand him in just as good stead as his dramatic acting experience.

“He’s coming from a background of comedy as well, and Doctor Who feels like it fluctuates between one genre and the next, depending on what the subject matter is, and the setting and the casting,” said Agyeman. “One minute it feels like a comedy, then a tragedy and he’s got really good range so I think whether they decide to make him a comic companion or heavy-weighted – whatever – he can do all of it. So I would love to see him [in the role], definitely.”

While Doctor Who has had no shortage of white males at its centre over the years, at 57, Walsh would nevertheless be the oldest actor to fill the role of companion, which Agyeman says can only be a good thing.

“You’re talking to a black female who’s playing a queer character on TV, I’m always going to be looking for inclusion and diversification,” said Agyeman, referencing her role in sci-fi drama Sense8. “We need to keep things moving so that everybody feels represented and included at some point, it can’t just always be perpetuating the same things. I think the entertainment arts are at their most accessible and interesting when they reflect the many facets and faces of society, not just the few.

“One of the strengths of a show like Doctor Who is change and you mustn’t be trying to impart anything on anybody who’s coming afterwards – everybody’s got to bring their own flavour, their own feeling and, you know, mix it up!

“That’s why the show is so successful and has its longevity, it’s because of change.”

Freema Agyeman is among a host of celebrities who have contributed a drawing for National Doodle Day, which runs until Sunday 24th September and raises vital funds for Epilepsy Action

See the stars' doodles and find out how you can donate here