Who is Doctor Who series finale guest star Phyllis Logan?

But what do we know about this mysterious new addition? And why might you recognise Phyllis Logan, the actress who plays her?

Who is Andinio and who else stars in the Doctor Who series finale?

The series finale sees the Tardis team land on the remains of a battlefield on the planet Ranskoor Av Kolos after hearing nine separate distress signals.

Andinio (played by Logan) is one of a number of new characters encountered by the Doctor and her friends, along with Mark Addy's Paltraki – a military commander with no memory.

Who is Phyllis Logan?

Ranskoor Av Kolos is quite a different prospect to an Edwardian country house, which is where Logan has spent much of her time of late, working on the upcoming Downton Abbey movie. She will reprise her role as Mrs Hughes for the film, which is due to hit screens on 13 September 2019.

Logan played the character for all six series of the ITV drama, entertaining viewers as the prim housekeeper whose blossoming relationship with butler Charles Carson, who proposed at the end of series five, warmed hearts in households across the country.

Besides Downton Abbey, Logan has a wealth of experience in TV and films and is well known for her long run on the much-loved 80s show Lovejoy as Lady Jane Felsham. Over nine years she starred in more than 50 episodes as the character, who supports Ian McShane’s roguish art dealer in his escapades, and with whom she has a ‘will-they, won’t they’ relationship.

Aged 62, Logan is originally from Paisley, Scotland, and had no plans to be an actor when she was growing up. She previously told the Washington Post in 2014: “Because I came from a small town outside Glasgow, nobody from my school had ever gone into the acting profession. It was just something you didn’t do. You joined the bank or became a teacher.”

She clearly found her path: Logan studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, graduating with the James Bridie gold medal in 1977.

She started out on stage with the Dundee Repertory Theatre, but after meeting the director Michael Radford on a TV set, she appeared in her first film Another Time, Another Place (1983), gaining a Bafta for Most Promising Newcomer for her portrayal of Janie, who falls in love with an Italian man that she and her husband take in for a war rehabilitation programme.

During her 40-year career, Logan has also appeared in: Girlfriends, Wallander, Silent Witness, Hope and Glory and Holby City.

Mandip Gill, who plays Yaz in Doctor Who, has worked with her before on Good Karma Hospital and says “it’s been really nice” acting together on the episode.

It’s also given her someone to commute with: “Our characters have quite a few scenes together, so we used to travel to work together”, she told Radio Times.

The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos will air on Sunday 9 December at 6.25pm on BBC1

This article was originally published on 7 December 2018