Rose Ayling-Ellis denies rumours she's set to star in Doctor Who

Strictly winner Rose Ayling-Ellis says there is “no truth” in rumours she is about to join Doctor Who as Ncuti Gatwa’s companion.

Speaking to Sky News at the Edinburgh TV Festival, the former EastEnders star said: “I think it was a rumour which started on Twitter, and it just got bigger and bigger and now it’s everywhere.”

However, if she were to be offered the role it sounds like she’d be up for it, admitting: “It sounds like a great job!”

If Ayling-Ellis were to become part of the sci-fi drama, she would be the first companion with a disability to appear in the show.

The 27-year-old, who recently quit long-running BBC soap EastEnders, made history last year on Strictly Come Dancing, initially as the first deaf participant – and then winner – of the show.

Speaking about her breathtaking silent performance on the show with dance partner Giovanni Pernice, she said she knew it was a “special dance”.

However, at the time she says her head was full, as she was “trying so hard to remember the steps and not mess up the routine”.

Ayling-Ellis, who will give the alternative MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival today, said it was a “big honour” to be speaking to the audience of industry insiders as part of the three-day event.

She is set to speak about the prejudice she has faced as a deaf person working in television and offer up her thoughts on ways to change the collective mindset around representation of the deaf community.

Ayling-Ellis has been deaf since birth and grew up in a hearing family, admitting there have been low points, but told Sky News “you have to navigate the world you live in”.

After recently finding some of her old diaries, she said: “I knew it would be a challenge, and difficult, whatever career I went into. I’d written in my old diary that I’d love to be on TV and work for the BBC, but because I was deaf, I knew it would be hard. But I knew even at 16, I wanted to be on TV.”

After finding fame in EastEnders, and then being taken to the nation’s heart after her Strictly win, she says she doesn’t always get recognised on sight – but people spot her another way.

“When I talk loudly – that’s when people realise it’s me!”

Ayling-Ellis recently unveiled the first Barbie doll with behind-the-ear hearing aids, as part of the new Rose, Barbie and Friends campaign, which includes a number of other diverse dolls.

The actress, who has previously said she used to draw hearing aids on her Barbies when she was a child to make them look like her, said it was a “big moment” for her – plus it was “great fun to dress up like Barbie”.

The fourteenth series of Doctor Who will begin filming in November, and is set to air in 2024, with Sex Education star Gatwa taking over the role of the Doctor from Jodie Whittaker.

Sky News has approached the BBC for comment.

The Edinburgh Television Festival 2022 runs from Wednesday 24 August to Friday 26 August, with Sky News as its official media partner.

On Wednesday, former BBC journalist Emily Maitlis gave the flagship MacTaggart lecture, calling out what she referred to as “Tory cronyism at heart of the BBC“.

Stars including Succession’s Brian Cox and Philomena Cunk actor Diane Morgan will also be appearing at the festival.

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