Doctor Who star Peter Davison joins cast for The Windsors coronation special

Harry Enfield will return as Charles for the crowning moment
Peter Davison starrs as the Fifth Doctor and is now travelling forward in time as King William IV
Channel 4
William Mata27 April 2023

Peter Davison was a beloved Doctor Who who will be time-travelling towards his next role in The Windsors coronation episode.

The former time lord will play the ghost of King William IV, in the one-off special on Channel 4 on Sunday, April 30, at 9pm.

In 1831, the 64-year-old William became the oldest-ever monarch to take the crown alongside QueenAdelaide in a famously paltry ceremony. Charles III will dethrone his achievement when he is crowned at 73.

Channel 4 has said Davison’s William will meet with his modern-day namesake, Prince Wills, who is played by Fleabag’s Hugh Skinner.

The Windsors has provided a satire on the Royal Family since 2016, with Harry Enfield portraying a self-absorbed and overconfident Charles. It spawned the stage play The Windsors: Endgame, which ran in the West End in 2021.

The coronation special will see the couple planning the event as a lavish celebration despite objections from Prince Wills, the most publicly attune Royal, who is concerned as to how it could look amid a cost-of-living crisis.

Davison said in a statement: “I’m very pleased to be asked to appear in the coronation special, even if I am only an apparition.

“After many years going from playing vets, to doctors, to policemen, to vicars, and then barristers, I can see I’ve now reached the ‘ghost’ phase of my career — this is not necessarily a good sign, but it was a joy to do it.”

The actor was one of the most popular to wield the sonic screwdriver and could be back as the Doctor for the series’ 60th anniversary. David Tennant, who is Davison’s real-life son-in-law, has also confirmed he will be back for the BBC special later this year.

Davison, who was the fifth Doctor, said: “I was very envious of the special effects. We didn’t have a lot — we were mainly down to green screens and rather cumbersome rubber monsters.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in