Alex Kingston, who played River Song, aka the Doctor’s wife, has, on Strictly Come Dancing, been paired with someone else who has appeared in Doctor Who!

In the launch show last weekend (20th September 2025), the celebrities were paired with their professionals, so Alex will be trained to dance by Johannes Radebe, a 37-year-old who joined Strictly in 2018. If you’re a Doctor Who fan (and we’re sure you are because you’re currently reading the Doctor Who Companion) but not a Strictly follower, you might still recognise Radebe, as he appeared in the end sequence of The Devil’s Chord, the Series 14 episode starring Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson as the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday respectively.

Radebe danced alongside Gatwa and Gibson on the show, as well as Shirley Ballas, the head judge on Strictly Come Dancing. Sadly, The Devil’s Chord wasn’t exactly a high point in the programme’s history, but at least the song and dance number at the episode’s conclusion had a few fans, even if it made very little sense. Johannes was good in it anyway.

Alex played River, daughter of Amy Pond and Rory Williams, opposite the Tenth (David Tennant), Twelfth (Peter Capaldi), and, most extensively, the Eleventh (Matt Smith) Doctors.

Alex and Johannes should make for a nice pairing, seeing as he’s had form helping the similarly-shy Annabel Croft come out of her shell in 2023, earning them fourth place in the competition.

They’ll be on Strictly Come Dancing‘s weekend shows, of course, including each Saturday’s live show, as well as weekly visits and training VTs in the daily spin-off series, Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.