Dawn French lands new TV judging role

Dawn French attends the Glamour Women of The Year Awards 2017 at Berkeley Square Gardens

(Image credit: Karwai Tang / Contributor Getty)

published 29 December 2020

Dawn French is set to return to TV after she landed a seat on the judging panel for series two of RuPaul's Drag Race UK.

The Vicar of Dibley star will join EastEnders actress Natalie Cassidy, Maya Jama, and Jessie Ware for the star-studded line up. The fab four will join Elizabeth Hurley, Sheridan Smith, Lorraine Kelly, MNEK and Jourdan Dunn on the new series, which showcases the country's most sensational drag queens in a bid to be crowned the UK's next Drag Race Superstar.

RuPaul's Drag Race UK revealed on Twitter that Dawn, 63, Maya, 26, and Jessie, 36, would be celebrity judges on the upcoming season which starts on 14th January.

The tweet read, "The Christmas presents aren't stopping. Excited to announce that , and will all be judges on the next series of #DragRaceUK @Dawn_French @MayaJama @JessieWare"

The Christmas presents aren't stopping. Excited to announce that @Dawn_French, @MayaJama and @JessieWare will all be judges on the next series of #DragRaceUK pic.twitter.com/8BVk1WVjOSDecember 27, 2020

And the stars cannot wait to get started with the series, Maya re-tweeted and added, "The way I love this show [excited emojis] Can. Not. Wait!!!!"

While Jessie put, "I'm gonna be a guest judge on @dragraceukbbc ! Dreams do come true!!!!! Had such a great time with them. The Queens are [fire emoji] you're going to LOVE them x ."

Natalie added, "Had the best time!" and Dawn simply retweeted the TV show's tweet, but her minimalist response has left fans delighted with the news.

One fan wrote, "No idea who the other two are, but DAWN FRENCH!! WOO!!" Another fan tweeted, "This is excellent news, especially Dawn French!" and a third added, "Yesssssssss , now you just have to get and all will be good in the world. Best two ladies, EVER!!!! My one wish would be to meet those 2 talented and gifted comedy geniuses. @Dawn_French @ferrifrump" in the hope Dawn would rope in friend Jennifer Saunders into starring on the show.

A post shared by Sky TV (@skytv)
A photo posted by on

Meanwhile Dawn has been on TV screens over Christmas as she stars in Christmas Sky Original Roald & Beatrix: The Tail of the Curious Mouse, alongside Nick Mohammed, Strictly 2020 winner Bill Bailey and Rob Brydon.

She also narrated Channel 4 show "A Reindeer’s First Christmas" and stars on Rob Brydon's YouTube channel and is a guest on The Guilty Feminist podcast where she talks about all things family.

Selina is a Senior Entertainment Writer with more than 15 years of experience in newspapers and magazines. She has covered all things Entertainment for GoodtoKnow, Woman&Home and My Imperfect Life. Before joining Future Publishing, Selina graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2006 with a degree in Journalism. She is fully NCTJ and NCE qualified and has 100wpm shorthand.