It’s been confirmed that the Doctor’s old enemies, the Ice Warriors, are returning to Doctor Who and will face the Time Lord during the run of eight epic adventures that begins on Saturday, March 30.

The Ice Warriors are an imposing, militaristic race from Mars that first appeared opposite the Second Doctor in the 1967 adventure, The Ice Warriors. In that story the Doctor’s companion was Victoria Waterfield and who better to ask about the Martian menace than the actress who played her, Deborah Watling. We caught up with her at the weekend and she was delighted to hear of the Ice Warriors’ return. ‘They’re terrifying! Absolutely terrifying! It will be lovely to see them again,’ she revealed.

They attempted an invasion of Earth in The Seeds of Death and faced the Third Doctor in 1972’s The Curse of Peladon. By this stage they had largely renounced their warlike approach and even teamed up with the Doctor. But a rogue element of Ice Warriors was up to no good in The Monster of Peladon, showing that their old bellicose tendencies had not been entirely eradicated… More recently, the icy aliens were glimpsed very briefly in a flashback sequence during The Sarah Jane Adventures: Death of the Doctor and they were mentioned by the Tenth Doctor in The Waters of Mars.

The Ice Warriors return in the third episode of the new run in an adventure featuring David Warner and written by Mark Gatiss. Mark reveals 'I've always loved the iconic Ice Warriors and have been badgering to bring them back for ages. And now they're on a ssssssubmarine! With Russians! I'm a very happy anorak right now'.

We’ll bring you more information about their comeback as it emerges, but for today, the final words go to Deborah Watling. ‘The originals were pretty cumbersome,’ she told us, ‘but that somehow added to effect… They’re wonderful!’