She's had plenty of experience of other-worldly phenomena from her stint as FBI agent Dana Scully in the X-Files, which may have prompted the interest being taken by BBC bosses in Gillian Anderson for a role as a baddie in Dr Who.
The producers of the cult sci-fi series are apparently eyeing her for a one-off special in which she'd appear opposite new Time Lord Matt Smith.
London-based Gillian, best known to British audiences for her role in Charles Dickens' adaptation Bleak House, would play renegade Time Lady, The Rani. The glamorous but evil scientific genius was played in the Eighties by Kate O'Mara.
"Gillian obviously has a massive sci-fi following and it's felt that it would be a major coup to have her appear in Doctor Who," a source tells the Daily Express.
"The Rani would be a perfect role for her as the character used to be regarded as one of the Doctor's most deadly opponents," they add.

