We have our first guest judge for the second series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, and it’s a good one. 

Dawn French has confirmed she will be taking a seat alongside Mama Ru when the hit BBC Three series eventually returns. 

The comedian and actor is the first celebrity name to be announced for the upcoming series, and revealed she is due to film her stint on the panel in a couple of weeks. 

Making an appearance on Jessie Ware’s Table Manners podcast, Dawn revealed: “Here’s a spoiler I’m going to give you, a little scoop – I’m going to be one of the guest judges.

“They did originally ask me if I would be a full-time judge, but I couldn’t – because I just don’t live in London. But I am going to be a guest judge in a couple of weeks.”

Speaking about the Covid protocols on set, Dawn added: “I think there’s going to be sort of Perspex between each judge kind of thing, so I won’t be able to touch Ru. That’s a shame, because I really do want to touch Ru!”

Earlier this week, regular judge Alan Carr confirmed the series is set to resume filming in two weeks, after being halted midway through due to the pandemic back in March. 

Appearing on Lorraine, he then joked: “It’s also good for some of the drag queens who maybe their sewing wasn’t that good – because in the lockdown, if they’ve got any sense, they’d be on that sewing machine, with that pedal down! No excuse.”

The British version of Drag Race launched last year, with a second run originally scheduled for the autumn. 

While no new air date has been set, it is thought it Drag Race UK will return in early 2021. 

In the meantime, bosses have announced a new spin-off series, which takes a look at what happened to the queens after the first series concluded. 

The cameras followed them on their UK tour last year for the fly-on-the-wall docu-series, with viewers promised plenty of high jinks, sisterly camaraderie and good old-fashioned shade. 

God Shave The Queens will debut as an eight-part series on BBC iPlayer in early November.