Doctor Who’s Alex Kingston is to star in a in a specially adapted version of Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s An Enemy of the People at Nottingham Playhouse.

Kingston will take the lead role of Dr Stockmann in the play about fake news, whistle-blowers and the corruption of power. It is set in contemporary Norway where Dr Stockmann discovers a town’s spa waters are poisoned.

The Playhouse’s artistic director Adam Penford said,  “Alex Kingston is a tremendous actor with a powerful stage presence and global profile. I was delighted by how passionately she felt about both the play and the character and was excited about coming to Nottingham.

Alex Kingston commented, “The main character was written for a man and has always been played by a man; in this version it’s being adapted to allow me to play the role.

“The piece is really timely—there are a lot of shadows within the play that echo what we’re going through right now: the Flint water scandal in Michigan, the vilification of Hillary Clinton, the general state of democracy and post-Brexit Britain. There are a lot of themes that will resonate for the audience in this play.”

An Enemy of the People will run at Nottingham Playhouse from 13 until 28 September.