DESIGN BY JACK ROWE
SPECIAL THANKS TO NIALL HAY AND JO SEAR AT THE BBC

If your engines aren’t started, consider this your ignition: RuPaul’s Drag Race UK roars back on the BBC tomorrow with Girls Aloud icon Nadine Coyle “fearing for her life,” legendary Brits like Tracy Beaker, Charlotte Church, and Denise from EastEnders fully transformed in drag, and a “ridonkulously gag-worthy” lineup of queens, runways — and, blimey, this part is just so unexpected — twists! and! turns!

Reminder incoming: the 12 queens hoping to usurp Kyran Thrax as the UK’s Next Drag Superstar are Bones, Bonnie Ann Clyde, Catrin Feelings, Chai T Grande, Elle Vosque, Nyongbella, Paige Three, Pasty, Sally™, Silllexa Diction, Tayris Mongardi and Viola.

While the cast promise that season seven will deliver all the charisma, uniqueness, nerve, talent, and reality-TV shenanigans we’ve come to expect, they emphasise that Drag Race’s impact goes far beyond the werkroom and the runway. In a political climate increasingly hostile towards LGBTQIA+ people — especially trans and non-binary communities — they see the series as a platform to uplift, inspire and “be queer figureheads for our community.” This season isn’t just about entertainment; it’s about celebrating resilience, visibility, and queer joy when it’s needed most.

From inspiring the next generation of queer viewers to subverting Drag Race expectations — and a judge who may or may not have been “punched in the tit” (confirmation pending) — all of this and more is covered in the following interview with the cast of season seven. Disclaimer: 12 drag queens on one call means this conversation has been lovingly condensed for clarity (and shade).

GT: Queens, condragulations on becoming RuGirls with RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season seven! Let’s go back to the beginning: when you first sashayed into the werkroom, what were your initial impressions of one another?

Sally: I was really overstimulated! It felt like The Truman Show. I’m a Rolodex diva, so I knew these people before they knew me. I knew Bones was Queen Soho. I knew Paige was dippy dancing about on the West End. I knew Tayris had won Brighton’s big drag pageant. I’d even seen Catrin’s TikToks before I came in. Then they all came in and I was like, ‘What are they good at? What will I be able to beat them in?’ Of course, Silllexa came in and I was like, ‘Shit, there’s my competition — the seamstress!’ I really enjoyed it… while simultaneously shitting myself.

Pasty: You don’t see anything until you literally walk in and then [production are] like, ‘You need to hit this mark.’ It’s such a blur!

Silllexa: It was such an early start. I was jittering. It was chaos. I should not have had four Red Bulls.

Pasty: My breast plate was just [starts jiggling her tig ol’ biddies]! I did them in.