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John Leeson, the voice of K9 in Doctor Who, at the Gallifrey One convention in 2011. Image: Mark Garland, CC BY-SA 2.0
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John Leeson, the Voice of Doctor Who’s K9, Dies at 83. He Was Asked to Sound Like a Speaker in a Cheap Radio

Sarah Robbins · November 1, 2026 · 5 min read

John Leeson, the English actor who gave Doctor Who's robot dog K9 his clipped, know-it-all voice from 1977, has died at 83. His son announced on Sunday that he died peacefully after what the family called a summer of illness. Leeson voiced K9 for more than three decades, across the original series, its revival, two spinoffs, audio dramas and a video game.

His son, Guy Ducker, shared the news in a Facebook post on Sunday, 1 November. "I regret to announce the death of my father, John Ducker, a.k.a. John Leeson, at 3:03pm today after a summer of illness. The end was peaceful," he wrote, closing with a line from Hamlet: "Good night, sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

Leeson was born John Francis Christopher Ducker in Leicester in March 1943 and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He's survived by his son and by his wife, Judy Griffiths, whom he married in 1969.

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