Les Dennis' Strictly health fear as he shares wife's heartbreaking reaction
He’s a few weeks away from turning 70 but Les Dennis doesn’t mind admitting he was chomping at the bit to be chosen for this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.
And when word came through that he was in, his wife wept tears of joy - while he just hoped his knee replacement would hold up. The actor and entertainer, who started training along with the 14 other celebs last week, is trying to pack things in before he gets too old.
“I was in the mix for Strictly, and then I heard from my agent I’d got it, and I called my wife and she cried – but in a good way. She didn’t cry going, ‘Don’t do it!’ He is ticking off new experiences as he reaches the end of his sixties. “It’s a big challenge,” he admits. “The last few years, I’ve had challenges just come out of nowhere, like I did my first opera two years ago at the RSC, with no training. So this is such a massive opportunity as I approach 70. I thought yeah, why not?”
Still on the wish list is a part in Hamlet, or perhaps Macbeth. “I would love to do Shakespeare,” he says. Confessing he struggled to get out of bed the morning after his first Strictly training session, Les says his new knee is far better than his old, painful, arthritic one - so he won’t need to take it easy in the ballroom. “I can do all the dances,” he reports.
Les was delighted to land a place on Strictly (BBC/Ray Burmiston)
Annabel Croft (BBC/Ray Burmiston)When he had the surgery two years ago, it was under local anaesthetic. “I stayed awake for it,” he says proudly. “I thought, 'I’ll listen to what’s going on’. I could hear ‘bang, bang, bang’ – I thought somebody had put shelves up. Ten weeks later, I was rehearsing Hairspray.” Fellow contestant Krishnan Guru-Murthy may actually have to veto certain dances - because he’s been told by doctors to keep his heart rate moderate.
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Having been diagnosed with the genetic condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which has already led to the premature deaths of two cousins, he thinks the most dangerous number is the Charleston. ”I’ve got to keep my heart rate below about 140, and I don’t know whether you can do that in a 90-second very fast dance,” he says.
“The Charleston will be a challenge, but we’ll see. I mean, my cardiologist basically said ‘I can’t give you a hundred per cent guarantee that you won’t drop dead’." The Channel 4 News anchor, 53, said he agreed to take part, having turned it down several times before, because the news agenda has been so dark in recent years with the pandemic, war in Ukraine and political chaos.
“You become a sort of conduit for that,” he explained. “It’s all quite stressful, so the idea of actually having an outlet for pure pleasure, joy and fun, where you totally take your mind off the news, was a huge opportunity in a way that I’d never realised before. I was going, ‘you’ve been an absolute idiot saying no to this for years, you should grasp it, it’s a privilege to be asked - just go and do it’.”
Annabel Croft is also hoping to distract herself from the darker side of life. The former tennis ace and BBC broadcaster has had a terribly tough summer following the death of her husband of 31 years, Mel Coleman, in May. He died eight weeks after being diagnosed with cancer and Annabel, 57, says part of the motivation for signing up was because he was such a big fan of the show.
“My husband absolutely loved it,” she smiles. “He used to call me over if I was cooking, and he was crying watching it. So, I hope he’s watching.” Super-fit Annabel, who has three grown-up children, said that despite still reeling from her loss, the show will provide a welcome distraction.
“I just think, what an amazing time to try and find some joy, and just to be thrown into something to take your mind off things. I know it is a competition, but to me it’s like yoga, where you just think about what you’re doing on the mat, and just try to improve yourself. That’s my attitude anyway.”
Angela Rippon's adorable admission
Angela Rippon might be the oldest contestant ever to take part in the show but she is brimming with confidence after being told she was the career inspiration for several of the pro dancers. “One person came up and said, ‘You are the reason I am a professional dancer, because I used to persuade my mum to let me stay up and watch Come Dancing when you were presenting it’,” she marvelled.
“At least three other guys and girls have come up and said, ‘Our teacher was a contestant when you were presenting the programme’.” She still can’t believe she hasn’t been approached to take part before - laughing: “The first words out of my mouth were, ‘Why didn’t you ask me 10 years ago?'
But consumer presenter Angela, who turns 79 next month, says her link with the original show isn’t an added burden. “There’s no pressure because I presented Come Dancing, I didn’t dance on it,” she says. “This is just the other side of the coin. I’ve been around dancers a lot and it’s lovely to actually now be among dancers, doing it myself.”
Angela Rippon (BBC/Kieron McCarron)
Amanda Abbington (BBC/Ray Burmiston)Unlike Angela, Paralympic cyclist Jody Cundy feels way out of his comfort zone - but is hoping his stint on the show might just change his life. “I literally have no confidence,” he confesses. “As much as I'm confident as a Paralympian and an athlete, in general life I struggle to come out and say what I want to say, or talk to people, or do anything else. The idea of doing Strictly - it's full-on, it’s in front of lots of people, and I'm doing something I've never done before.”
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Jody, a below-the-knee amputee who will dance with a prosthetic, is determined to confront his anxiety. “If I can have a smile on my face and enjoy the dance, I hope that then filters into my life afterwards and the bits that cripple me and stop me from doing things, all of those barriers break down and I become a more confident person.” The 44-year-old has one advantage - he’s not afraid of tight-fitting costumes. The former swimmer laughs: “I live in Lycra! I’ve gone from small trunks, then the cycling kit, and now it’s the same, but with glitter and sparkles.”
Amanda Abbington's heartbreaking reason for doing show
Actress Amanda Abbington says she signed up for the show because middle-aged women are so often ignored. "I just did (it) because I’m a woman of a certain age, and I think we’re slightly invisible,” she explained. “I just wanted to make us a little bit more visible and viable.”
The Sherlock star, 49, says having plenty of experience at performing in front a live audience hasn’t helped her nerves one jot. “This is more terrifying, certainly, than any theatre I’ve ever done,” she said. The mum of two teens - who is hoping to embarrass them - joked that she is doing “a lot of weeping” to keep calm.
“I’ve got a lovely family unit back home. I’ve got dogs, and I just go home and stroke them really hard, they sit there with their little eyes, and I’m going, ‘You love me, don’t you? Please tell me you love me?’” She insisted: “It’s the most fun I’ve ever had on a show, but dancing is a different thing to acting, it feels more exposing.”
Fellow actor Nigel Harman, 50, says he’s on Strictly after loosening up thanks to his love of meditation. He said he read a book on the subject and when he first tried it “a little something happened”. It has helped him to relax and not take himself so seriously. “I get more out of life now than I used to get, and I’m happier than I used to be,” he says. “I did a little bit today, as I could feel my heart going, ‘What am I doing here?’ I went and sat down for five minutes.”
He said that he also has a real soft spot for family entertainment on TV. “I love Ant and Dec, I loved Bruce Forsyth and this show is very much that. Also it’s live, and when I’m not acting on telly, I love being in the theatre. That’s exciting to me. But I have to say, it’s more terrifying than I thought it was going to be.”
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