Craig Revel Horwood says Strictly Come Dancing can become even more inclusive and there are still new areas to explore this year, including ballerinas or people from the fashion world.
These days Craig has the honour of being the hit BBC dance series’ longest-serving judge, having been grilling and marking its stars since it first aired in 2004. Co-host Tess Daly is the only other part of the original cast and this year marks two decades for the pair in the ballroom.
Asked if there was more ground to break, Craig said: “Yeah! We haven’t explored a lot of the communities. You know like, leading fashion designers, we haven’t had one of them on the show, you know like for instance, I mean I’m just throwing ideas out there. We haven’t had a prima ballerina take part, for instance, like Sylvie Guillem. Yeah we’ve had Darcey Bussell on the judging panel but we haven’t had people like that.
“I mean, there’s a lot of people that we can still invest in and you know that’s the beauty about Strictly that it crosses all different communities and teaches other communities about that community, you know? So I think there’s so many different ways to go with it. I mean it’s been 20 years, and we will never, ever run out of celebs for Strictly.”
Craig is right that there are areas to look for celebs, although he may have forgotten fashion designer Julien McDonald appeared on the show in 2013, although he only lasted three weeks. Referring to inclusivity, 59-year-old Craig added: “It was wonderful having Rose [Ayling-Ellis] of course, from the deaf community, I thought that was so brilliant and it wasn’t even a gesture, I mean she went on to win it and she was absolutely fantastic.
“It just goes to prove that if you put your mind to it and if you adapt, we have to adapt as judges, people that have lost a limb and are wearing a blade for instance, you know we can’t say, ‘Well, where were the heel leads, darling?’ because obviously they don’t have a heel, so we as judges have to adapt to the various communities as well and support that.
“And you know, dance isn’t just for inverted commas normal people, it’s for everybody, any human being has rhythm in their body and I think that’s the important thing.” Craig said he was only told the line up the same day they were released to the media so had no clues on the 2024 line up but said rumoured name Alan Carr would be “brilliant” and he hoped it was true he was heading to the ballroom this Autumn.
He was chatting to promote a touring theatre production of Wizard Of Oz which will see him on the road playing The Wicked Witch of the West until the end of July, by which time he will almost be returning to Strictly. The show kicked off on stage in Woking this week and heads to Belfast at the end of the month and Craig said he was just be ready in time after an operation to remove painful bunions and “flatten his toes”.
Fans saw him photographed in a foot cast when he appeared on TV in Ireland last month. On his stage outfit as a Witch, Craig said: “Well, I’m in a lower heel this week and I intend to go up an inch a week! I’m just waiting for my toes to solidify I think because I’ve got metal rods in two of them, so the bones have to fuse, so I just have to be really wary and careful. But it’s all going quite well and according to plan and I’m pleased and my doctor’s very pleased so I’m glad I had the surgery done because it was the only time that I could get literally six weeks off, six weeks not performing that I didn’t have to wear shoes.
“Because on Patrick Kielty’s show, The Late Late Show, I had to wear my support ones! It was a bit, ‘Oh God, I’ll have to explain it all now,’ because I was hoping that I wasn’t going to be doing any television appearances but still, if it encourages other people to get their bunions done then so be it.”
There is not much dancing in his part in the Wizard of Oz show but Craig says he will be “ripe to go” in September if the judges perform any dance in Strictly. In fact it is clear that Craig is not one to rest, even after an operation. He famously returned to Strictly seven days after having a hip replacement.
And in the downtime from his bunions op when most people would sit watching TV, Craig recorded his own album which he will release alongside a new musical later in the year. “I recorded it during my week off. I recorded it when I had that because I thought, ‘What can I do if I can’t walk?’ I thought, ‘Well I can sit in a studio and sing on a stool!’ So I thought, ‘I’ll record an album in that week,’ why not?
“It’s all lady’s songs - from the theatre. So it’s all your leading ladies’ tunes, which is something unusual, you know, because it’s songs that boys don’t usually sing or the sort of opportunities that don’t ever get in life, you never really get to sing them as a leading actor because they’re for women, but they’re great songs.”
He admits he has not done it to be top of the charts or make a fortune, adding: “I haven’t done it for any real monetary gain as such, I’ve done it because people have been requesting it, you know from my one-man shows. They said, ‘Have you go an album of this at all out?’ I said, ‘No actually, I have never recorded,’ so I thought, ‘Well, I’ll try it and do it once and see how it goes.’ Plus, my Mum wanted a copy so I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that!’ And why not? See how it goes, I don’t know, I don’t expect I’m going to go to number one darling, I have no ideas above my station and I don’t think I’m going to be Lady Gaga or anything like that!”
Turning to his life off TV and the stage, Craig confirmed plans are still very much going forward for his wedding next year. The big day with Jonathan Myring has been delayed previously until 2024 as he wants to wed at home but the house is not fully finished. Now it will be next Summer.
Craig met Jonathan, 44, on Tinder in 2018, and they got engaged in March 2020 when Jonathan popped the question as they were holidaying in Tasmania. Craig said: “We’re getting the renovations done as we speak and getting the garden sorted and getting it all done so we can have a big huge bash there.
"I do not want to have it in the winter when my actual birthday is, because my actual birthday is on the 4th of January and I’m in the middle of panto in Milton Keynes and it would be the dead of winter, so I said to Jonathan, ‘Let’s postpone it until July’ because that’s when I’ll be free. It will be celeb packed.”
Craig is appearing in Wizard Of Oz from now until the end of July with the next run of dates in Belfast May 21-26. Tickets at wizardofozmusical.com
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