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Strictly Announces First Star On Christmas Special Line-Up – And We’re Off To A Strong Start

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As if the promise of Blackpool in a few days wasn’t an exciting enough prospect for Strictly Come Dancing, the first celebrity taking part in this year’s Christmas special has now been unveiled.

And folks, we’re off to a good start.

On Monday evening, it was revealed that comedian Josh Widdicombe would be getting his dancing shoes on this festive season, with an appearance in Strictly’s annual Christmas Day special.

“I am utterly terrified this will end in humiliation and worried I’m going to be so bad I will ruin Christmas for the nation,” he admitted, questioning: “Why have I done this?”

Josh Widdicombe is taking part in this year's Strictly Christmas special
Josh Widdicombe is taking part in this year’s Strictly Christmas special

Josh will be paired with Kauren Hauer in the Christmas special, competing alongside five more famous contestants to be revealed in the coming days.

The stand-up comedian is known for his appearances on shows like Taskmaster, Have I Got News For You and Live At The Apollo, as well as co-hosting the podcast Parenting Hell with fellow comic Rob Beckett.

Traditionally, the Strictly Christmas episode will see six brand new celebrities competing in a one-off special for the Silver Star trophy.

However, two of the contestants on this year’s regular series of Strictly are former Christmas winners.

JLS singer JB Gill triumphed on Christmas Day back in 2012, while Jamie Borthwick’s festive victory was much more recent.

The EastEnders star came out on top during last year’s Christmas special, where he and Nancy Xu landed a perfect score for their Quickstep routine.

Strictly will continue to announce the Christmas line-up for 2024 over the next week on spin-off show It Takes Two.

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Strictly Come Dancing Introduces Exciting New Twist For This Year’s Series

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Strictly Come Dancing has announced an exciting new themed week for this year’s series as part of the show’s 20th anniversary celebrations.

Next month, each of the celebrity contestants and their professional partners will be performing a routine inspired by their personal musical heroes in the show’s first ever Icons Week.

A BBC press release explained: “In this brand-new special week, which will be part of this series and beyond, the remaining couples will take to the ballroom floor to honour music icons.

“Our Strictly Come Dancing stars will pay tribute to some of the most recognisable and influential people in the music industry. This new week will be dedicated to music legends from across the decades.”

The special live show will air on Saturday 2 November, a week after Strictly’s annual Halloween special.

Strictly’s regular themed weeks – Blackpool Week and Musicals Week – will also still go ahead as usual later in the series.

For now, the BBC is keeping each of the celebs’ Icons picks under wraps, but it’s been revealed that the episode will also feature a special routine paying homage to Beyoncé, in which professional dancer Johannes Radebe will take centre stage.

Vito Coppola, Johannes Radebe and Nikita Kuzmin performing a routine inspired by Beyoncé
Vito Coppola, Johannes Radebe and Nikita Kuzmin performing a routine inspired by Beyoncé

Retired themes from past seasons of Strictly include Around The World week and BBC 100 Week, in which the contestants performed to theme tunes from iconic BBC shows to commemorate the broadcaster’s centennial.

Last week, the first themed week of the series got underway, with the remaining 14 contestants (minus Nick Knowles, who was absent from the live show due to an injury) paying homage to everything from Barbie and Harry Potter to Mrs Doubtfire and Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones wound up becoming the second pair to be sent home, after landing in the dance-off once again, this time alongside football legend Paul Merson and Karen Hauer.

Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday 12 October on BBC One at 6.20pm.

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So THAT’S How The Celebs For Strictly Come Dancing Are Chosen

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We all love a bit of Strictly, don’t we?

In the final months of the year, we cosy up in front of the TV with a cuppa and for a couple of hours, we’re suddenly dance experts, choreographers, the Best of the Biz when it comes to dancing.

However, our real expertise comes into play before the show is even back on air. The second that the Strictly contestants are announced, the real judges are us: “Who is that guy?” “Wait, wasn’t he in an advert or something?” “How is she a celebrity?”.

We know better than not just the dancers but the casting directors, too. We reckon we either don’t know people or they’re long-since washed up celebs.

However, Richard Osman pointed out on his podcast with Marina Hyde, The Rest Is Entertainment, that actually, Strictly is often the making of celebs and our assumptions about them is often wrong.

He said: “A large proportion of the biggest stars on British TV come from reality shows. Strictly has been the absolute making of them. I mean the wonderful late Caroline Flack absolutely went from minor TV presenter to presenting the X Factor and Love Island because she won Strictly.

″[As an agent] if you have a client who is on the cusp of becoming huge, and they have a personality that people like watching on television, then doing something like Strictly… it’s almost impossible to think of a better show.”

Talent executive at Strictly revealed details behind choosing contestants

Speaking on the Strictly Confidential podcast in 2018, the show’s talent executive Stefania Aleksander revealed that the process is actually quite complicated, saying: “You come up with ideas for the cast of Strictly, present them to the executives and commissioners, and together decide who we want to go for.

“The list is endless. We approach people that we really want to go after and we’d love to see on the show and then we meet them to have a chat about the show, and the commitment, and find out how much they want to learn to dance. Then we present that to the channel between us – it’s a long process.”

…Maybe we need to be a little less judgemental.

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Here’s Where You’ve Seen The New Additions To The Cast Of Heartstopper Season 3 Before

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The new season of Heartstopper has already proved to be just as popular as its predecessors, winning rave reviews from critics and shooting to the top of Netflix’s most-watched list just one day after its debut.

Once again, Kit Connor and Joe Locke return as central couple Nick and Charlie, with supporting cast Yasmin Finney, William Gao and Tobie Donovan among the regular cast members also back in action for the new series.

But you might have also noticed a few new additions to the cast of season three, that could ring a little familiar to Heartstopper viewers.

Here’s a bit more about where you might have seen them before…

Hayley Atwell

Hayley Atwell in Hearstopper (left) and Captain America: The First Avenger (right)
Hayley Atwell in Hearstopper (left) and Captain America: The First Avenger (right)

Netflix/Marvel/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

Even if you think Heartstopper is your first time being introduced to Hayley Atwell (who plays Nick’s aunt Diane, in Olivia Colman’s absence), the chances are you’ve seen her before without realising it.

She initially got her start on the big screen in period pieces like Brideshead Revisited and The Duchess, as well as an acclaimed (and Golden Globe-nominated) performance in the show The Pillars Of The Earth, before appearing as Peggy Carter in the Captain America movies.

More recently, she joined the Mission: Impossible series, and is due to share the screen with Tom Cruise once again in the upcoming ninth instalment. Later this month, you can also hear Hayley as the voice of Lara Croft in Netflix’s new animated Tomb Raider series.

Eddie Marsan

Eddie Marsan in Heartstopper (left) and with Marisa Abela in Back To Black (right)
Eddie Marsan in Heartstopper (left) and with Marisa Abela in Back To Black (right)

Netflix/Focus Features

With a CV as vast as Eddie Marsan’s, it’s hard to know where to start. In the last two years alone, he’s been booked and busy, playing Amy Winehouse’s dad in Back To Black, a gangster in Amazon’s The Power, the villainous Ray in Netflix’s Supacell and an imposing CEO in the erotic thriller Fair Play.

His other acclaimed work includes the indie film Happy-Go-Lucky, the Irvine Welsh adaptation Filth and the period drama Vera Drake, co-starring Imelda Staunton.

Annette Badland

Annette Badland in Heartstopper (left) and EastEnders (right)
Annette Badland in Heartstopper (left) and EastEnders (right)

Netflix/BBC

Soap fans will recognise Annette Badland for her performance as Aunt Babe in EastEnders, but her on-screen work dates back almost 50 years.

Some of her stand-out performances include the movie Little Voice, the hit football series Ted Lasso, Channel 4 comedy Big Boys and the first series of the Doctor Who reboot in 2005.

Darragh Hand

Darragh Hand in Heartstopper (left) and Silent Witness (right)
Darragh Hand in Heartstopper (left) and Silent Witness (right)

Netflix/BBC

Heartstopper is Darragh Hand’s biggest role to date, joining the fun as a new love interest for Charlie’s sister, Tori (Jenny Walser).

He has done a few big shows so far, though, including Silent Witness and the ITV drama Grace.

Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey in Heartstopper (left) and Bridgerton (right)
Jonathan Bailey in Heartstopper (left) and Bridgerton (right)

Bridgerton heartthrob Jonathan Bailey makes a brief cameo in one episode of Heartstopper as a social media influencer that Charlie harbours a crush on.

Before being cast in his break-out role of Anthony Bridgerton, you may have seen Jonathan in Chewing Gum, Broadchurch, W1A or Fellow Travelers.

In fact, you can check out more of Jonathan Bailey’s roles you might have forgotten all about here.

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