Stricly star Brendan Cole talks to FLICKY HARRISON about his show, All Night Long

OFTEN labelled the bad boy of Strictly, Brendan Cole is actually its biggest advocate. So much so that his own stage show is aimed at giving people the Strictly Come Dancing experience.

Brendan will be bringing All Night Long to Swindon next month along with a 14-piece band, a 21-strong cast of professional dancers and singers performing everything from the waltz to the Argentine Tango, and a bit of Strictly gossip.

“People see Strictly each week, they come to a Strictly type show so I want to give them the full experience, the magic of Strictly,’’ said Brendan, whose speciality is Latin American dance.

“I do a bit of chat about behind the scenes, give them something to take away that they didn’t know, a bit of gossip along with powerful pieces of theatre such as the waltz which is the story of a love affair danced to a Michael Buble classic.’’

Brendan was born in New Zealand and came over to the UK when he was just 18 years old. He funded his dance through working as a builder and various other jobs before following his dream to become a professional dancer.

“I took a one way ticket, not sure whether it was brave of crazy,’’ said Brendan.

The dancer returned to his home country to become a judge on the New Zealand version of Strictly called Dancing With The Stars, finding it fun to be on the other side of the fence.

“It was worth doing, a good thing to do to pass on my experience,’’ he said.

Brendan also appeared on the 2006 version of Love Island which he quickly says was nothing like the recent version.

“It was a bit of nonsense, a chance to do a different sort of TV show,’’ he said.

Brendan also appeared in the feature film Everything to Dance For, but he says the actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company need not worry for the competition as he has no plans to go into straight acting, but he would like to move into the theatre world and he can sing.

“I am not a serious actor but I know how to entertain,’’ he said. “And theatre is on the cards when Strictly is over.’’

Brendan has been one of the pro dancers on the successful BBC 1 television series since it began. His first partner was newsreader and presenter Natasha Kaplinsky and they were the first to raise the glitterball as over all winners.

His other celebrity partners included another presenter, Lisa Snowdon, Lulu and Olympian Victoria Pendleton and this time his partner was Charlotte Hawkins.

“I had a good time this year with Charlotte.

“I liked all my partners who embraced the show, you spend eight or nine hours a day with them, it is intense,’’ he said.

He says that over the last 15 years Strictly has grown massively and the format has changed although it still has the same feeling.

“You become emotionally attached to it,’’ he said.

“At the beginning the pro dancers would work out the choreography of the group dances themselves, now it is too big but we still bring our own magic to it. We do tend to get a bit type cast, I have no idea why I always seem to get the halloween lead?’’ he laughed.

Brendan says that for those few months it completely takes over his life and the pro dancers are genuine friends.

“One or two have been annoying over the years but this current bunch are phenomenal,’’ he said. In August the pros start rehearsing their group numbers.

“It is like a rebonding, we all feel Wow we are back together.’’

All Night Long comes to Swindon’s Wyvern Theatre on January 20 and tickets are £41 from 01793 524481 or visit www.swindontheatres.co.uk.