Things have moved on for Strictly ‘bad boy’ Brendan Cole but, as Katherine MacAlister finds out, it’s onwards and upwards

Last time I spoke to Brendan Cole he was about to get married. To give you an idea of how time has moved on, he’s since had a baby girl who is now 18 months old. But in typical Brendan style, he hasn’t sat still for a second, having just completed his 11th stint on Strictly Come Dancing before embarking on an enormous UK tour.

His hectic schedule has meant, however, that pinning down the Kiwi dancer has been nigh on impossible We were scheduled to talk before Christmas, but then he was voted back into Strictly week after week with partner Sophie Ellis Bexter, postponing the interview again and again.

“There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then, but I’m as busy as I’ve ever been,” he confirms when we finally get to speak, ”but I had a ball with Sophie. She was delightful from start to finish.”

Although the ‘bad boy of Strictly’ is as buoyant as ever on the BBC primetime Saturday night TV show, the 37 year-old’s popularity and dexterity show no signs of waning, even though he is the longest serving professional dancer, alongside Anton Du Bec.

“I’ve always been feisty but if you believe in your product and you know what you want, you go all out. “And my partners always deserve more, so I’m prepared to stand up for what I believe in,” he says and then shrugs adding “but you’re never going to please everybody although we must be doing something right because we are still there and people are still enjoying it.”

Since Strictly finished, however, his attention has been diverted elsewhere, namely his mammoth UK tour, which comes to the New Theatre tomorrow night.

“I love Strictly and am very lucky to have had that opportunity. That’s what pushes you to be better because its so all-consuming and a very intense four months of the year. But if you spend a lifetime in the industry honing your craft, when it comes to producing and staging your own show, you have to draw on all that experience, because you know what you want to put out there, and fine tune it until you get it right.”

The Licence To Thrill Tour also means Brendan gets to demonstrate what he can do, because however good his dancing partners are, Sophie Ellis-Bexter being particularly dexterous, they aren’t professional dancers, meaning the Strictly routines are quite restrictive. “The shows are very different to TV. On Strictly you have 40 seconds to show what you can do, while on stage you have two hours, with 15 dance numbers and a Q&A so it’s more intimate. “On stage you get the real me.”

Even so, Brendan was still nervous about embarking on such a massive tour, despite Strictly’s ongoing success: “It’s hard to gauge whether people still want to see me even when we have that belief in what we are doing,” he says.

“And we had 60,000 tickets to sell, so I didn’t know if people wanted to come, but tickets are selling really well so it is really exciting.”

Such a packed schedule must make it hard to spend time with his new daughter and wife however. “It’s hard to wangle a tour with a baby, but lots of people have that situation in their lives – servicemen, coach drivers... this way I get to choose what I do, and I couldn’t cope with nine-to-five at all.

“So when I’m home for a few days it’s all hands on deck – I’m the best husband and dad I can be. It’s tricky but we make it work. “And we do get time off later in the year. When I’ve finished the tour I will take a month off with my family, but, in the meantime, this is what I do and it’s magic.”

As Brendan is a local, he can nip home after his performance at the New Theatre: “I live on the Bucks/Oxon border and have lots of friends coming along to the Oxford show, so it will be a special night with a bit of a shindig afterwards. I will always be a Kiwi but this is my home now” he says.

His excitement is palpable, despite his longevity, but perhaps this has something to do with his current touring partner, fellow Strictly dancer Aliona Vilani, who has replaced Fauve Hautot who was injured. “We are very lucky to have her, it’s an extra bonus,” Brendan says.

So will he be taking The Licence To Thrill Tour over to New Zealand? ”I would love to, but every time I have some time off it’s winter over there, and I need some sun and vitamin D, which means I haven’t been home for a few years now. “But I would love to take my daughter over and introduce her to everyone, because there’s definitely some rhythm there; she bops up and down whenever music comes on,” he says proudly. A daddy’s girl then? “As perfect as they come,” he agrees.

Brendan Cole’s Licence To Thrill Tour comes to Oxford’s New Theatre tomorrow night.
Call 0844 871 3020 or see atgtickets.com/oxford