From Summer Seasons to Strictly: Bruce Forsyth on a lifetime in entertainment
The former Strictly host looks back on an illustrious career and reveals that when he was first approached to do Strictly Come Dancing, he was convinced it was "a wind-up"
The BBC soon sensed they were on to a winner, so much so that we were starting to make our second series almost within days of completing the first. At 76 years old I was suddenly presenting one of the biggest shows on television. The echoes I could hear from Sunday Night at the London Palladium were not lost on me.
What no one could have guessed, however, was just how big a winner Strictly was to become. It has subsequently evolved into a monster hit, not only in the UK but worldwide. I believe it is now the BBC’s biggest-ever export as a format. At this point, there is something important I would like to make clear. Much has been written over recent months about how I supposedly did not enjoy my time on Strictly. That is absolutely incorrect. The point I was trying to make was that when I first started on Strictly it was difficult for me because I had to learn a new craft. I was being asked to do something I had never done before in my career – to be just a presenter.
What I mean is that in the Strictly format I did not really have very much interaction with the public, contestants or professional dancers. Instead, I was repeatedly on and off camera, introducing the show, linking a rigidly timed series of set-pieces, then saying goodbye. There was little chance to slip in any fun “business” and few opportunities for me to ad-lib because Strictly was so well produced. It is a totally live show, often running at more than two hours, incredibly complicated to stage, yet there were and are hardly any mistakes.
I like to think I made it work. Taking on new challenges is something I have never shied away from; in fact I relish it, and that applies as equally in my 70s and 80s as it once did when I first stepped on to the Palladium stage, presented The Generation Game or put together my one-man shows. In truth, it is being able to take on these new challenges and to enjoy doing so, that is one of the biggest reasons I have remained young at heart for so long.
Now, over the years, I was asked many times who my favourite contestants were, but I never said. As host, it would have been both unprofessional to do so, and disrespectful to the integrity of the show.
Incidentally, how long do you think that catchphrase “You’re my favourites” has been around? Since the early days of the show, when I would say it to all the semi-finalists and finalists? (By the way, when I first used the expression on Strictly it gave everyone sitting in the production gallery kittens. They were worried that I was trying to influence votes. Perhaps because I looked so fresh-faced they thought it was my first time on television!)
If you are thinking that the phrase originated around then, you would be wrong. Instead, you have to go back a long, long way, to 1961, in fact, and Nat King Cole’s appearance on The Royal Variety Performance. After he had finished his numbers, I spoke to him on stage.
“Well, Nat, thank you so much for being with us this evening and for your wonderful performance. It has been lovely having you here. I hope you have enjoyed working for ATV.”
“Oh, yes,” he said, “they’re my favourites.”
Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday at 6.30pm and Sunday at 7.15pm on BBC1
