Craig Revel Horwood paid an emotional tribute to the late Len Goodman today.
The Strictly star spoke about the sad passing of his former co-star in an interview on ITV’s This Morning.
“It really hit me [with Len] because I’m performing in Dartford at the moment and that’s where Len and his lovely wife taught me ballroom and latin,” he shared. “When I joined Strictly, I was a classical dancer but not ballroom and latin and he said ‘you need to get down my school’ and I learnt to dance there with him. I have fantastic memories of him…”
He added: “He never stopped complaining! We were quite the opposite – I was like that on television and he was the nice smiley one – and the role reversed completely when we did the tour! He was brilliant. He used to pay for dinner with fivers – presumably that he’d get from his [dance] school. He was brilliant fun.
“I will miss him. But the thing is, like Brucie, he will live inside me… and every time I hear the words ‘Seven’ you know, that will always ring in my head and in my heart. And my love goes out to his wonderful wife Sue and his family who are absolutely wonderful.
“I didn’t even know he was ill, so it was a huge shock for me and I know he wanted to keep it quiet… but a brilliant brilliant man who brought ballroom back to the world. He was fantastic.”
Craig also spoke to hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willougby about the death of Paul O’Grady, who Craig was sharing the role of Miss Hannigan with in a new UK tour of musical Annie.
Craig said: “It was after Edinburgh, he said his goodbyes and how much he was enjoying doing it. He did two weeks of the run and then we were to share the role out and suddenly we had the news that he’d passed and no one could really believe it. He said in Edinburgh ‘I’ll see you all in Southampton’’…”
Craig added: “When I turned up for my week, we then of course dedicated all the performances that week to Paul. It was a shock for the company, it was a shock for all of us. We didn’t know what was going to happen, but we had to get on with the show… as they say the show must go on, but it was really emotional.
“It was really hard to breathe and to get through because we were all in that state of panic and shock.”
Remembering fun recent moments, Craig said: “He said that my Miss Hannigan was very glamorous and that his was very downtrodden! He was just absolutely brilliant. So funny. He was much loved and is missed…”
To see the show in full visit itv.com/watch/this-morning
This Morning airs weekdays from 10AM on ITV1 & ITVX
