Strictly’s Layton Williams on past dance experience and male pro partner

Layton Williams is one of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing celebrities.

Ahead of entering the ballroom, the actor and West End star has opened up about his past dance experience and his hopes for his professional partner.

Layton Williams was the third celebrity contestant confirmed for the brand new series of Strictly Come Dancing earlier in 2023.

Layton Williams is a film and theatre actor and has performed in London’s West End, giving performances as the title role in Billy Elliot and Everyone’s Talking About Jamie.

His stage appearances also include Thriller Live, Rent, Hairspray and New Adventures. He is best known on TV for playing Stephen Carmichael in the Bad Education movie and recently rebooted series.

He runs his own performing arts company ‘Pros from the Shows’ with hopes to inspire the next generation of performers. Over the years he has been the recipient of multiple Black British Theatre Awards, plus an Attitude Award for his work and visibility in the LGBTQ+ community.

Speaking on The One Show, Layton spoke about how his dance skills will transfer to the ballroom.

“Well I hope they’ll transfer in some ways but also I’m aware that potentially they may come in the way,” he said.

Layton continued: “I’m quite a perfectionist when it comes to dancing and I’m not trained in ballroom and Latin so I hope I’ll feel confident but I’m pretty nervous.”

Layton also revealed he would be dancing with a male professional on this year’s show.

He said of his potential pro partner: “I’m happy so long as it’s a guy. I’ve said I want to dance with a man… I want to be flung around and wear some glittery costumes. That’s all I want.”

Other names announced for the 2023 Strictly Come Dancing line upthe 2023 Strictly Come Dancing line up include TV and theatre star Nigel Harman, broadcaster Krishnan Guru-Murthy, The One Show reporter Angela Scanlon, Emmerdale and Waterloo Road actor Adam Thomas and Love Island star and presenter Zara McDermott.

Strictly Come Dancing will return on Saturday night, 16 September on BBC One and iPlayer.