CONSIDERING his competitive nature, Anton du Beke is remarkably sanguine about the winning abilities of his celebrity dance partners in Strictly Come Dancing.

“It’s not really about the winning because I don’t have any control – it’s for other people to decide whether they vote for me. For me, it’s to make the show as entertaining and good and as memorable as we can. It’s about making them good enough,” he says.

This takes more effort with some partners than others. The producers have alloted him more than his fair share of, shall we say, colourful partners with no great aptitude for the art of dancing. Think Ann Widdecombe, Nancy Dell’Olio and Kate Garraway. All three demonstrated that dance was not their thing. Other partners, including Esther Rantzen, Jan Ravens and Jerry Hall, have failed to take him to the final either.

The ever-smiling du Beke – variously described as dapper, delightfully old-fashioned and like a 1950s seaside gigolo – takes it all in his stride around the ballroom. He loves doing the show and has no intention of hanging up his Strictly dancing shoes.

“Every year it’s a new beginning because you get a new partner and it starts over again. One size does not fit all. Another character, another personality to bring out and have some fun with,” he says.

He remains friends with them, seeing them now and again. He was seeing Fiona Fullerton, his partner in the most recent series, the night we spoke, and saw Widdecombe just before Christmas.

“They are all great women. I have been very lucky – not the greatest dancers, but lovely to spend time with,” says du Beke.

Ex-Bond girl Fullerton proved one of his most competent partners.

“She did proper steps and everything,”he says.

She was also a long-time Strictly fan. “It was a lovely story because she would sit and watch the show with her mum and daughter. Her daughter is 18 now and Strictly’s been going for ten or 11 years, so her daughter was a little girl when it started. Now she’s all grown up and suddenly Fiona is asked to the show,” he says.

“Most of the time I get big characters,”

he says of his Strictly celebrity partners. “It’s not about dancing, which is a bit of luck because they can’t. For me, it’s more interesting that way. I prefer that to someone who is dancing well every week and getting to the final.

“The dances I’ve done have been memorable. No-one forgets anyone I’ve danced with. The quality of their personality is what counts. I never try to compete with them, I just slot in behind.”

It should be remembered that Strictly also gives him the chance to dance properly in the sequences featuring the professional dancers, without a celebrity in sight on the dancefloor. “Audiences love that.

There’s no messing about with celebrities. You put a proper suit on and dance properly,” he says.

That’s what he does – dance properly – in the stage shows that he tours in with professional partner Erin Boag outside the Strictly TV season. Except this year Boag is pregnant and he’s recruited a new partner, West End singer and dancer, Summer Strallen.

Performing the show, Ballroom To Broadway, was strange at first and not only because his regular partner was missing. “I haven’t done anything like this,” he admits. “Over the years I’ve done numbers with Erin and with different ladies, but I’ve not done a whole show and whole tour like it before.”

Did he consider asking one of his Strictly partners to join him in the touring show? “I gave it a moment’s thought – and only a moment when I realised they couldn’t sing or dance.”

He sees it as more of a variety show with more musical theatre numbers. There’s ballroom dancing and a duet with singer Lance Ellington (one of the regular Strictly singers).

He also pays tribute to one of his heroes, Fred Astaire. “He was just wonderful. I read his autobiography and it was as though he was just chatting and wrote down what he was saying. It confirmed everything I thought about him. He sounded like a great guy and wonderful talent,” says du Beke.

Young Anton was 14 when his interest in dancing began, on a trip to pick up his sister from a dance class.

Old Hollywood movies, many featuring Astaire of course, caused his interest in dancing to grow.

“There weren’t many TV channels and every Easter or Christmas we got Singing In The Rain. I did love those old movies and when I started dancing, they were what I associated with dancing.

“We never saw any other dancing apart from in variety shows or the Royal Variety Show. You saw turns and acts and numbers – and they were all marvellous. Ballroom was my way of entering that world. Ballet dancing was not really theatre.”

At 14, some might view him as a late starter in dance, but he doesn’t view it that way. What he enjoyed was the process of dance. He didn’t have to force himself to do it and enjoyed the technical side instantly.

The competition side of dance was an attraction too. Du Beke played sport at school to a reasonably good level (“that’s what we did when we were young – play sport and ride cycles”) but dancing was the only thing he stuck with.

“I was always striving to improve and trying to win. That’s something that came naturally to me. There’s discussion about nature or nurture, talent or hard work. But everything goes by-the-bye if you don’t have that drive in the first place to commit to it. Talent is the last building block after everything else.

“For me talent is like a good, wellmade suit or posh frock – the last bit of making people more fabulous than anyone else.”

BALLROOM TO BROADWAY

  • The Sage, Gateshead, March 2 at 3 and 7pm. Box office 0191-4434661 and sagegateshead.com
  • York Barbican, March 15 at 3 and 7.30pm. Box office 0844- 8542757 and online yorkbarbican.co.uk