roadcaster Angela Rippon, actress Amanda Abbington and Bad Education star Layton Williams are the first contestants to be announced for the upcoming season of Strictly Come Dancing.
The new batch of famous faces, who will compete on the 21st series of the dancing competition this autumn, were announced on BBC One’s The One Show on Friday evening.
At the age of 78, Rippon will be the show’s oldest-ever contestant, after television presenter Johnny Ball competed in the 2012 series at the age of 74.
Broadcaster Rippon became the first regular female news anchor on the BBC in 1975 and went on to host shows including Strictly predecessor Come Dancing between 1988 to 1991.
Appearing on The One Show, she revealed the first thing she asked the BBC show when they approached her about taking part was “why didn’t they ask me 10 years ago?”
She added: “The serious reason behind doing it is because I’ve been advocating ever since I did a series called How To Stay Young with Chris van Tulleken where we demonstrated as part of the programme that dance is the complete full mind and body exercise for everybody, regardless of your age, but particularly for people as they get older.
“And as I’m now 78, and will be 79 when we’re actually doing the programme…it would be wonderful if I could last long enough, a few weeks, and demonstrate that even at my age that it genuinely is possible for people that are older to be able to dance, to keep fit and strong and help with their posture and balance and to feel a million dollars.”
Rippon is joined on the line-up by Abbington, whose acting credits include playing Mary Morstan in Sherlock alongside her former long-term partner Martin Freeman, with whom she shares two children.
The actress has also featured in Mr Selfridge, Wolfe and Desperate Measures, and the 2022 biographical film The Lost King.
After the news was revealed, she joked on The One Show that the main reason she wanted to do it was to embarrass her teenage children.
She added: “I’m actually really shy and self-conscious so this will be a great opportunity for me to overcome those things.
“Plus, I get to learn to dance which I am incredibly excited about. I’m really looking forward to the training too, I’m quite competitive as my family and friends will tell you.”
The third contestant to be announced is Williams, who is best known for playing Stephen Carmichael in the sitcom Bad Education.
The 28-year-old rose to fame as a child playing the title role in Billy Elliot The Musical on London’s West End and from 2019 he played the title character in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
He has also performed in the stage shows including Thriller Live, Rent, Hairspray and New Adventures.
The actor told The One Show he is ready to go on a “rollercoaster journey with the cast” and “slay the ballroom floor”.
Williams added that he had requested to be paired with a male professional dancer as he revealed that he used to be jealous of his female classmates getting “thrown around” when he was at college.
Among the other names being speculated to join this year’s Strictly roster is 37-year-old England cricketer Stuart Broad, after announcing his retirement from the sport last week.
English ballroom dancer Shirley Ballas, who has been dubbed the Queen of Latin, will be head judge again as Australian-born choreographer Craig Revel Horwood, South African dancer Motsi Mabuse, and ballroom and Latin dancer Anton Du Beke also return to the judging panel.
Tess Daly, who has presented the BBC One show since its first series in 2004, and Claudia Winkleman, who took over from Sir Bruce Forsyth as the main co-host in 2014, are also set to return.
In April, the BBC announced that current reigning champion Jowita Przystal, who last year lifted the glitterball trophy with wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin, is returning to the show along with 2022’s runner-ups Gorka Marquez, Carlos Gu and Vito Coppola.
Dianne Buswell, Nadiya Bychkova, Graziano Di Prima, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Neil Jones and Nikita Kuzmin were also confirmed to be among the professionals in the line-up.
Those taking to the dancefloor also include Luba Mushtuk, Giovanni Pernice, Johannes Radebe, Kai Widdrington, Nancy Xu, Lauren Oakley and Michelle Tsiakkas.
The last series of Strictly saw Yassin and Przystal lift the glitterball trophy, after beating other celebrity couples Fleur East and Coppola, Molly Rainford and Gu, and Helen Skelton and Marquez in a public vote during the live show.
