'Anton du Beke has always been my favourite': Katie Derham reveals her Strictly professional crush
The presenter's joyous jiving and cha-cha challenges alongside Mr du Beke have made her one of Strictly Come Dancing’s most popular contestants. And, discovers Judith Woods, the TV and radio presenter is just as captivating off camera
'I’ve had weeks where I’ve felt disappointed with my own performance and it’s never nice to be criticised, but I’ve never set out thinking I would be an amazing dancer,' said Katie Derham of Strictly Come Dancing
Forgive the heresy, but just as this season’s series began, I found myself thinking the unthinkable – namely, have we reached peak Strictly?
Cue a collective intake of breath (almost) strong enough to suck the sequins right off Jeremy Vine’s six-pack.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying the very last waltz would be a good thing, but it did cross my mind that surely we’ve seen enough charlestons and cha-cha-chas to be going on with.
And then 45-year-old Katie Derham took the floor. With her very first high kick, the former newsreader turned Radio 3 presenter and Proms queen dazzled so brightly with her stylish, sophisticated jive, I could have watched her all night.
Since then it must be admitted she hasn’t exactly been putting on the ritz with every performance; in fact, on occasion she’s slid unnervingly low down the leaderboard.
But despite her sometimes frustrating inconsistency, thus far the public adore her joie de vivre and, at the time of going to press, have rallied to spare her the dreaded dance-off.
Katie wears DRESS, Sportmax Code. JEWELLERY, The Talisman Gallery at Harvey Nichols. SHOES, Jimmy Choo
Katie is being squired by Anton du Beke, who is doing his best to bring out her potential and so stay in the contest, having stoically endured so many far less promising partners, naming no names. (Oh all right then: Ann Widdecombe, Esther Rantzen and Judy Murray.)
His joy unconfined at being paired with one who can actually dance was touching to behold. There was more of a germ of truth in judge Len Goodman’s gag that Anton hadn’t realised the show ran until Christmas because he never got to stay in the competition that long.
When Katie and I meet, she is dressed in skinny jeans and an oversized pale sweater, lugging a capacious straw shopper crammed with various items including an extra outfit, lunch, a vertiginous pair of gold stilettos – and quite possibly a pot plant, Mary Poppins style.
‘I’m always being asked to carry my daughters’ coats or bags or my husband’s camera, so this is my “mum bag”. It ain’t glamorous but you can pack a lot in,’ she smiles.
Ah, yes, Katie’s smile. It’s a radiant affair that illuminates her face and prettily crinkles its way right up to her eyes, and is most certainly not just for the benefit of the cameras. She’s always at it; and, quite frankly, only a churl could fail to beam back.
Katie wears DRESS, LK Bennett. CUFF, Swarovski. RING, The Talisman Gallery at Harvey Nichols
Slim and poised, with shapely legs that have won much admiration from Strictly fans and judges alike, Katie has a pinch-me-I’m-dreaming air of astonished delight – quite possibly due to being in the arms of Anton, whom she has previously appreciated from afar.
‘I never thought for a moment I’d be partnered with him. He was always my favourite professional when I watched the show, because he has real presence and bearing and looked like such a safe pair of hands – and I’d met him when I was a member of the audience,’ she says.
‘Anton has always been my guilty secret!’
This would explain the palpable chemistry between them. But any suggestion of the Strictly curse befalling Katie – the mother of two girls and married for the past 16 years to John Vincent, co-founder of the fashionable Leon food chain – falls woefully wide of the mark.
‘It doesn’t happen to everyone!’ she cries at the mention of a marriage-wrecking showmance.
‘Some people do pair off, but the odds are still long! I love my husband and John’s absolutely thrilled I’m taking part. He’s met Anton – and his girlfriend Hannah, too – so there’s no need to worry on that score.’
But Katie concedes that partnered dancing demands a certain amount of adjustment for the British.
‘I never thought for a moment I’d be partnered with him (Anton du Beke). He was always my favourite professional when I watched the show, because he has real presence,' said Katie
‘I spent time studying in Brazil, and even if I didn’t learn to dance there, I was familiar with the notion that asking someone to dance is a purely social activity in itself and isn’t leading to coffee or anything else,’ she says.
‘Most of us in this country don’t have much experience of being close to someone physically and it not meaning anything, not even when your thighs are pressed up against one another.
'Dance is a beautiful art form and half of its beauty derives from the fact that it’s a partnership.’
Another sizable percentage of the appeal surely comes from the spectacular outfits.
For this series the costume department will set to work on no fewer than 754, each one tailored to fit perfectly.
‘Every conceivable measurement is taken: forearm to elbow, elbow to shoulder, shoulder to neck.
'A leotard is made up and fitted on to a dummy and then the embellishments are sewn on to it. I do like a sequin,’ admits Katie.
‘I have a magpie tendency to seize upon sparkles so I love to get dressed up.’
But dressing up only comes after six hours a day of practising – along with blisters, pulled muscles and the pressure to master a new dance step and routine every week.
As the contestants all discover, an awful lot of graft goes into every show and every week they must start from scratch.
‘Every conceivable measurement is taken: forearm to elbow, elbow to shoulder, shoulder to neck. A leotard is made up and fitted on to a dummy and then the embellishments are sewn on to it,' said Katie
‘Being top of the leaderboard was a huge highlight and, of course, I’d love to be up there again, but you can drive yourself mad if you only focus on that.
'I’ve had weeks where I’ve felt disappointed with my own performance and it’s never nice to be criticised, but I’ve never set out thinking I would be an amazing dancer, so frankly I’m chuffed that I’ve had some good dances.
‘The public want to see us all having a good time and I’m definitely enjoying every moment.
'Friday night dinners with everyone are another highlight; we hold terribly competitive quizzes – which have been chaired, of course, by Jeremy – and don’t talk about dancing at all.
‘Once you’re on planet Strictly together there’s nothing so bonding as a dread of making a fool of yourself on national television,’ says Katie.
‘By way of camaraderie, we text photographs of our dance injuries to one another.
'I’ve probably lost a bit of weight, but I’ve not paid it much attention; what I am now is incredibly fit and toned.’
On the home front, 15-year-old Natasha and ten-year-old Eleanor are very excited that their mother is taking part in the series.
‘When I drag myself home at 7pm ready to fall into bed, they’ll ask me why I’ve clocked off early and wonder if I shouldn’t still be rehearsing,’ says Katie.
‘The joy of Strictly is that it’s genuine family television you can watch with your kids and your parents. And it’s not just the dancing, it’s the music too.
'The orchestra is amazing and can turn their hand to absolutely anything; a tango arrangement of a Lady Gaga song shouldn’t work but it did, fabulously.’
‘Every year there are people who bemoan the “dumbing down” of the Proms, but the premise when it started 120 years ago was to bring music to as many people as possible for as low a cost as possible,' said Katie
Music is, of course, Katie’s day job and her love of it reaches far back to her childhood. She and her two brothers and sister grew up in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
Both her father, John, a chemist who worked for Pfizer, and late mother, Margaret, a teacher, were opera fans. But they also enjoyed a broad range of music, so Katie grew up to the strains of Puccini and Verdi, Eric Clapton and Scott Joplin.
Educated privately, she learned piano and violin and considered ‘for a nanosecond’ pursuing a career as a musician; until, that is, she ruefully realised that she wasn’t prepared to practise for more than an hour a day.
Instead she studied economics at Cambridge, then became a researcher on the Radio 4 consumer programme Moneybox.
She subsequently moved into BBC television as a consumer affairs correspondent, before taking up a post as media and arts editor at ITV News.
Then, in 1998, at the tender age of 27, Katie became the regular presenter of ITV News at 1.30, where she stayed for six years, as well as doing stints on ITV News at 6.30 and ITV’s News at Ten.
She also hosted the Classical Brit Awards four times and anchored elections, royal weddings and coverage of the Afghan war.
But the BBC lured her back in 2010 with an arts brief to cover the summer Proms season for BBC Two, BBC Four and Radio 3, where she is also a presenter on Afternoon on 3 and breakfast programmes.
Katie refuses to countenance that classical music is – or ever was – elitist.
Educated privately, she learned piano and violin and considered ‘for a nanosecond’ pursuing a career as a musician; until, that is, she ruefully realised that she wasn’t prepared to practise for more than an hour a day
‘Every year there are people who bemoan the “dumbing down” of the Proms, but the premise when it started 120 years ago was to bring music to as many people as possible for as low a cost as possible and it’s still doing that. It was never elitist or expensive.’
Out of 76 concerts this year, 68 or 69 of them were core classical repertoire, she adds. But the Grime Prom of urban music was also deemed a great success.
‘And the Ibiza Prom, in which Ella Eyre made her Prom debut, had an audience of 6,000 people pushing the ceiling up; no musician would argue that it wasn’t a joyful experience,’ she says.
‘I don’t think that many of us only ever listen to a single genre of music; I work in classical music broadcasting but that doesn’t mean I refuse to stray beyond Rachmaninov.
'I’ve been happily belting out Cabaret and High School Musical in the kitchen with my kids.’
Nor is there room for snobbery within the classical world either; the competition is so fierce that musicians and singers alike ‘work like Trojans to get anywhere’ and successful crossover artists are considered to be lucky rather than sellouts. Having the opportunity to sing for an audience is a major achievement in itself.
‘I would urge everyone to go and listen to any kind of live music because it’s a wonderful, immersive experience,’ she says.
‘I know I sound like I’m on my soapbox here but the energy – the fact you are sharing the performance with an auditorium full of people – is exhilarating.’
‘Some people do pair off, but the odds are still long! I love my husband and John’s absolutely thrilled I’m taking part. He’s met Anton – and his girlfriend Hannah, too – so there’s no need to worry on that score,' said Katie
There’s a real zest for life about Katie, which is poignantly set against a backdrop of sadness. Her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in her late 50s and died aged just 61, when Natasha was three years old and Eleanor had not yet been born.
‘It was a tough time. I feel incredible admiration and respect when I think about what my father – and my younger sister, who hadn’t yet gone to university and still lived at home – endured when Mum was ill,’ she says.
‘It was harrowing, something you wouldn’t wish on anyone. I visited as often as I reasonably could but Dad was adamant that the last thing my mother would have wanted was for me to drive three hours each way on the motorway just to feel unhappy and helpless and stressed.’
Katie refuses to dwell on the risk of early-onset Alzheimer’s, which can have a strong genetic component.
‘There’s no point worrying, but I do support dementia charities and I keep an eye on new breakthroughs which are bringing hope,’ she says with characteristic upbeat optimism.
‘I do wish more investment was being pumped into research; the numbers of people suffering from it are only going to keep increasing.’
But life for Katie and John is good.
In fact it is nearly The Good Life: they live in a characterful old house in Sussex, parts of which date back to the 16th century (which translates as a ‘draughty but venerable’ fixer-upper), and have a garden with fruit trees, whose produce Katie makes jam with, and a vegetable patch that’s regularly raided by the local rabbits.
Katie receives a visit from her daughters Natasha, left, and Eleanor on the Strictly set
‘We’re not self-sufficient but we are seasonal – I cook during the week and John cooks at weekends,’ says Katie.
‘We generally have a healthy diet but John can go through phases. For a while he was convinced there was no dish that could not be improved with the addition of dark chocolate, then we ate fennel at every meal for weeks.
'But there is something so nice about pulling up potatoes that you’ve grown. My friend calls them my “smug” vegetables.’
They have a golden retriever called Sunny and they keep hens. Katie also has a beehive – but no bees yet. The hive was a gift from John, along with an introduction to beekeeping course.
‘Eleanor and I both went and it was fascinating, but by the end I knew that I’m not ready to go down the complete Good Life road.
'I love bees and someday I will have some, but they require lots of input. Until I have more time, I won’t be able to commit.’
For now, apiculture’s loss is Strictly’s gain. I hope she does take up beekeeping, but I’m crossing my fingers that it’s not soon.
Before she disappears to her hive, we’d all like to see more of her jive.
Strictly Come Dancing continues on Saturday and Sunday evenings on BBC One
WHAT KATIE DIGS
READING
The Outlander series – time-travelling historical adventures by Diana Gabaldon. Tremendous stuff.
LISTENING TO
High School Musical Three has re-emerged on the CD player, so we’re dancing to that in the kitchen.
WATCHING
I’m very excited about Nashville season three and I’ve downloaded The Kennedys.
AT NIGHT YOU DREAM OF
Nothing. I’m far more likely to be lying awake going over my dance moves.
TOP MAKE-UP SECRET
Lots of sleep or lots of concealer. Shoes or bags? I’m very partial to a sparkly high heel but I’m not fussy about the brand.
DESIGNER OR HIGH STREET?
I like Erdem, which I discovered ten years before it was on trend, but I’m happy in Whistles, Reiss and Zara.
GUILTY PLEASURE
Anton du Beke or pink wine and Jilly Cooper – I make no apologies!
YOU'RE SURPRISINGLY GOOD AT
Synchronised swimming. I learned it at school and we did it properly; nose clips are for wusses.
![Mandatory Credit: Photo by ITV/REX Shutterstock (3529676ab)
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