David Tennant reveals he was ‘asked to take legendary Strictly presenter’s place’
It was nearly a Saturday night to remember.
David Tennant has revealed that he was once asked to present Strictly Come Dancing, only for another TV star to be chosen over him.
The Doctor Who and Broadchurch star, 53, has claimed that he was recommended by producers of The One Show for the one-off gig, which would have taken place in 2009.
During the 2009 edition of Strictly – the seventh season, eventually won by journalist and TV reporter Chris Hollins – host Sir Bruce Forsyth was missing after coming down with the flu.
The episode was instead co-hosted by legendary sketch comic and TV presenter Ronnie Corbett, who stood alongside Tess Daly that week in Sir Bruce’s absence.
Now, David – who presented the Baftas for a second time earlier this year – has revealed that it was nearly him standing in for the late national treasure during the week nine episode, which saw seven couples aiming to get through to the final six.
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Speaking to the Where There’s a Will There’s a Wake podcast, he said: ‘I got a phone call from my agent, which was very unusual on a Saturday, going, ‘What are you doing tonight?”‘
The cast of the 2008 Sport Relief Strictly Come Dancing special with Sir Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly (Picture: Comic Relief/Getty Images)While Sir Bruce was officially down as having the flu, David says his agent told him Sir Bruce had ‘had a little fall’ and wouldn’t be able to present that night.
‘I sort of ran around for a couple of hours going, [asking myself] if I wanted to present Strictly. By the time we’d figured out I could go to the TV centre, I phoned back, and they went, “Don’t worry, Ronnie Corbett is doing it”.’
Ronnie’s career was enjoying a revival in the 2000s – his sketch show with Ronnie Barker, The Two Ronnies, was revived in 2005 as the duo looked back over their best work.
That same year, he was also featured in the music video for Peter Kay and Tony Christie’s Comic Relief single Amarillo, in which Ronnie famously stumbled off a treadmill during recording.
Ronnie Corbett presented an episode that saw two stars injured (Picture: BBC) Sir Bruce Forsyth was missing due to illness that week (Picture: John Stillwell – WPA/Getty Images)‘I don’t know if I’d have been any good,’ David added, also confessing that as he doesn’t watch Strictly, he wouldn’t have known where to start.
The November 2009 episode featuring Corbett saw contestant Laila Rouass injured backstage, resulting in her only performing half of her routine.
Meanwhile, Laila’s fellow hopeful Jade Johnson was also hurt but was given a bye to the next round after being forced to miss the show through injury.
Ronnie died in 2016 at the age of 85 after being diagnosed with motor neuron disease.
Sir Bruce also missed another episode in 2013 after falling ill again, later blaming his two absences on the ‘germs’ in the Strictly studio.
David admitted that he doesn’t know if he’d have ‘been any good’ presenting Strictly (Picture: Stuart Wilson/Bafta/Getty)On the occasion that he missed the show in 2013, Claudia Winkleman stepped in as his replacement, while presenting It Takes Two at the time.
In recent weeks, David revealed that he has offered himself up to be a different sort of replacement – even after his own death.
Speaking to Off Menu, he revealed that he would be willing to donate his skull to theatre groups in order for them to use it as a prop during any productions that might require it.
‘That moment in the play is about connecting with mortality, so there’s no acting involved – you’re looking into the eyes of a human who once walked the Earth. There’s something very powerful about that,’ he said.
However, the law might stand in the way of David’s skull being used in a future play: ‘To be honest, I don’t think you can do it anymore – there’s lots of hoops to jump through.’
Strictly Come Dancing returns on BBC One and BBC iPlayer later this year.
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