Bruce Forsyth remembered by Anton du Beke

I grew up watching Brucie on the telly. We all did. He was there at the very beginning of TV – with Sunday Night at the London Palladium – and right up until the past couple of years. He was what they used to call the triple threat, the full package: actor, singer, dancer. But he was actually so much more than that. He was the multiple threat. He didn’t just act, sing and dance, he could host, tell gags, play musical instruments – he could do anything.

He had this wonderful ability to make other people do what he wanted them to do. Without ever being malicious, he got them to be part of the gag, or to be the gag. They would laugh along with him because he didn’t make them feel uncomfortable, he made them feel included. That’s an incredible skill. Lots of hosts are able to do a funny line but often it’s a put-down to someone, so it feels unkind. Brucie was never like that. He made gags at other people’s expense but it always felt like they were in on it.

I first met him on the old Come Dancing when he did a guest spot and I happened to be dancing on the show. I’d been such a huge fan ever since I was a boy that I was overwhelmed and couldn’t speak, all I could manage was “hello”. Years later, I met him again on the launch show of the first series of Strictly Come Dancing and I was completely star-struck again. He broke the ice by teasing me about my, shall we say, distinguished jawline, which is very similar to his own. It became a running gag that I was his love child. Then, after the first series, he invited me to play golf with him at his club. Len Goodman and I drove to his house together and the three of us went to play a round. That was the beginning of our friendship.

In some ways it felt as if we were the same person, he and I. We had the same interests. We both loved entertainment, being out in front of an audience; we both loved to dance and tell a few gags. We both loved Fred Astaire and proper dancing. We both loved playing golf and we loved playing golf the same way: properly, trying to play as well as possible. It was the same with everything he did: this desire to be the best he could possibly be.

It’s quite a thing when your boyhood hero becomes your friend and meeting Brucie and working with him on Strictly Come Dancing was the best thing that ever happened to me. It felt like a lifetime achievement, both personally and professionally. Apart from having children it was the highlight of my life.

When he stepped down as host I was so sad. Half the fun of doing the show was being with Brucie. On a Saturday afternoon I could spend a bit of time with him. We could have a cup of tea together, arrange to play golf later in the week. Just that. So I missed him. The day he passed away was the day the dancing stopped. We were in rehearsals when the news came through, all the pros together in a studio. One of the producers came in to tell us the news and we all fell silent and went home. There was nothing else we could do that day.