Joe McFadden: I'll celebrate Strictly victory with whiskies and sleep

Strictly champions each have a unique way of dealing with winning the perennially popular Saturday evening show, and Joe McFadden’s is perhaps unsurprising, given he is the show’s first Scottish winner and the oldest contestant to take home the Glitterball trophy.

Asked what he planned to do in the wake of his triumph, the former Holby City actor said he was looking forward to sinking a couple of whiskies before sleeping for a week.

The most popular series in Strictly Come Dancing’s 14-year history concluded on Saturday night with 13.1 million viewers tuning in at the peak of the spangled finale won by McFadden and his partner, Katya Jones.

After his victory, the actor talked of his desire to keep dancing, saying it would be a shame to waste what he had learned.

The 42-year-old also hinted that the victory could open new avenues in his career, after his Holby City character, Raf di Lucca, was killed off this month.

Asked if he was now unemployed, McFadden said he was very optimistic about the future. “Things are looking up. I’m feeling really good and looking forward to having a really good rest over Christmas,” he said. “I’m going to lie in a dark room for about a week and sleep.”

The 2017 final failed to beat the viewing figures of the most watched final, in 2010, which peaked at 14.3 million. But it attracted an average of 11 million viewers every weekend since September, topping last year’s record 10.9 million. Saturday’s final had an average of 11.6 million viewers, the BBC said.

In the final, McFadden and Jones competed against the singer Alexandra Burke and Gorka Marquez, Debbie McGee and Giovanni Pernice, and the Hollyoaks actor Gemma Atkinson and Aljaž Škorjanec.

While the couple were not necessarily the judges’ choice throughout the series, they won the most votes from viewers after their dances, which included a Charleston with the pair dressed as toy soldiers, a show dance and a Viennese waltz – scoring 118 out of a possible 120 points.

After the mandatory tears and smiles that greeted the announcement, McFadden thanked his partner and competitors. “It feels completely surreal and I’m so in awe of everyone who started all this weeks ago. We’ve become such a tight unit and I love them all to bits,” he said.

“All of us are winners because we’ve gotten here and I love every single one of them to bits. And this woman, this woman is the most amazing woman.”

Jones, who partnered Ed Balls last year in a series of memorable routines, was often complimented by the judges for her creative choreography. McFadden said: “The routines have consistently been brilliant and she’s such an amazing artist and dancer and just being in the training room with you every day was such a joy.”

Having been teetotal for most of the show’s run, he admitted “there might be one or two whiskies consumed” after his victory.