Yahoo News 'Midsomer Murders' lines up 'Strictly Come Dancing' crossover featuring former contestants
Midsomer Murders has lined up an unofficial Strictly Come Dancing crossover, with former contestants of the BBC show joining the popular crime series for a special ballroom-set mystery.
Casualty's Tom Chambers, who won series six, will appear in the episode later this month, as will Coronation Street's Natalie Gumede, Hollyoaks actor Danny Mac and Steps singer Faye Tozer.
Each will find their characters at the heart of a tense investigation when another professional dancer winds up dead.
As he teased the upcoming instalment in an interview with the Express, Neil Dudgeon, who portrays DCI John Barnaby on the long-running drama, said it was “seriously brilliant” to have so many Strictly stars on the show.
“I am an enormous fan so seeing this table full of people I have admired and voted for, all there, in the show was incredibly exciting,” he gushed. “I also got to watch them dance.”
He also revealed that soap star Nigel Havers is also set to play a part in the fictional whodunnit.
Asked whether he’d ever be keen to return the favour and appear on Strictly sometime in the future, Dudgeon described himself as “terrible dancer” and said he’d struggle with training because he’s “really bad at being told what to do or taught to do anything.”
Read more: 'Strictly Come Dancing' star Graziano Di Prima not worried by same-sex dance complaints
“I might spoil it for everyone, he laughed. “Whenever someone tells me to do something in a specific way my instinctive reaction is to think, ‘But what if I did it like this…’ I always had a terrible time taking direction in the theatre for this reason.
“I would get bored and think ‘Ok, I’m going to do it like this now’ which obviously you cannot do when you are ballroom dancing because you’ve got to rely on your feet.”
The episode is scheduled for broadcast on 21 January.
