Nottinghamshire-based Dancing on Ice star to quit after this series but he has one final wish

Professional ice dancing star Mark Hanretty was just nine when he was inspired to take up the sport by Nottingham legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. Now, 30 years on, he is gearing up for his final season on ITV's Dancing on Ice after 12 years.

Mark, who lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife Kathy and their two children, has been paired up with TV presenter Michaela Strachan, best known for Springwatch, The Really Wild Show and The Hitman and Her.

Some of the Scottish-born skater's previous partners on the show have faced challenges. Paralympian Libby Clegg is registered blind and last year Radio 1 DJ Adele Roberts proved an inspiration, dancing with a stoma bag after treatment for bowel cancer.

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At 58 years old, Michaela has admitted that she's at the age where it "takes longer for me to mend", so the thought of injury does concern her. But she has impressed Mark, who said: "Michaela certainly defies my expectations of what a 58-year-old celebrity could do in such a short space of time. She's worked really hard and she's totally embraced it so I think she will certainly surprise people. I would have not expected a 58-year-old to adapt as brilliantly as she has to the ice.

"I think she's skated on a Christmas rink like so many have but she's never had a skating lesson before. But she's got a great work ethic and she's done dance training when she was younger so you can lean into that and exploit that a little bit."

Training resumed this week after time off for Christmas. During the break Mark visited his parents in Scotland, while Michaela was at her step-daughter's wedding in South Africa.

"Pre-Christmas training was going very well. We were starting back training later than the other couples because obviously the wedding was booked before Michaela knew she was doing the show," said Mark.

The timing of the show means a more restrained Christmas celebration than most. "I have been doing this show for so long and before I did this, the skating competitions I competed in were in January, so you'd always be mindful you couldn't indulge the way that most people can. I know I have a weight that my body's OK for in terms of my job. I was joking with my parents that their scales are definitely more favourable than my scales are at home!" said the 39-year-old.

The duo's first routine will be to Let's Do It - the one written by Cole Porter, not the Victoria Wood comedic song aka the Ballad of Barry and Freda.

Mark has reached the DoI final three times, with partners Libby Clegg, former Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt and last year with Adele Roberts. A female competitor hasn't won since 2013 when Olympic champion gymnast Beth Tweddle took the crown with pro Daniel Whiston. "This year I said I'd skate with a man if I had any chance of winning," joked Mark.

Despite reaching the final, Mark has never had the opportunity to dance Bolero. He and his partner have always been knocked out in third place, with only the remaining two couples able to recreate Torvill and Dean's famous Olympic winning routine.

Being able to achieve it in his last season would be the cherry on the cake. Mark said: "I have never skated the Bolero in all my years on the show. It would be enormous. For all professional ice skaters they're mindful that the Bolero is a big deal, especially in the UK.

"I started skating literally because I was watching Torvill and Dean. As a Brit, the Bolero is iconic. It's something I've wanted to do for all these seasons. I would love to do that. If I get to do the Bolero finally after all these years I will be awash with emotion."

There's extra pressure, or added motivation as Mark puts it, to reach the final on March 9, as it coincides with his daughter Liola's eighth birthday. "My daughter told me that the final this year is on her birthday so it's obviously a case that she will either celebrate her birthday with some sort of party at home or she comes to the studio. She wants to come to the studio but she told me I have to be in the final because it's her birthday."

Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live earlier in the week, the interview came the day after news broke of the sudden death of former DoI competitor, drag artist The Vivienne, aka James Lee Williams, who was just 32.

"It's absolutely tragic. The Vivienne was one of the nicest, humblest, most kindest and most supportive of all the 12 years I've been on that show, so it hit me last night. You don't know what anyone is going through and life is precious and fleeting. It's tragic news to hear about any young person but certainly one who was so kind and giving, warm and emphatic."

Mark, who grew up in Erskine near Glasgow, wasn't born the year Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won Olympic gold in Sarajevo in 1984. He said: "I was born the year after but when they returned to compete in the Olympics in 1994 I was nine and I remember watching that and it was the catalyst that made me want to start ice skating."

He had lessons at the nearest ice rink, in Paisley, and competed at national level as a single skater until suffering an injury, tendonitis in his ankle.

Tendonitis stopped him performing the triple jumps in singles skating so he swapped to ice dancing which didn’t require the same jumps. However, the lack of facilities and coaches near his home led him to up sticks and move more than 300 miles away to train in Nottingham at the age of 18.

"I probably should have always been an ice dancer. It was the discipline in our sport I was more suited to but because it wasn't done in Scotland I didn't get access to it so the injury was the universe saying I needed to make the jump before it was too late."

Mark and ice dance partner Christina Chitwood won two medals in 2008 and 2010 in the British Championships and went on to represent GB in the European and World Championships but "the stars didn't necessarily align for me to achieve what I perhaps could have", he said.

Veering towards the big 4-0 in this March has made him re-evaluate his career options and, unlike Jayne and Chris, that doesn't mean skating into his 60s. Already a commentator for the International Skating Union, where he gets to travel the world, he is hoping to do more and would love to commentate at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

"It's not a lack of desire to continue doing DoI at all, quite the contrary. It's taken me 12 years to realise that I can't be Peter Pan forever. I turned down commentary work to do DoI but my voice as a commentator will last longer than my body as a professional skater so I can't keep turning that down. I need that work over the next 20 years."

He and wife Kathy, herself an ice dance coach, will continue to run Hanretty Skate Camps around the country, including one in Nottingham, for young competitors and adults skaters, both recreational and competitive.

Son Lukasz, 11, is no stranger to the rink but as an ice hockey player with Nottingham Lions, who train at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham. Liola has been on the ice but she's more into dance classes. Although the whole family has been known to enjoy a spot of ice skating at Nottingham's festive Winter Wonderland.

Talking about his profound love of skating, he said he couldn't be happier than when he's on the ice. "I was listening to some podcasts recently about finding your purpose or finding something that sets your soul on fire and I just really love ice skating, I love the gliding. Part of this podcast was talking about zen and mental clarity and they were referencing things like cooking or knitting or things that distract you from the clutter of your mind.

"When I skate it is just joyful and some kind of escapism but also I love the physicality of it as well and the endorphin rush that I can get from the exercise. But equally I love music and beautiful movement to music so there are are so many facets it encompasses, both mental and physical and some times spiritually.

"But not always... that's certainly far from the case when I'm on a live show and I'm skating with a celebrity that doesn't know what they're doing."

Thinking back to some of his personal highlights on Dancing on Ice, one was a duet in the 2023 series with professional skater and Olympic competitor Olivia Smart, set to the Joni Mitchell song Both Sides Now.

"Christopher Dean choreographed a routine for us with some beautiful music and as much as the fact I didn't compete in the Olympics myself, it was just a really cool moment to skate with an Olympian, choreographed by an Olympic legend, to beautiful music."

Another favourite was descending from aerial silks hung from the roof as part of a routine with the other professionals. The worst moment was dislocating his shoulder live on TV in 2014.

It happened as he was tripped up by celebrity partner Oona King as they glided on the ice for the skate-off. After his shoulder was put back into place, he and the then Labour peer went on to skate but were eliminated by the judges.

"Subsequently the following year on the show I was partnered with Bonnie Langford and in rehearsals it dislocated again and I had to go and have an operation so I had to miss that season of Dancing on Ice."

A few weeks after the end of the series, Mark will join Torvill and Dean on their farewell tour, Our Last Dance, marking the end of their 50-year career.

"I am delighted to have been asked to join them on their farewell tour. I started skating because of them. I continued performing because of them and I will see out my performing days thanks to them so I say it to them often enough but I can't thank them enough really for all they have done to inspire me and give me essentially the life I've had."

Dancing on Ice starts on Sunday, January 12, on ITV at 6.30pm.