Strictly Corrie Dancing

As Strictly Come Dancing returns to TV here's a reminder of 2015's s fab-u-lous blog post by @Merseytart. It's all about Coronation Street stars who have been strictlified...

With the announcement that little Katy Armstrong is about to don twelve inches of fake tan and a diamante thong to appear on Strictly Come Dancing, I thought it would be an ideal time to look back at previous Coronation Street stars who've braved the ballroom.

For the first few years, there were no Corrie stars on the show, and there still haven't been any current cast members shaking their groove thang on the dance floor.  For some reason ITV isn't keen on letting its soap stars have time off to appear on one of the glittering stars in the BBC's firmament; can't think why.  Shame, because who wouldn't want to see Rita or Gail doing a samba to Ooh Stick You? In fact, the first Coronation Street actor to appear on the show hadn't even been on Corrie yet.

Jill Halfpenny - Series Two

AKA: medical strumpet Rebecca Hopkins.

Professional Partner: Darren Bennett

Eliminated: WINNER!

Strictly Journey: I completely forgot that Jill Halfpenny was in Corrie - I remember her mainly from Byker Grove, because I'm ancient - but Strictly blogging legend Chris Rubery (aka the Monkseal) pointed out my error on Twitter so I had to do a quick re-edit of this post mere moments after pressing "publish".  Jill, of course, won the show, and has since gone on to be spoken of in hushed tones as Queen Of All Things Strictly.  Jill Halfpenny is the winner of all winners, a sainted dance legend, and so we'll just forget the fact that she broke up Martin and Gail's marriage, the TART.

Will Thorp - Series Three

AKA: Chris Gray, tedious wife batterer.

Professional Partner: Hanna Haarala

Eliminated: Week Six.

Strictly Journey: sadly, Will's appearance pre-dates both my interest in the show and YouTube so I was unable to review his performance.  However, he was eliminated ahead of middle aged BBC Breakfast legend Bill Turnbull so I don't think he was the new Fred Astaire.

Ray Fearon - Series Four

AKA: Nathan Cooper, mechanic and one-time sexual plaything of Tracy Barlow.

Professional Partner: Camilla Dallerup

Eliminated: Week Six.

Strictly Journey: again, YouTube is not our friend, and the only footage I could find was a grainy video of the male contestants doing a group dance.  Ray seemed to be a big fan of the "stand still while the professional twiddles around you" dancing which usually means a duffer.

Claire King - Series Four

AKA: current resident cougar Erica Holroyd.

Professional Partner: Brendan Cole

Eliminated: Week Eight.

Strictly Journey:  Claire danced like a stripper in need of her rent money and had absolutely no compunction about steaming up the camera lens with filth.  Also, she hated Brendan, leading to a prickly relationship on the floor.  Pretty fantastic all round, really.

Brian Capron - Series Five

AKA: Norman Bates with a Briefcase, Richard Hillman

Professional Partner: Karen Hardy

Eliminated: Week One.

Strictly Journey: see above.  I assume Brian was dancing in character as the recently revived zombie corpse of Richard Hillman, and that was why he lumbered around with no sense of rhythm or movement.  It was actually painful watching him clatter round the dance floor.

Stephanie Beacham - Series Five

AKA: canal-based trollop Martha Fraser.

Professional Partner: Vincent Simone

Eliminated: Week Two.

Strictly Journey: A legendary diva like La Beacham insists on looking her best at all times.  Presumably that's why she danced so timorously: she was afraid of messing up her hair.  She was mostly fabulous offscreen, barking her opinions on her fellow dancers on It Takes Two.

Craig Kelly - Series Seven

AKA: forgettable factory manager Luke Strong.

Professional Partner: Flavia Cacace

Eliminated: Week Eight.

Strictly Journey: Blackpool-born Craig (he was from Blackpool) made great mileage out of the fact that he really wanted to perform in the Tower Ballroom during the traditional Blackpool week.  In fact, Blackpool-born Craig couldn't seem to talk about anything else, and the viewers clearly took pity on him, letting him stay on the show far longer than more qualified contestants so they could give him the chance to cha-cha-cha in the home of British ballroom.  Then they promptly voted him out, because the Great British Public will only take so much.

Tina O'Brien - Series Eight 

AKA: pocket sized irritant Sarah-Louise Platt.

Professional Partner: Jared Murillo

Eliminated: Week Five

Strictly Journey: at first it looked like tiny Tina could be a whizz on the dance floor.  Unfortunately, her daughter caught chickenpox during her time on the show, leading (a) to her mind understandably being on other things and (b) Tina herself catching the pox and having to miss out one week.  The following week she was back but she was kind of beat and frankly sending her home was a relief for everyone.

Jimi Mistry - Series Eight

AKA: recently flame grilled gym owner Kal Nazir.

Professional Partner: Flavia Cacace

Eliminated: Week Six

Strictly Journey: back when he was still "Hollywood star Jimi Mistry", he looked like a shoo-in for the final.  He'd shown his dance skills off already in The Guru and he was a charming chap.  It was therefore a SHOCK! BOOT! when he went out in week six, losing out to the frankly bonkers (in a good way) Michelle Williams.  Still, he got a wife and child out of the experience, so he probably couldn't care less.

Debra Stephenson - 2011 Christmas Special

AKA: crypto-incestuous Cockney Frankie Baldwin.

Professional Partner: Ian Waite

Eliminated: it was a Christmas special, so there was nothing as cruel as an elimination; Debra came second in the judges' rankings.

Strictly Journey: Debra insisted on miming along to the lyrics of Baby It's Cold Outside as she danced, which is just annoying, but she acquitted herself admirably and actually got the same number of points (37) as Charlie "Janine from EastEnders" Brooks.  Charlie was declared the winner though.  Was it because the Beeb would rather award the win to one of their own instead of an upstart from the commercial channel?  I couldn't possibly comment.  (Yes).

Natalie Gumede - Series Eleven 

AKA: her who belted Tyrone with the hoover nozzle - Kirsty Soames.

Professional Partner: Artem Chigvintsev

Eliminated: Finalist (so let's say she came second, because let's face it she was better than Susannah Reid)

Strictly Journey: a long-limbed dance icon, Natalie strode her way across the dance floor with aplomb, and probably should have won.  A week off due to illness and the public's lingering unwillingness to vote for a psychopath who'd beaten up poor Tyrone meant that she was unfairly denied the glitterball.  Also, in the final, she claimed to have "touched the divine" on the dance floor, which is the greatest way to describe fannying about to a C-grade version of And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going I have ever heard.  SHE WAS ROBBED, is what I'm saying.

BONUS: Tupele Dorgu - Strictly African Dancing

AKA: mouthy Underworld legend Kelly Crabtree

Strictly Journey: part of the BBC's Africa season in 2005, Tupele was roped into performing traditional dances with an African troupe.  She lost the crown to footballer Robbie Earle, but has since parlayed her dance experience into various touring musical theatre productions so she's doing fine.

Will Georgia May Foote manage to go one better than Natalie Gumede and snatch the Strictly crown?  She claims to have had a little bit of dance training as a child, which usually means she spent most of her infancy in a tutu doing the splits and she'll blow us all away with her skills (see West End star Denise Van Outen claiming that all she'd done in Chicago was sit on a chair).  It also means that the public, while appreciating her talent, won't vote for her because she didn't have a journey.  We shall see when Strictly returns in September.  In the meantime, keeeeeep dancing!

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Luke Strong in Titanic

I thought it was him... any other saddos like me Google it to double check, after watching James Cameron's Titanic on telly for the umpteenth time this evening? Craig Kelly's a wireless operator.

Sadly missed as Luke Strong on Coronation Street - and what a brilliant name Luke Strong is. Sounds like it was taken straight from a Mills & Boon.

Craig Kelly booted off Strictly Come Dancing

As Luke Strong, Craig Kelly hot-footed it away from Coronation Street with Rosie Webster's cash and an evil smile on his face.

But Craig wasn't so light-footed on Strictly Come Dancing and has finally been voted off. He did his best but let's face it, he never looked that comfortable dancing, did he? And as much as I was willing him on every week to do well and wanting him to win, it just wasn't going to be.

Never mind, eh? Have a look at Craig's official website here.

Craig and his brother Dean Lennox-Kelly will be on screen this week in ITV1's new drama Collison. It's on every night from Monday 9th to Friday 13th November. Find out more here.

Luke leaves Corrie while Craig clings on

Luke Strong leaves Coronation Street this week, waltzing down to Rio with Dozy Wobbler's cash. You can watch a video of Luke leaving on the official Corrie site.

Meanwhile, over on Strictly Come Dancing, actor Craig Kelly clings on after being kept in by head judge Len Goodman last night. Craig ended up in the dance off for the second week running but was saved by lovely Len to dance another week.

Toffee time: Craig Kelly on Strictly Come Dancing Week 1

"It's hard, but it's fun. It's like toffee." That's how Craig Kely, who plays Coronation Street's Luke Strong, described his dance training in the first week of Strictly Come Dancing. Craig wasn't one of the celebs who danced this week, we'll see him in action on Friday 25 September. But he did take part in the group Mambo where he shimmied in a satin shirt at the back of the group.

When the judges gave their verdict after the group dance, Craig wasn't singled out as either one of the worst or one of the best. He just wasn't mentioned at all although he certainly looked like he was enjoying himself. Mind you, he didn't look too comfortable in the shiny satin shirts they'd dressed him up in.

Tune into Strictly Come Dancing this coming Friday night to see Craig's first dace and then his second on Saturday night with dance partner Flavia Cacace. More will be blogged from the dance floor then. Visit Craig Kelly's official website here.

Craig Kelly, from Corrie to cha-cha-cha

I don't know about you, but I'll be glued to Strictly Come Dancing on Friday night (after I've watched Coronation Street of course!). I'm a huge fan of the glitz and glam of SCD and having Corrie actor Craig Kelly, who plays Luke Strong, on the show will be double the fun.

In an interview here, Craig talks about how his dance training is going with Flavia Cacace and what we can expect to see on his first outing on the dance floor on Friday night. He'll be dancing the rumba and the cha-cha-cha. But will he go back for the wabbit?

We'll be blogging Craig's progress week by week so keep tuned in right here.

Corrie's Craig Kelly in Strictly Come Dancing

Craig Kelly, Coronation Street's Luke Strong, is putting on his dancing shoes and best smile for Strictly Come Dancing 2009. Oh yes he is! Craig's teaming up with dancer Flavia Cacace. As a huge fan of both Corrie and SCD, I'll be blogging his every tush-shake right here, so, as Brucie would say... "k-e-e-e-e-p reading!"

Read more here.

Corrie blokes reunited 10 years after Queer

While perusing the Manchester Pride link that Flaming Nora posted earlier, I discovered a downloadable supplement (on this page) for the events this week. In that supplement, on page 18, is an interview with Corrie's Craig Kelly and Antony Cotton. I had forgotten that both of them starred in the excellent Queer as Folk some 10 years ago. Craig played Vince and Antony played Alexander, if you will recall. The two men agreed that neither of them had changed and Antony was quite excited to have his old mate back on set again, to the point that it was distracting Craig from getting into his new character!

Craig, who isn't gay, was warned by a mate that he could have a lot of men flirting with him once QAF had aired but says that never happened. Antony admits he was the one that got more of the attention, not all of it good. He's even had a pint poured over him in a club! They recall QAF as being a real landmark, "magic", and "not dated".

Craig's words on "hearthrob" Luke Kelly were interesting too. "I genuinely think I've got something to offer, but I don't think I'm a great big heart-throb. I'd like to think that I could be - through cheeky charm." Oh you are, luv, you are!

You can purchase the DVD set on Amazon if you want to check it out. Former Corrie star Denise Black (Denise Osborne) played Craig's mother in the series, and, while perusing the cast list on IMDB, I spotted Alan Halsall's (Tyrone) name as well!

Luke Strong to leave Coronation Street

No! No! and No! again.

Just when Corrie gets its first hunk since Spider Nugent, Luke Strong is leaving Coronation Street. It's official 'cos it's here.

Where's the hankies? I feel a good long cry coming on.

Craig Kelly reveals all

There's a great interview with Craig Kelly, who plays the man who went back for the wabbit - Luke Strong - on Corrie, in the MEN today. He talks about his new role on the cobbles and discusses Luke Strong's upcoming fling with Rosie Webster.

“The young bombshell throws herself at him and at first he resists," Craig says. "He knows he shouldn’t mix business and pleasure. But then the business is struggling and she’s got thousands in the bank, she’s absolutely goregous and he’s a single guy. What can you do? A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do in these times of recession."

Now then, I'm loving Luke Strong and along with him and Peter Barlow, we've finally got some decent man-totty at last on Coronation Street.

Luke Strong beds Rosie Webster

Coronation Street's Rosie Webster will add another notch to her bedpost when she romps with Underworld boss Luke Strong says The Daily Star.

But while Rosie starts dreaming of a new relationship, Luke only has one thing on his mind – money. He finds out Rosie is considering investing in his business and makes sure he seals the deal. A Corrie insider said: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. “Rosie will be out for blood when she finds out she’s being used by Luke.”

I like the sound of this one, oh, I really do.

Craig Kelly's wedding plans

Craig Kelly, who plays the wonderful Luke Strong in Coronation Street, has given a great interview to the Sunday Mirror Celebs magazine. You can read the whole interview here or for those who like snippets, here's the best bits in a nutshell:

Craig's getting married to his girlfriend this summer after he proposed on a beach in Spain; he thinks Corrie is "magic" (it is) and loves the fact it's funny and larger than life; his fan mail is mainly from women in their 70s and 80s (I'll have a word with me mother); and when he's out on the street in real-life, people shout at him "Oi knicker man!".

See also: Where have you see Luke Strong before?

Where have you seen Luke Strong before?

Luke Strong, the new Underworld factory boss arrived on Coronation Street on Friday 20th February 2009. Played by actor Craig Kelly, you might have seen him before as Vince Tyler in the seminal Channel 4 series Queer as Folk where he starred alongside Anthony Cotton, who plays knicker-stitcher Sean Tully. Vince Tyler's Queer as Folk mother was actress Denise Black, who played Ken Barlow's girlfriend, Denise Osborne. Craig's brother is ex-Shameless actor Dean Lennox Kelly. Craig has also appeared on TV in Casualty, Waking The Dead and as teacher Mr Treblecock in the third and final series of The Grimleys.

Corrie's new Mr Strong, however, shouldn't be confused with this one of the same name.

See also: Where have you seen before...?

Sophie Webster's boyfriend, Eileen Grimshaw's dad, Norris' girlfriend, Graeme Proctor, Molly's Aunty Pam, Maria's mum and dad, Gail's dad, Scary Brian, Tina's dad, Tony Gordon's henchman, Little Simon Barlow

Three new Corrie characters join cast

Coronation Street's going to get three new characters over the coming weeks.

First off is Luke Strong, played by Craig Kelly. Luke is an old friend of Carla Gordon's whose arrival will cause havoc in Underworld. He arrives to manage Carla's share of the factory after she leaves Tony and he'll turn up on February 20th.
Read more about Luke Strong here.

Then we'll meet Julie Carp's mum Paula, played by Sharon Duce. She arrives on February 27th and is an old school-friend of Eileen Grimshaw, so why does she try to avoid meeting Eileen? Mysterious! Sharon has starred in Casualty, Emmerdale and a whole host of great telly programmes.

And finally this month we'll meet Dev's uncle Umed, played by Harish Patel. He arrives on the Street on March 9th to cast his eye over Dev's questionable personal life. Harish Patel is an Indian actor who has starred in the movie Run, Fatboy, Run.

Queer as Folk star joins Corrie

There's going to be a new face at the factory when Luke Strong makes his appearance in 2009 as the new Underworld boss.

Luke will be played by actor Craig Kelly who starred as Vince Tyler in Queer as Folk. He's also appeared in Waking the Dead, Casualty and Clocking Off. You can read more on the character of Luke Strong at the official Coronation Street site.

See also: ITV confirm Stephanie Beacham to join Corrie cast