Revel In It

Yes, it was all planned, claims tired Craig Revel Horwood at the end of a long day. “But I didn’t know Spend Spend Spend was coming back. And I plan my schedule two years in advance so that there isn’t any overlapping because otherwise I can’t fit everything in.

“But you learn how to cope and not to stress. And, yes, I do feel a lot of the responsibility because when someone has invested £2m in your show you want it to be at its best. But I look at it from a managerial point of view. You have to be able to cope under pressure.”

But why take on so much? Craig is, after all, firmly in the Strictly Come Dancing spotlight and successful beyond his dreams. And yet it never seems quite enough.

“I work in the theatre because that’s what I was trained to do and without that I would not be a judge on Strictly anyway,” he says.

Perhaps the failure of New Zealand’s Strictly Come Dancing version Dancing For Stars, in which he was a judge and director, has something to do with it. “Yes, it made me aware that things do come to an end and that everything has a shelf life,” the 45-year-old admits. “And yes, we may have created a dance craze with Strictly but there will be something else. Look at Absolutely Fabulous – that came to an end even when no-one wanted it to. So I feel lucky that Strictly is still going.”

But despite his huge CV, there are endless shows that Craig does turn down. “I have said no to Big Brother and Mastermind and many others...unless it’s something I really want to do, like Masterchef, which I did because I love cooking.”

And yet, like it or lump it, Strictly has already made Craig a leading TV star. “I like what I do and Strictly gives you a strong profile which in theatre is good because it gets people who would normally only watch TV to see things live,” the Aussie choreographer explains.

“TV has its place because you can relax at home with your family around you and have a quality night in watching Strictly. But the reason I expect such high standards in my shows is because that’s what I stand for, because people are paying a lot of money to go to the theatre and I want everyone to have a really good time and a memorable evening, so that people don’t just sit in front of the TV all the time.”

Thankfully, Craig has a relaxing home to sneak back to when not in the spotlight, with his partner Grant – a Harley Street pharmacist. So how has Grant acclimatised to the world of celebrity?

“It took him a while to get used to the red carpets because he came in blind, not knowing what to do with himself. But you have to be brave and bold and play up to that I suppose, and Grant took to it like a duck to water,” Craig smiles. “We’ve done shoots with Hello! and OK!, and it’s another world compared to Harley Street.

“But the rest of our lives are very private and we keep our home life as normal as possible. We go to Tesco like everyone else and have nights in with pizza and a movie – just normal things.

“And Grant’s really looking forward to Strictly, because he’s a nine-to-fiver, so it keeps his weekends busy because he comes to all the shows.”

So come on then. What does Craig think of the new Strictly format?

“I thought it needed fewer couples and a shorter time span, and separate professional dancers, all of which have been implemented. But just by the nature of the show, you have to have big personalities and people that the viewers want to follow. It’s like castings for musicals, you need someone who’s going to bring something to the table,“ he says.

And, let’s face it, Craig is guaranteed to do that.

* Spend Spend Spend comes to the Oxford Playhouse from Tuesday, October 5, to Saturday, October 9. Call the box office on 01865 305305