gary lucy

GARY LUCY
AGE: 28
OCCUPATION: ACTOR
SKATING PARTNER: MARIA FILIPPOV

“I’m not a dancer and I’m not a skater, so while I’m a blank canvas for them to work with, I am also way out of my depth.”

His mates are already taking the mickey out of his decision to do Dancing On Ice – but there’s only one audience member that Gary Lucy wants to impress and that’s his four year old daughter, India.

‘She’s so excited and can’t hide it, so she has been the toughest one to keep quiet about me doing the show, because obviously I had to keep it a secret for quite a long time. I’d go and pick her up from school and the teachers would say she’d been telling everyone that daddy’s been ice skating and then the teachers all wanted to know if I was doing Dancing On Ice and I had to swear to them that I wasn’t!

‘When I get home after training, my daughter comes running up to me all excited going: ‘What did you do today, Daddy?’. So I lift her up and spin her round and show her. She loves it and when we watch Dancing On Ice on telly she re-enacts all the different routines for us around the living room. When we start the live shows, even if I’m rubbish, I’m sure in her eyes whatever I do it’ll be okay so that’s all that matters to me.’

Meanwhile Gary reveals his mates might be harder to please: ‘They’re all giving me a hard time already. I think they are looking forward to seeing me on it, but maybe not for the right reasons. They think I’m going to make an absolute fool of myself and will be praying for me to fall on my backside in the first week, there will be no support at all I can guarantee it,’ he adds, laughing. ‘They’re just out to have a good laugh at my expense. And to be honest, that kind of spurs me on a little bit to make sure it’s not as bad as they think it’s going to be. If I can win them over, then that will be the biggest feat of all.’

After four years on The Bill as DC Will Fletcher Gary admits he’s looking forward to letting his hair down and having some fun on the ice.

‘It’s a challenge for me because I’ve done TV dramas for the last 11 years and in drama everything thing is much more contained and restrained. You don’t really get to throw your arms around in the air, wear sequins and be theatrical in The Bill. But I just fancied doing something totally different, the fun aspect appealed to me as did the opportunity to be taught by a couple of legends such as Christopher and Jayne, it’s worth doing it for them alone.

‘But skating is much more difficult than I thought it was going to be and I’m really nervous about messing up on the live shows. I’m not a dancer and I’m not a skater, so while I’m a blank canvas for them to work with, I am also way out of my depth. As an actor I’m used to doing what I’m told and hitting my mark, no problem. But when it comes to throwing your arm in the air at the same time as pointing your leg in the opposite direction, my brain doesn’t really compute.

‘The worse thing to happen for me would be if I forget what I’m doing live on national television. I have this bad habit I’m slipping into of stopping when I can’t get it and obviously Maria is telling me: ‘No, you don’t stop. You carry on regardless. Only you know you’ve cocked up, but once you stop everyone else does as well.’

‘I used to roller-skate as a kid which I think might help a bit, but at the same being on eight wheels on solid ground is totally different to being on two blades on the ice. I’m generally reasonably sporty so I think that helps a bit as well, but I am still way out of my comfort zone. Put it this way, if it was a race from one end of the rink to the other I would have every confidence. It’s all the stuff in between that I’m finding difficult.’

But one thing Gary isn’t phased by is the glitz and glamour of the Dancing On Ice costumes. He says: ‘Over the years I’ve worn some bizarre outfits when I’ve been acting and I’ve been down to my underpants or just plain naked, which is about as embarrassing as it gets. Actually in Footballers Wives I once had to wear a skirt and a turban in the same scene and I don’t think it gets much worse than that. After wearing a skirt I think I can handle a few sequins, no problem!’