May 2013
NOTTINGHAM’S ice dance legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean will bring the Dancing On Ice series to a close next year.
The final TV series will begin in January with a UK tour to follow in the spring.
“As we are running down at the end of each series we always look ahead to the upcoming year and talk about what’s going to happen,” says Dean, 54, who grew up in Calverton.
“With it being the 30th anniversary of Bolero in Sarajevo next year, it would be fitting to have a big celebration.”
It was he and Torvill who made the decision to do that and took the idea to ITV to make the series the last.
“And they said they didn’t want to make the TV series without us so this will be the last one,” he says.
It doesn’t spell the end for Torvill and Dean as they have other projects they will be looking at together.
“This will give us the opportunity to do new things,” says Jayne, 55, who grew up in Clifton.
The pair who won Gold at the 1984 Winter Olympics, earning a perfect score for their Bolero routine. They won bronze at the Olympics in 1994, then quietly retired four years later.
“We didn’t announce the retirement we just did it quietly,” says Chris.
“The when we started talking about Dancing On Ice in 2005 we couldn’t resist it. That taught us to never say never.
“But the Dancing On Ice era is coming to an end next year.”
It’s too early to say which celebrities will join them for the final series but they have their dream list.
“I’ve got my eye on David Beckham because he’s retiring and he’ll need a job,” laughs Jayne.
“Maybe Kylie Minogue might want to do the show,” wonders Chris.
“And we can get Sir Alex Ferguson as a judge.”
Their team are already contacting possible contestants for the series, they say.
Admits Jayne: “We will very soon be starting auditions for the series.”
The subsequent tour, which comes to the Capital FM Arena for three shows in April, will be a look back at the whole seven years of Dancing On Ice.
“It’ll be like the greatest hits,” says Chris, who became a constable with Notts police in 1974.
“We will have some of the best and our favourite skaters from the past on the tour.”
“We’ve had some early discussions about the tour with Kim Gavin who did the Olympic closing ceremony,” adds Jayne, who worked as an insurance clerk at Norwich Union in the city centre.
“We’ve worked with him before quite a few times and we’re coming up with ideas of how to make it special. Obviously, there will be a lot of Bolero in it.”
Adds Chris: “It is potentially the last outing for Bolero.”
Bringing the tour to their home city is always a special event, they say.
“We love coming back to Nottingham,” says Chris, who now lives in Colorado.
“We grew up there, we know the city very well and, of course, it’s home. It means so much to us.”
Adds Jayne, who lives in Sussex: “I was back in Nottingham at the weekend for a family party.”
That they are household names 30 years on from their Olympic gold is still a surprise to them.
Says Jayne: “In those days when people retired from amateur skating competitions they’d join a well known ice show for a couple of years and then retire. But we never went down that route. We continued to perform and be creative.”
The couple hit the headlines recently when they admitted on Piers Morgan’s ITV chat show that they’d once had a romantic encounter. Albeit a minor one. Chris told Morgan that he had kissed her on the back of a bus while she was asleep.
“We hadn’t planned it, that was spontaneous,” says Jane of Chris’ confession.
“I think a few people were surprised,” adds Chris.
“But I think the main thing that came out of that show was that it was the first time we had sat down and done an in-depth interview. People don’t get to hear us as we are as people. I think people were surprised the way we came across.”
They have always resisted being in the public as celebrities, he says.
“We have never courted media attention. It’s not our character. We’re not looking to be in heat magazine or Heat magazine.”
Says Jayne: “We don’t mind being in those magazines as long as it’s for the right reasons. But it was fun. There was no harm done.”
Dancing On Ice: The Final Tour comes to the Capital FM Arena from April 8 to 10. There will be three shows at 7.30pm on each evening.
Tickets go on sale on Friday priced from £32.50 to £57.50. They will be available from the venue box office, by calling 0843 373 3000 and online at www.capitalfmarena.com.
NOTTINGHAM’S ice dance legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean will bring the Dancing On Ice series to a close next year.
The final TV series will begin in January with a UK tour to follow in the spring.
“As we are running down at the end of each series we always look ahead to the upcoming year and talk about what’s going to happen,” says Dean, 54, who grew up in Calverton.
“With it being the 30th anniversary of Bolero in Sarajevo next year, it would be fitting to have a big celebration.”
It was he and Torvill who made the decision to do that and took the idea to ITV to make the series the last.
“And they said they didn’t want to make the TV series without us so this will be the last one,” he says.
It doesn’t spell the end for Torvill and Dean as they have other projects they will be looking at together.
“This will give us the opportunity to do new things,” says Jayne, 55, who grew up in Clifton.
The pair who won Gold at the 1984 Winter Olympics, earning a perfect score for their Bolero routine. They won bronze at the Olympics in 1994, then quietly retired four years later.
“We didn’t announce the retirement we just did it quietly,” says Chris.
“The when we started talking about Dancing On Ice in 2005 we couldn’t resist it. That taught us to never say never.
“But the Dancing On Ice era is coming to an end next year.”
It’s too early to say which celebrities will join them for the final series but they have their dream list.
“I’ve got my eye on David Beckham because he’s retiring and he’ll need a job,” laughs Jayne.
“Maybe Kylie Minogue might want to do the show,” wonders Chris.
“And we can get Sir Alex Ferguson as a judge.”
Their team are already contacting possible contestants for the series, they say.
Admits Jayne: “We will very soon be starting auditions for the series.”
The subsequent tour, which comes to the Capital FM Arena for three shows in April, will be a look back at the whole seven years of Dancing On Ice.
“It’ll be like the greatest hits,” says Chris, who became a constable with Notts police in 1974.
“We will have some of the best and our favourite skaters from the past on the tour.”
“We’ve had some early discussions about the tour with Kim Gavin who did the Olympic closing ceremony,” adds Jayne, who worked as an insurance clerk at Norwich Union in the city centre.
“We’ve worked with him before quite a few times and we’re coming up with ideas of how to make it special. Obviously, there will be a lot of Bolero in it.”
Adds Chris: “It is potentially the last outing for Bolero.”
Bringing the tour to their home city is always a special event, they say.
“We love coming back to Nottingham,” says Chris, who now lives in Colorado.
“We grew up there, we know the city very well and, of course, it’s home. It means so much to us.”
Adds Jayne, who lives in Sussex: “I was back in Nottingham at the weekend for a family party.”
That they are household names 30 years on from their Olympic gold is still a surprise to them.
Says Jayne: “In those days when people retired from amateur skating competitions they’d join a well known ice show for a couple of years and then retire. But we never went down that route. We continued to perform and be creative.”
The couple hit the headlines recently when they admitted on Piers Morgan’s ITV chat show that they’d once had a romantic encounter. Albeit a minor one. Chris told Morgan that he had kissed her on the back of a bus while she was asleep.
“We hadn’t planned it, that was spontaneous,” says Jane of Chris’ confession.
“I think a few people were surprised,” adds Chris.
“But I think the main thing that came out of that show was that it was the first time we had sat down and done an in-depth interview. People don’t get to hear us as we are as people. I think people were surprised the way we came across.”
They have always resisted being in the public as celebrities, he says.
“We have never courted media attention. It’s not our character. We’re not looking to be in heat magazine or Heat magazine.”
Says Jayne: “We don’t mind being in those magazines as long as it’s for the right reasons. But it was fun. There was no harm done.”
Dancing On Ice: The Final Tour comes to the Capital FM Arena from April 8 to 10. There will be three shows at 7.30pm on each evening.
Tickets go on sale on Friday priced from £32.50 to £57.50. They will be available from the venue box office, by calling 0843 373 3000 and online at www.capitalfmarena.com.
