Since leaving Strictly in 2019, Kevin Clifton has returned to his first love of musical theatre, starring in Strictly Ballroom and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
But his dream is to do more TV acting, so he was delighted when he was asked to play a talent scout from a fictional show called Go Dancing in the popular BBC One murder mystery series Father Brown season 11 (you can watch the episode now on iPlayer).
His role sees him channel his inner Anton Du Beke, as he dons a swanky maroon suit to select hopefuls from a Kembleford dance class as performers in Go Dancing’s chorus line.
But unfortunately his arrival in the sleepy Cotswolds village coincides with the murder of the dance school’s owner that Father Brown (Mark Williams) and Inspector Sullivan (Tom Chambers) are determined to solve.
Here, in an exclusive interview Kevin talks about the fun he had on set, the pressure he feels to deliver a good performance and why his acting idol is Billie Piper...
How did your Father Brown appearance come about?
"Since Strictly I’ve been doing a lot of acting, but mostly theatre. I was telling my agent how I'd love to do some TV acting and then this came up! I’ve only got a couple of lines. But Stacey [Kevin’s partner Stacey Dooley] was laughing because with every role I ever do I always have to do loads of research. So even though I’d seen a few episodes of Father Brown before, I decided to watch it all right from the beginning, so that I knew everything about the characters and how they interplay with each other. Stacey was like, who do you think you are, Sean Penn?!"
Did it live up to your expectation?
"It was so much fun! Everyone was really lovely and welcoming. Mark’s very much like the dad in that environment, and to have that experience of working alongside someone like him was wicked. He really guided me through it, which was lovely."
Tom Chambers won Strictly, although before your time. Did you compare dance moves?
"We reminisced a lot about Strictly and what the show’s like now. He also had to do a bit of ballroom dancing in the episode and he kept saying to me, don't judge me because I haven't danced in a long time and it’s not going to be the same as when I won Strictly. I said, I'm absolutely judging you. I want to see those moves!"
Did Mark Williams give you any advice?
"Yeah, Mark actually said, the biggest advice I can give is not to treat people like s*** because you’re more likely to get the parts if people like working with you. It’s similar to the advice Len Goodman gave me when I joined Strictly. He said, enjoy it for what it is and don't get all big time about it!"
Did you find TV acting very different from musicals?
"Yeah because on stage everything's a little bit more magnified and more over the top. You can afford to push the character and the performance. Whereas acting on screen, the camera can get right in and catch every tiny little change in the muscles in your face. I've always been a bit extra when it comes to performing anyway. My biggest criticism from directors is always, Kev, you can afford to turn that down – like, less Judy Garland! So just being still and letting the performance come through was a challenge for me. It was basically about not coming across all shouty on TV!"
Would you say Strictly has had a positive impact on your career?
"Obviously it's easier for me to get in the room with casting directors and directors, but that doesn’t mean I get the part. I’m constantly auditioning and there's a lot of things that I've auditioned for that I haven't got. But there’s another side to that, which is the added pressure if I do get a part. I think people don’t know that I was acting in the West End before Strictly, so I worry that they’ll think, oh, he's been given the part because he’s a name on TV. So I always feel this pressure that I need to really deliver to prove something to the people who think I’ve only got the part just because I’ve been on Strictly!"
Is there anything else you want to achieve career-wise?
"Since leaving Strictly I’ve done five or six musicals and I’m about to tour with Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. But it’s my dream to do a play at the National Theatre where there’s not necessarily any singing or dancing involved. I’d also love more TV work. I'm not expecting to be Tom Cruise in some sort of big movie franchise or anything, but I’d just love the experience of getting stuck into different roles and characters. I’d love to play something just completely against type, like a baddie in Line of Duty. I want people to go, is that that lad who used to be on Strictly Come Dancing?"
Is there an actor you really admire?
"I'm really inspired by Billie Piper. When I was growing up, she was a pop star and now nobody thinks of her as that. She’s just a fantastic actress. She just has this ability to completely let go and lose herself in a character and she acts without ego. I think she's phenomenal. So I take inspiration from her and it would be cool one day, maybe in 10 years time if I'm still fortunate enough to be working, if people also think of me as an actor. I'm getting older as well, so I can't play the song and dance man forever!"
Has Stacey seen your Father Brown episode yet?
"Not yet. We keep saying, let’s watch it tonight. But we have a one-year-old, who seems to take up every bit of time we have, so we don’t get to watch TV together at the moment! She’s lovely, but we’re just trying to get her to stay in her cot, let alone sleep in it – she just wants to climb into bed with us!"
When you do get the chance to watch telly, what do you like to watch?
"Me and Stacey are completely different. I love a great drama like Succession. But because Stacey’s work can often be quite serious, she’s just after a bit of light entertainment. Like the entire country she went nuts for The Traitors. But usually when I come home she'll be watching something like Selling Sunset or The Kardashians or At Home With The Furys! Minnie loves Vegesaurs on CBeebies, which are these characters that are half vegetables and half dinosaurs. Thinking about it, in the last 12 months I’ve watched more Father Brown and Vegesaurs than anything else!"
Father Brown season 11 is available to watch as a box set on BBC iPlayer now.
