Spl.Photos: Strictly Come Dancing 2010 : Participants/Contestants/Partners - Series 8

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Felicity Kendall



Felicity Ann Kendal, CBE (born 25 September 1946) is an English actor known in the United Kingdom for her television and stage work.

Born in 1946, Kendal spent much of her childhood in India, where her father managed a touring repertory company. First appearing on stage at the age of nine months, Kendal appeared in her first film, Shakespeare Wallah, in 1965. Returning to Britain that year, Kendal struggled in her career until 1975, when she started playing Barbara Good in The Good Life, the BBC sitcom. This made Kendal a household name. Later sitcoms where she was the lead, did not achieve the popularity of The Good Life. In 2003, Kendal first played Rosemary Boxer in Rosemary & Thyme, a ****** mystery drama that aired for three series ending in 2007.


Early life

Felicity Kendal was born in Olton, Warwickshire (now West Midlands), England, in 1946, and is the younger sister of Jennifer Kendal and the daughter of Geoffrey and Laura Kendal. Her father was an English actor-manager who made his living leading a repertory company on tours of India after the Second World War. They performed Shakespeare before royalty one day, and in rough rural villages the next.^[1] Her father had adopted his birthplace of Kendal, then Westmorland now Cumbria, as his stage name, his original surname being Bragg. Felicity Kendal was educated at six convents in India.


Career

Kendal made her stage debut aged 9 months, when she was carried on stage as a changeling boy in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Later she started her career proper at the age of nineteen and starred in the Merchant Ivory film, Shakespeare Wallah (1965), loosely based on her family's real-life experience. At eighteen, Kendal returned to Britain against her father's wishes, where she found that her film appearance was not a passport to immediate success. She made her London stage debut in Minor ****** (1967), and went on to star in a number of well regarded plays, including several by Sir Tom Stoppard.

In 1975, she got her break in television with the sitcom The Good Life. At the time of the first series, she was also to be seen in a very different dramatic role, that of Queen Victoria's eldest daughter 'Vicky' in Edward the Seventh. After The Good Life ended in 1978, she starred in several other BBC sitcoms, including Solo, The Mistress and Honey for Tea, none of which achieved the success of The Good Life.

Kendal's stage career blossomed during the 1980s and 1990s. She formed a close professional association with Sir Tom Stoppard, starring in the first productions of many of his plays, including The Real Thing (1982), Hapgood (1988), Arcadia (1993), and Indian Ink (1995). From January to August 2002, Kendal starred as Flora in Charlotte Jones's play Humble Boy at the Gielgud Theatre, and from November 2006 to February 2007, she starred in the West End play Amy's View by David Hare.

Her most recent TV work is the ITV ****** mystery series Rosemary & Thyme, in which she plays gardener Rosemary Boxer, who, together with colleague and ex-policewoman Laura Thyme (Pam Ferris), solve mysteries near their various workplaces as landscape gardeners.

In 2008, she appeared in Doctor Who alongside David Tennant and Catherine Tate. The episode is entitled "The Unicorn and the Wasp". From February to June 2008, she appeared in London's West End in a revival of Noel Coward's play The Vortex.

In 2009, she appeared in the plays The Last Cigarette and Mrs Warren's Profession. On 11 September 2010 she was announced as part of the line up in the BBC series Strictly Come Dancing.^{[citation needed]}

Awards

• 1976 – Most Promising Newcomer - Variety Club
• 1979 – Best Actress - Variety Club
• 1980 – Clarence Derwent Award
• 1984 – Woman of the Year - Best Actress - Variety Club
• 1989 – Best Actress - Evening Standard Theatre Awards

Publication: White Cargo (memoirs) - 1998

Male fanbase

Kendal is particularly popular with male viewers:

• She was voted "Rear of the Year" in 1981^[3] for her appearances wearing wellington boots and tight jeans in The Good Life. This compliment was later reiterated in an episode of Red Dwarf by ship's computer Holly: "..last month, we came across a moon shaped like Felicity Kendal's bottom. We flew around that one a couple of times".
• Kendal was selected as one of the FHM's "100 ***iest Women in the World" in 1995.
• In an episode of The Young Ones, the only way that a launderette washing machine could be induced to take the main characters' revolting washing was by being told that the load contained a pair of Felicity Kendal's knickers.
• She was considered thinking man's crumpet in the 1970s.

Personal life

Kendal is 152 cm (5 ft) tall and has been married twice. Her first marriage was to Drewe Henley between 1968 and 1979 and the second was to Michael Rudman from 1983 to 1990. She converted to Judaism at the time of her second marriage. She has two sons; Charley, from her marriage to Henley, and Jacob, from her marriage to Rudman. In 1991 the playwright Tom Stoppard left his second wife to start a relationship with Kendal. She has since reunited with Michael Rudman. She was made a CBE in 1995.

The 63-year-old actress is best known for her role in the hit '70s British sitcom The Good Life and became a national *** symbol, Wellington boots and all, as the tomboy-ish Barbara Good. After the show ended, Felicity starred in many other BBC productions including The Mistress, Honey For Tea and Solo. Despite these programmes' lack of success, Felicity maintained her popularity and won several awards such as 'Woman Of The Year', as voted for by the Variety Club in 1984, and 'Best Actress' in 1989, awarded by the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Furthermore, Felicity had a huge male fanbase and landed herself the 'Rear Of The Year' award in 1981 thanks to her appearances in tight jeans and wellies when she played Barbara Good. Felicity moved on from television acting and took to the stage throughout the '80s and '90s, starring in many productions including The Real Thing, Indian Ink and Arcadia, all of which were written and directed by the recently knighted playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, who Felicity had a relationship with when he left his wife for her until she reunited with her second husband. Her most recent work includes the role of Rosemary Boxer in the ITV ****** mystery programme Rosemary and Thyme where along with her co-star Pam Ferris, her character Laura Thyme solves ****** mysteries while maintaining her job as a landscape gardeners. The show ran for three years and ended in 2007.

Since then, Felicity has starred in an episode of the new series of Doctor Who and has appeared in London West End play The Vortex.

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Jimi Mistry




Jimi leapt to fame in the late '90s playing Doctor Fred Fonseca in EastEnders and since then has worked on numerous television and film productions. His most notable film achievements have been starring alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie Blood Diamond, playing opposite Neve Campbell in Partition and appearing in Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla. He also appeared in the movie 2012 and horror Basement along with Danny Dyer. Jimi has also written, produced and starred in a documentary about Ibiza, where he explores the island's history, the birth of house music and the artistry behind DJing; Jimi himself regularly DJs in clubs across the UK and Europe and in his documentary, he managed to score interviews with many DJ legends including David Guetta and Pete Tong.

Despite his busy lifestyle as both a DJ and an actor, Jimi is a family man and is married to Meg and has a 9-year-old daughter, Elin.

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Patsy Kensit




Patsy's first television appearance was at the age of 4, when she appeared in an advert for Birds Eye frozen peas. Thankfully for her, she has landed some much more prominent TV roles since then. Best known for her role as Sadie King in Emmerdale, Patsy has many television credits to her name including regularly featuring in Channel 4's Bo Selecta!, appearing as a celebrity contest on Ant and Dec's Gameshow Marathon and most recently as Faye Morton in the BBC's Holby City. Prior to hitting it big as an actress, Patsy was the lead singer of '80s band Eighth Wonder and had two Top 40 singles with the group as well as appearing on the notorious Top Of The Pops. She led a dual career, juggling her singing with her acting. Eighth Wonder's Top 10 single 'I'm Not Scared' appeared in the 1989 film Lethal Weapon 2, in which Patsy also starred, and it was while filming this that she decided to focus primarily on her acting career.

Patsy is also known for her turbulent love life and has been married four times; most famously, she married Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher and the couple had a son, Lennon, together. She has also had high-profile relationships with the likes of David Walliams, Jean-Christophe Novelli and notorious ladies' man Calum Best.

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Peter Shilton




Holding the record for playing more games for England than any other player, Peter is a genuine footballing legend. His international career has earned him 125 caps, making him England's most-capped player of all time. Peter kicked off his footballing career at just 13 years of age when he began playing at schoolboy level for Leicester City. At 16, he made his debut for Leicester against Everton. Leicester suffered relegation from the first division but reached the FA Cup final, where Peter became the youngest ever goalkeeper to play in such a match. His first England appearance was in 1970 when England won 3-1 and Peter's outstanding performances led to his home team being promoted back to the first division. Peter has also played for Nottingham Forest and Southampton, and he made his 1,000th appearance after joining Leyton Orient in 1996 against Brighton and Hove.

At 47 years of age, Peter retired from football making him the fifth oldest player to have ever played in either the Football League or the Premier League. During his football career, Peter received first an MBE and later an OBE for his services to the game.

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Professional partners

Each year the professional dancers perform professional routines and dance to the special guest. With three new male professional dancers some of the professional pairings have changed again. The following professional partners will dance with each other for the professional routines:

• Anton du Beke & Erin Boag
• Brendan Cole & Natalie Lowe
• James Jordan & Ola Jordan
• Vincent Simone & Flavia Cacace
• Artem Chigvintsev & Katya Virshilas
• Jared Murillo & Aliona Vilani
• Robin Windsor & Kristina Rihanoff

Professional Dance Troupe

• Darren Bennett & Crystal Main
• Ian Waite & Tanya Perera
• Shem Jacobs & Anieta Potrowska