This year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing has drawn to a close, with Hamza Yassin and his partner Jowita Przystał coming out on top and taking home the coveted Glitter Ball Trophy, Tom Chambers knows exactly how they feel.
For after seven years struggling to make it, victory on the dance floor changed Tom’s life overnight, putting an end to the relentless round of auditions and rejection, which saw him working as a lorry driver, window cleaner and delivering pizzas as he tried to make ends meet.
"It’s life changing, because you’ve spent all those years grafting without anything to really show for it,” Tom says frankly. “I lost count of the number of times I auditioned for a musical. You all turn up in the morning and you do the dance. If you get through the dance you stay over the lunch break and in the afternoon, you do the singing. I never got to the afternoon. I remember being in a group of 60 people and my name not being called out and then going home.
"Yet after Strictly, I played the Fred Astaire role in the world premiere of Top Hat in the West End. Fred Astaire was an absolute icon for me and it was terrifying and daunting, but I didn’t have to audition.
"I was also invited to appear in White Christmas. I had to go in and sing but again they basically said: ‘we know you can do the dancing and the acting.’ I can’t tell you how much Strictly changed my life and how grateful I feel for that show.”
Tom won the 6th series of the BBC1 dance show in 2008, but incredibly, just two years before, he had been on the verge of quitting acting altogether and re-training as a fireman.
The actor, who is starring in Elf the musical at London’s Dominion Theatre, had spent seven years trying to land his big break and was growing more and more convinced that it would never happen.
"I did one Kit Kat commercial in Spain and loads of fringe and profit share shows, where you put on a show and you split the takings from the box office between you. When you do that, your earnings are very minimal,” he recalls. “I did nothing on TV. I tried to get parts in low budget films and put on a film with some friends and that did nothing.
"I was an HGV driver, a window cleaner, a barman, a pizza delivery guy. When I was an HGV driver you could park your lorry on a single yellow line with the tailgate down, so in between deliveries I would go and quickly do an audition for a TV advert. I’d stop the lorry, go in, get changed in the toilet, audition and then go back to the lorry and head off again.”
In 2006 Tom eventually managed to land a job as an extra on the TV series Elizabeth The Virgin Queen starring Anne-Marie Duff and Tom Hardy. He begged the director for a speaking part, but was given only one line.
At the same time, he says he was fired by his agent for refusing to take a role in the Bob the Builder Arena tour. "I would have been playing one of the diggers and driving one of the trucks. I said: 'can I wait for a proper acting audition?’ and she fired me for not taking the job,” he recalls.
Still though Tom refused to give up on his dream. A fan of tap-dancing, he contacted the Royal Variety asking if he could appear on the show, recreating the famous sequence from the 1937 film A Damsel in Distress, in which Fred Astaire tap dances with a drum kit.
He says: "It was the days before YouTube and Britain’s Got Talent, so I wrote to them. They thought it was a great idea and asked me to get it ready, so I spent nine months preparing and then they said they were full up actually and they’d got everything they needed.”.
In desperation Derbyshire-born Tom contacted his old school and asked if he could film the dance in their hall during the school holidays. He made several copies and sent them out to dozens of casting agents, including bosses at the BBC1 medical drama Holby City.
But after no responses from anyone after three months, he decided it was finally time to lay his performing dreams to rest.
He says: "I gave up after that and went into the fire station on Clapham Common to sign up to be a fireman. I got the papers and went back outside to my moped when the phone rang to say I’d got an audition for Holby [City].”
Tom became a series regular as cardiothoracic registrar Sam Strachan. Happy to have regular work for the first time, he forgot about his dancing ambitions until two years later when Strictly Come Dancing scouts approached the drama to ask if any of their cast might be interested in competing. Tom jumped at the chance, but Holby bosses initially refused.
"My Executive producer said: ‘no, I’m not allowing you, because you’re doing your exit storyline and it’s going to be really big and you can’t do both,” he says.
"I had to beg her to let me do it and promise I would learn my lines and turn up on time and wouldn’t be exhausted doing both.”
Tom was paired with Camilla Dallerup and his suave style and charm helped him win against fierce competition from the likes of Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon.
Since then, he’s had a successful career both on TV, with roles in Casualty, Waterloo Road Emmerdale and Father Brown and on stage, in shows including Crazy for You, Private Lives and Dial M for Murder.
Now he’s starring in Elf, the Musical, which returns to London for an eight-week Christmas run. Based on the popular 2003 film starring Will Ferrell, it tells the story of Buddy, an orphan who has been raised at the North Pole as an elf. When he finds out he’s actually human, Buddy goes in search of his real father Walter, played by Tom.
A cynical businessman, Walter doesn’t believe in Santa and is thrown when Buddy turns up claiming to be his son.
Tom says: "Walter has a high-pressured job and he’s a bit worn down by his crazy, busy life. Buddy comes in and once Walter has got his head round the fact that Buddy is his son, he’s the injection of life that he needs. He’s the catalyst that brings him back to where he should have been.”
Not surprisingly audiences will see Tom’s twinkle toes once more. He says: "I don’t think the previous Walter danced a tremendous amount, but I dance three times.
"There’s a great fun dance where Walter is selling the story of Buddy to his boss. It’s got a hint of jive and 60s in it; it’s quite a groovy dance. And then towards the end I come on tap dancing with Buddy.”
Tom married his childhood sweetheart Clare in 2008. The couple, who live in west London, have three children, William, 11, Olive, eight and Poppy, four and Tom is hoping that when Elf ends, he may be able to spend a bit more time at home with them.
Next year he returns as Chief Inspector Sullivan in the 10th series of Father Brown, and as much as he loves dancing, he’s hoping that after that, another TV acting role might follow.
"Children are young for such a short amount of time and I think boys really appreciate their dad being around when they’re aged eight to 13,” he explains.
"I’ve had to be away on tour a lot, so it would be amazing to get a really good TV role which meant I could be around more at home.
"But whatever happens, having been through all those lean years, I do massively appreciate what I have now.”
ELF the Musical runs at the Dominion Theatre until 7 January, visit elflondon.com
