Will Mellor is set to return to the small screen in a new drama after his triumphant time on Strictly Come Dancing. But the actor, candidly, admits that he was “gutted” to miss out on making it to the final of the 2022 edition of the BBC One dance contest.
Will made it all the way to the semi-final of the hit show alongside professional dance partner Nancy Xu. The Stockport-born star, who is famed for a string of roles including in Two Pints and of Lager and Hollyoaks, became the last star to be booted out of the ballroom before the grand final and was left in tears as he said his goodbyes.
Viewers went on to see Hamza Yassin and Jowita Przystał lift the Glitterball trophy after facing stiff competition from Molly Rainford and Carlos Gu, Helen Skelton and Gorka Marquez, and Fleur East and Vito Coppola.
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But despite his upset, Will has nothing but fond memories of his experience. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News at the Pride of Manchester Awards, which took place at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel on Wednesday night (May 10), alongside his beloved mum, Shirley, Will said: "It was like childbirth,” he joked about the pain of taking part in Strictly. But Shirley was quick to giggle as she said: “No it isn’t,” and Will said with a cheeky smile: “Apparently!” He added: “But that’s why people have more than one kid because they forget the pain.
“You always remember the best bits. It was hard and it was a real mental and physical journey but you’ve got to go through things in life to appreciate it. And it’s about memories and we’ve got those memories now.”
He also quipped that they ‘had’ to do the Strictly Come Dancing Live UK tour as they had a come down from competing in the main show. “We did the tour and we called it the ‘methadone’ to get off Strictly you have to do the tour,” Will said. “We did the tour [for] three months and it was amazing. My mum came to see me on the tour as well in Manchester. And we [were] just creating memories, that’s what life is about. It was great.”
And Will, 46, who grew up in Bredbury, got quite the homecoming as he ‘won’ all three nights in his home city at Manchester’s AO Arena. “I was over the moon,” Will said. “I was a bit disappointed going out in the semi-final because I wanted to complete the journey. But just coming to Manchester and doing that was all worth it. When am I ever going to get a chance to perform in front of 10,000 people and my family [at] one time. It was amazing.”
But with Strictly now in the past, it’s all about what’s next for Will and there’s a new drama on he cards and some other secret projects which he can’t tell us about - or his mum as she pointed out as she proudly stood alongside her son on the Pride of Manchester red carpet.
“I’m just about to shoot a drama for ITV1 but I can’t tell you too much about it,” he revealed to us. “I’ve got a series out called Cops Who Kill on Crime + Investigation and we’ve got another one of them going out. Possibly another podcast and then theres more stuff in the year but I can’t tell you too much.” It is then that Shirley chipped in with a laugh: “I don’t even know!”
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