Strictly Come Dancing's Will Mellor was overcome with emotion on Saturday night as he and pro dance partner Nancy Xu danced to his late father's favourite song on Strictly Come Dancing. The former Hollyoaks and Four Pints of Lager actor, tragically lost his dad Bill in April 2020.
Will, who plays villain Harvey Gaskell in Coronation Street, performed a stunning waltz to Three Times a Lady by the Commodores, which was dedicated to his father. Ahead of their dance Will, from Bredbury, explained that it's a song that his dad used to sing to his mum Shirley.
"This dance is two people moving as one, two hearts beating as one, that's what we want," he said in his VT. He was also seen video-calling his mum as she urged her son to "hold it together" on the BBC dance contest after they had been through some tough times together.
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Will told her: "Hopefully with this dance I can pay my respects to dad." After dazzling the judges and viewers watching at home, Will was in tears and was comforted by Nancy as the judges gave their comments.
Motsi Mabuse remarked: 'Wow. Will that was absolutely beautiful. In every essence of the word beauty that's what it is. Music, together, timeless, feeling, message, performance... what more do you want? I don't know - beautiful!"
Head judge Shirley Ballas said: "Well dancing is one thing, but after watching your VT and that beautiful relationship you have with your mum, is just amazing - it makes me miss my own son." And Anton Du Beke added that it was the 'epitome' of two bodies dancing as one to music.
Then as Will and Nancy climbed the stairs to chat to host Claudia Winkleman, the Line of Duty star told her: "I can't talk at the moment I'm sorry." After Claudia turned to Nancy, his dance partner said: "I think he did amazing and when we're talking this dance, we're not just dancing for this moment."
She explained: "We want to dedicate this dance to anyone who lost their loved ones and didn't get a chance to say goodbye." Will then turned to the camera to reassure his son Jayden and daughter Renee that he was alright.
"I'm alright kids," he said. "You know what I'm like, I'm emotional. I just want the kids to know because I know they'll be worried about me."
Previously speaking about losing his dad, Will said how he regretted not hugging him goodbye after he kept to social distancing in the garden. He said: "The one regret I've got is going up there to see him, and because I had to social distance I had to go and stand in the garden and wasn't even allowed in the house but there was no way I wasn't going to see my dad.
"I drove up on my own and went to the garden. He sat in a chair outside the back door and I was sat on the other side of the garden and I didn't hug him because of the coronavirus."
Bill died in April, two weeks after he was rushed to hospital following a seizure. Will explained that cancer was found on his lung which had spread to his brain.
"It was just the worst, worst couple of weeks of my life," he said. The former Hollyoaks favourite continued in the podcast entitled A Father's Day Tribute to Bill Mellor: "I wasn't allowed to hug him, and he passed away without me doing that.
"He actually said to me, 'If I got hold of you, I wouldn't be able to let go.' That was one of the last things he said to me and it absolutely killed me."
He added: "If I'd have known then what I know now I would have grabbed hold of him but I didn't. And that was the last time I saw him."
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