{"id":819365,"date":"2026-10-31T04:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T04:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/819365\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T04:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T04:00:14","slug":"sir-ian-mckellen-surprise-turn-on-strictly-halloween-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/819365\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Ian McKellen surprise turn on Strictly Halloween special"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The former Bolton School<\/a> pupil has recorded a special vocal cameo for the BBC show’s Halloween Week results programme, which airs on Sunday evening.\n<\/p>\n

\n Sir Ian, best known for his roles in The Lord of the Rings, X-Men and countless Shakespeare productions, will lend his distinctive voice to a spooky Strictly<\/a> professionals’ group dance inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula.\n<\/p>\n

\n The routine, performed to Tame Impala’s Dracula, begins at a drive-in movie theatre where professional dancers Alexis Warr and Nikita Kuzmin appear to be enjoying a first date before a sinister twist reveals Kuzmin is a vampire.\n<\/p>\n

\n The dance then descends into a gothic, tango-inspired spectacle featuring the show’s professional dancers, with Sir Ian’s reading from Dracula providing the dramatic climax.\n<\/p>\n

\n The appearance marks the latest high-profile project for the internationally acclaimed actor, who attended Bolton School before going on to study at Cambridge University and build a career spanning stage and screen.\n<\/p>\n

\n Sir Ian has regularly spoken of his affection for the town and returned to Bolton<\/a> on numerous occasions over the years, including visits to his former school and local theatres.\n<\/p>\n

\n Sunday’s results show will also feature a performance from singer Becky Hill and a Strictly first, with three couples competing in the dance-off before one pair is eliminated by the judges.\n<\/p>\n

\n Before then, the remaining celebrity contestants will take to the ballroom floor for Halloween Week on Saturday night, with a series of spooky-themed routines planned.\n<\/p>\n

\n Fans hoping to hear Sir Ian’s cameo will need to tune into the results show on BBC One and iPlayer from 7.10pm on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former Bolton School pupil has recorded a special vocal cameo for the BBC show’s Halloween Week results…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-819365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}