Strictly Come Dancing contestant Alex Kingston was among the celebrities who took to the floor on Saturday night to perform for Movie Week – and what an incredible job she did. Doctor Who actress, 62, was inundated with support for her Quickstep to 'Suddenly I See' from the 2006 movie, The Devil Wears Prada, having revealed just the day before that she has not long recovered from womb cancer.
"One of the best dances of the night. She nailed the role of Miranda Priestly," wrote one supportive fan on social media, while a second added: "Absolutely full of character, energy, and ATTITUDE for miles! Alex and Jojo smashed Movie Week." A third added: "I couldn't decide if I was scared or in awe of Alex. Amazing! Well done."
© BBC/Guy LevyAlex's cancer diagnosis
Speaking to The Independent about her health on Friday, the ER star shared that she had experienced a haemorrhage prior to being diagnosed with cancer last year and starting treatment. "I had a major operation. I had to have a hysterectomy, I had to go into radiation therapy, and that took up a huge part of my life," Alex said.
© WireImage"I had assumed that the way I was feeling was old age, and I just sort of accepted it… I thought, 'OK, this is what it's like to be in my sixties.' But a lot of how I was feeling was to do with my illness. I never went down the cancer road in my head. It was a shock, because I have a very positive outlook on life in general."
She went on to explain that she experienced a haemorrhage while she was doing a play at Chichester Festival last summer and had to run off stage. She has since spoken about tackling her treatment head-on and returning to normal life.
Alex's recovery
"Despite having gone through all of that – and any cancer is really tough to accept, to steel yourself to go through all of the necessary procedures to get back into health – the minute I had the operation, I suddenly felt like myself again," she said.
"Womb cancer is really tricky because it is so sneaky. What I would say is, the body does know – and that was the body saying to me, 'Help! There’s something really wrong.' It's so important to seek advice and have a check-up."
© BBC/Guy LevyAlex has become a fan favourite on Strictly alongside her pro partner, Johannes Radebe. On Saturday night, the couple earned an impressive score of 30 out of 40 for their Quickstep. "If there were a dance version of The Devil Wears Prada, it would be this," guest judge and star of Wicked, Cynthia Erivo, told Alex after her performance. "It topped it for me."
- 2004: Natisha Kaplinsky (partner Brendan Cole)
- 2004: Jill Halfpenny (partner Darren Bennett)
- 2005: Darren Gough (partner Lilia Kopylova)
- 2006: Mark Ramprakash (partner Karen Hardy)
- 2007: Alesha Dixon (partner Matthew Cutler)
- 2008: Tom Chambers (partner Camilla Dallerup)
- 2009: Chris Hollins (partner Ola Jordan)
- 2010: Kara Tointon (partner Artem Chigvintsev)
- 2011: Harry Judd (partner Aliona Vilani)
- 2012: Louis Smith (partner Flavia Cacace)
- 2013: Abbey Clancy (partner Aljaž Škorjanec)
- 2014: Caroline Flack (partner Pasha Kovalev)
- 2015: Jay McGuiness (partner Aliona Vilani)
- 2016: Ore Oduba (partner Joanne Clifton)
- 2017: Joe McFadden (partner Katya Jones)
- 2018: Stacey Dooley (partner Kevin Clifton)
- 2019: Kelvin Fletcher (partner Oti Mabuse)
- 2020: Bill Bailey (partner Oti Mabuse)
- 2021: Rose Ayling-Ellis (partner Giovanni Pernice)
- 2022: Hamza Yassin (partner Jowita Przystał)
- 2023: Ellie Leach (partner Vito Coppola)
- 2024: Chris McCausland (partner Dianne Buswell)
