Dawn: I miss Dibley’s funny clever Emma so very much
Karen & Kevin: We have split..but we still dance together on tour
Dawn & Emma DAWN French has paid tribute to her “bright, clever-witted and very sharp” Vicar of Dibley co-star Emma Chambers, who died last month.
Emma, who played ditsy Alice Tinker, had a fatal heart attack, aged just 53, and Dawn, 60, said: “I’ll miss her very much.”
The comic said Emma was “massively professional” in the hit BBC sitcom, and added: “Every single time I worked with Emma she was in character properly.
“She understood Alice was not somebody who was just completely dim, she was someone different, she thought differently and had the most wonderful naivety, while still being very cheeky.”
Dawn, who played the vicar Geraldine Granger, recalled how shooting one scene brought Emma out in an allergic reaction. She said: “I felt sorry for her when we had to do the scene with animals. She was allergic to everything.
“It was a nightmare day, and her whole face just ballooned up, but it was funny.”
Speaking to variety performer La Voix at Brasserie Zedel in London, Dawn also recalled Alice’s famous I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter speech.
Dawn said: “She had to learn it a week beforehand, and do it again and again and again. But when it came to the day, she did it straight away, word perfectly.
“It’s a speech that if you don’t put the emphasis on the right word, the joke is lost, so she just was genius, absolutely genius, at it.” Kevin and Karen have broken up Kevin with Louise in 2016 series STRICTLY professionals Kevin and Karen Clifton yesterday confirmed their marriage has ended – but said they will remain dance partners.
The pair revealed they were the latest couple to fall victim to the “curse” of Strictly while speaking on the radio about their upcoming UK tour.
Kevin, 35, said: “Privately, we’re not together any more. But professionally, we’re stronger than ever.”
He said dance was “the glue that held us together for years” and added: “We’re still the best of friends and have a lot of love and respect for each other.”
Kevin told BBC Radio 2’s Chris Evans he still saw his ex “pretty much every day”, with Karen, also 35, interjecting: “You’re never going to get rid of me.”
CHEMISTRY
She added: “We have great chemistry. “For us it’s all about the storytelling and giving the best performance and entertaining and inspiring.”
The couple met on Broadway show Burn the Floor and tied the knot in July 2015, but their relationship is said to have fallen apart last year.
One problem is understood to have been Kevin’s close friendship with 2016 partner Louise Redknapp, 43, whose marriage to ex-footballer Jamie has also ended.
At one point, Karen reportedly told Jamie to keep Louise away from her husband because she was “ruining our marriage”.
The dancers kick off their Kevin & Karen Live UK tour in May.
BBC bosses will see how they get on before deciding on inviting them back for the next series of Strictly. Kevin added: “We love the show so much. If they were to ask us back, we’d both be delighted.”