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STRICTLY spine-chilling
Before tonight’s special with a witches’ coven and a creepy routine at the Natural History Museum, the team who make over the stars spill their secrets
Strictly Come Dancing’s annual spook-tacular Halloween special can come as a blessing in disguise for the celebrity dancers desperate to hide their faltering footwork behind swirling dry ice and ghoulish outfits. But it can also prove a monster hit for some. Who can forget Ed Balls’s mad, Einstein-haired, goggle-clad scientist three years ago, when the former Chancellor managed to conjure up a high score from a cha-cha-cha with his partner
Katya Jones, even if judge
Len Goodman described the routine as neither super nor natural?
Strictly always pulls out all the stops for Halloween, with epic costumes, startling make-up and ghostly routines – for the judges as well as the performers. Craig Revel Horwood has turned up as both the bride of Frankenstein and The Joker. ‘Craig
the Joker, isn’t he?’ laughs the show’s head of make-up design Lisa Armstrong. ‘That was so true to character. He loved it. They all love it. It’s such great fun.’
Tonight’s special will begin with the pro dancers performing a routine at the Natural History Museum – complete with Anton du Beke as the janitor and plenty of bumps in the night – before they’re transported back to the Strictly ballroom at ‘Hellstree’ Studios. We’ll also see a witches’ coven and pro dancer Giovanni Pernice ‘flying’ to an orchestral version of Britney Spears’s Toxic. Meanwhile, the 11 remaining couples will creep onto the dancefloor dressed as witches, ghouls and ghosts to try to impress the judges.
But Halloween is an even bigbehind ger challenge for those the scenes. Lisa Armstrong, head of hair design Lisa Davey and head of wardrobe Vicky Gill and their teams must masterfully creand ate the characters’ costumes looks within the restrictions of ballroom and Latin dancing. ‘I’m starting to feel sick about Halloween,’ admits Lisa Armstrong, 43. ‘I’m only just getting over Movie Week. But despite the stress, somehow we always manage to pull it off. I’ve been doing the show for 13 years and things have evolved so much in the hair and make-up departments, as has the choreography, the lighting, the props, the costumes... everyone raises their game to keep it fresh.
‘In Halloween week it’s non-stop chaos from the moment we walk through the door at 8am on Saturday until we finish the results show. Normally
the boys take 20 minutes for a bit of powder to cover up shaving rashes, but for Halloween they all have full-on make-up, so everyone has an hour in the chair – and it’s more for the girls.’ And fake tan, for once, is a no-no. ‘I ban it for Halloween because I don’t want orange zombies,’ laughs Lisa. ‘They’re all painted paler so there’s a tan ban.’
But she explains there is a limit to how scary the dancers can be. ‘We can’t be too ghoulish because we’re still a family entertainment show.’ Casualty actor Charles Venn’s terrifying hairdo – long white hair and a bald pate – came close to the mark last year when he did a jive to the Time Warp with Karen Clifton. ‘That was mad because we put the bald cap on him then had to paint it and stick the hair to it. It was really complicated because so many things can happen – the cap can split, there’s the sweating, or it can just fall off.’ Certainly, things don’t always go to plan. Lisa recalls when Olympic gymnast Louis Smith was transformed into a zombie in 2012. ‘We used zombie-style contact lenses but one fell out in rehearsals,’ she says. ‘Then we thought, “Actually, it looks quite effective and not too scary.” That was a pure fluke.’
The design teams have to make sure their work doesn’t restrict the routines. ‘When Ore Oduba and Joanne Clifton were dressed as The Twits in 2016, we wanted to make Ore look like he’d been tipped out of a bin. So on the morning of the show, when I had 100 things running around in my head, my main concern was, “Don’t forget the box of Frostto ies stick in his beard!”’ laughs Lisa. ‘But they’d been rehearsing their backsides off all week and we couldn’t impact on their performance, so we had to check that the Frosties weren’t going to fall into his eyes!’
And last year, although former Steps singer Faye Tozer and her pro partner Giovanni Pernice went on to score 39 out of 40 for their routine to Fever while dressed as skeletons, the dress rehearsal was fraught. ‘Their dance was choreographed around the way they looked. Faye’s hairpiece was a big plait that she used as a prop, pulling on it and swinging it around. But it didn’t work in the dress
rehearsal because Faye’s hair is so short and you have to attach the hairpiece to something. The first time it was too heavy. Then we made another plait but it was moving all over so we hit on the idea of using big anchor clips and sewing it in, gaffer-taping it up and finally putting a ribbon around it so it still looked nice.’
It’s all worth it, though, as Lisa – who was divorced from Ant Mcpartlin last year – receives lots of compliments after the Halloween shows. She wants viewers to think, ‘I’m going to try that’, and often they do – such as when she transformed model Daisy Lowe and partner Aljaz Skorjanec with Mexican skulls on a Day of the Dead theme in 2016. ‘That became a very popular look,’ recalls Lisa. ‘We used Swarovski crystals and I cut pearls in half to stick on Daisy’s face, then I used lots of glittery shimmer.’
So what have been her most stunning Halloween looks? ‘I loved Victoria Pendleton’s in 2012 when she danced a tango to White Wedding with Brendan Cole. I paled out her face and cut up some big eyelashes to place on the top and bottom of her eyes – she became like a cartoon character. I also loved Sophie EllisBextor in 2013 with the symmetrical devil points around her eyes, and Kate Silverton looked amazing as a frozen beauty last year.’
‘Each year we strive to do better,’ says head costume designer Vicky
Gill. ‘Helen George and Aljaz Skorjanec’s mummy samba in 2015 wasn’t a hit with the judges, but it was a massive hit with me. There’s not a lot of movement beneath bandages, so we had to work out how to create bounce and shake. We had a stretchy catsuit underneath, then we created a bustle from three inches of crinoline. ‘When Ashley Roberts and Pasha Kovalev did a Trolls-inspired Charleston, Ashley got three 10s. Who knew you could maintain dance perfection wearing as much wadding as they were!’ Although presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman and judges Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse have their own stylists, the male judges Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli are dressed and madeup by Vicky, Lisa Armstrong, Lisa Davey and their teams. ‘Craig loves a costume, and Bruno is so extravagant with the amount of jewellery he wears,’ laughs Vicky, 46. ‘Halloween is an opportunity for them to pile on the glam.’ Unfortunately, what goes on for Halloween must come off, and Lisa Armstrong and her team are the last to leave. ‘We de-costume them, throw their heads in the sink and run the tap on them,’ she says. ‘But many love their look so much they go to a party or go home in it. I say, “Good luck getting it off – but bring the wig back or you won’t get one next week!”’ n