O
ne day in 1978 Mary White-
house, self-appointed moral
arbitress of the age, saw The
Kenny Everett Video Show on
ITV. She saw girls in porn out-
fits — they’d got them cheap
from a sex shop — writhing around
black boys. She was incandescent.
Two days later her views on the
matter were on every front page. The
group, Hot Gossip, became the most
famous dancers in Britain. Gossip’s cre-
ator, Arlene Phillips, became the most
celebrated choreographer.
“It was beyond anything seen on tel-
evision before,” Phillips recalls. “I think
people objected because it was shown
in the early evening when schoolkids
were at home. I can’t tell you how
many people I’ve met who said that
was their sex education... I mean,
nobody was actually having sex.”
Now 78 but still slim and fit-looking,
Phillips recalls her first taste of choreo-
graphic fame fondly. She was in her
mid-thirties and all she had done was
put what was happening on the streets
— punk, basically — on the screen. “It
was what the streets of London were
like — everything was changing... It was
all cult clothing. And sexy clothing.”
Ever since then she’s been the queen
of British dance, choreographing films,
musicals, advertisements — anything
that can be choreographed. Her style,
derived from American jazz dancing, is
still the dominant influence on any
dancing that isn’t actually ballet.
Now, emerging from the two years
of emptiness that was Covid, she is
back in business, with a new produc-
tion of Grease and The Cher Show (she’s
directing it and the majestic Oti Mabuse
from Strictly is the choreographer).
Cher seems closest to her heart.
“She’s an older woman and she’s
like, ‘I’ll stay young inside for ever.’ I’m
an older woman and I’m just... yeah!
As long as I can hold it together I’m
gonna hold it together!”
We are sitting in some rehearsal
rooms in deepest Southwark. The room
is small, cluttered and dominated by a
huge mirror. The other, larger rooms
are littered with noisy, non-old peo-
ple, the dancers rehearsing Cher.
Phillips is now also known as hav-
ing been one of the first judges on
the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
She started in 2004 and it was
one of her favourite gigs. “Oh, I
loved it! I loved judging.”
She was in the job until
2009 and was, undoubt-
edly, one of the primary
reasons the show was
such a gaudy, corny
success.THEATRE
‘I stIll have
nO Idea
why I was
axed frOm
strIctly’
From a sensational pop career to dance
show judge — via a stint as Ridley Scott’s
cleaner — Arlene Phillips has seen it all.
Now she’s bringing Cher’s story to stage
One of the craziest aspects of the
show is that the judges — not the pro
dancers, not the contestants, not the
presenters — are the real stars. As a
result the BBC’s decision to sack Phil-
lips, the queen of contemporary dance,
was seismic and, it goes without say-
ing, stupid. Viewing figures, I am
pleased to say, plummeted and people
in the street rushed up to Phillips to
give her consoling hugs.
Theories proliferated. Was it because
she was rude about that most undance-
able contestant, John Sergeant?
“Absolutely not. And I got lambasted
for that. I would never say something
like that.”
Was it because she was too old?
Anti-ageist anger swept the
nation and Harriet Harman
even brought it up in parlia-
ment. The circumstantial evi-
dence was that Phillips was
replaced by Alesha Dixon,
35 years her junior.
She doesn’t know why it
happened. “I never really
got an answer. They said,
‘You’re on a one-year con-
tract and we can let you
go.’ I could never say itwas about my age. But I could not say
exactly why I was let go because I never
really had an answer. The day before I
found out this news via a phone call
from a radio station asking would I talk
about it — and I had no clue as to what
they were talking about. You know, I
thought it was nonsense. It was first
thing in the morning.”
On top of that her beloved manager,I never thought I’d be
a dame. Me, that littlegirl from Prestwich
THE BRYAN
APPLEYARD
INTERVIEW
Keep dancing Arlene Phillips.
Below: Hot Gossip in their heydayCHRIS MCANDREW/CAMERA PRESS. INSET: GETTY IMAGES8 24 April 2022