Huge international TV star turned down Strictly Come Dancing over ‘joke’ fears

Brian Cox on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg
Succession actor Brian Cox revealed all on being asked to appear on Strictly Come Dancing (Picture: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA Wire)

Brian Cox has revealed he turned down an offer to appear on Strictly Come Dancing because he doesn’t know ‘if I want to go down that road’.

The celebrated 77-year-old Scottish actor is currently best known for playing Logan Roy in the hit TV drama Succession, for which he received three consecutive Emmy nominations for lead actor in a drama series.

Having made his Hollywood breakthrough with 1986 movie Manhunter, and also starred in the likes of Braveheart, Troy and Zodiac, Cox also reckons he is ‘too old’ to be a contestant on the dancing competition.

Appearing on BBC One programme Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, the award-winning actor spoke about the show and admitted: ‘I’ve actually been asked to be on it.’

Asked if he said yes to an appearance, he responded: ‘No, I declined. Well… I mean, I like dancing, don’t get me wrong… I don’t know why but I just, I always see that there’s a sort of joke element in it.

‘You know, there’s almost a character that’s going to be getting the elbow… and I just thought, “I don’t know if I want to go down that road”.’

Undated BBC handout photo of the celebrity contestants, who will appear in the 2023 series of Strictly Come Dancing
The 2023 series saw the likes of Les Dennis, Annabel Croft, Angela Rippon and Amanda Abbington take part (Picture: BBC Studios/Ray Burmiston/PA)
Brian Cox on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg
Cox shared that he wasn’t keen on the ‘joke element’ of Strictly (Picture: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA Wire)

When pressed on whether or not he could be persuaded, he added: ‘I’m getting too old for it anyway.’

We reckon Strictly Come Dancing 2023 competitor Angela Rippon may have a thing or two to say about that, having celebrated her 79th birthday while competing in this year’s series.

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She was the eighth celebrity to be eliminated, alongside her professional dance partner Kai Widdrington, 28.

The grand final of this year’s Strictly was on Saturday night, with the glitterball trophy awarded to soap star Ellie Leach and her partner Vito Coppola.

Succession - Series 4 - Dagmara Dominczyk as Karolina Novotney and Brian Cox as Logan Roy
A popular actor for years, Cox is currently riding high on hit TV show Succession, where he was nominated three times for an Emmy for his turn as Logan Roy (pictured with co-star Dagmara Dominczyk) (Picture: HBO)

Journalist Kuenssberg discussed the competition with Cox and the programme’s other guest panellists, Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid and former cabinet minister Robert Buckland.

Reid, 53, was a celebrity contestant on the show in 2013 and made it to the final, where she competed against Coronation Street’s Natalie Gumede and model Abbey Clancy, who won the show with Aljaž Škorjanec.

Speaking about this year’s final, which beat the peak from last year, she said: ‘Huge congratulations to the winners.’

The winners of Strictly Come Dancing 2023, Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola
Saturday night’s final saw Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola crowned the champions (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA)
Bobby Brazier and Dianne Buswell during their appearance on the live show on Saturday for BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing 2023 final
Dianne Buswell and Bobby Brazier finished runners-up, alongside Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA)

‘It’s the most magical, sparkling, fantastic experience to be involved in,’ she added.

‘It is not real life. So I have to say, any of those contestants who wake up this morning, they will come back down to earth with a bump because it’s like a completely different planet where you breathe air which is sequin encrusted.’

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg airs every Sunday from 9am on BBC One and BBC News.

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