Strictly Come Dancing: Meet Sarah Hadland, the comedian and Miranda star taking to the dance floor

Sarah Hadland is without doubt one of the 4 remaining contestants competing on this 12 months’s Strictly Come Dancing grand finale.

The actor, 53, was introduced to take part on the 2024 run of the favored BBC dancing competitors on ITV’s Lorraine in August, alongside the previous X Issue contestant Shayne Ward, and revealed she couldn’t wait to get began on the present.

“I can not imagine I’m a part of Strictly!” Hadland mentioned. “I really feel significantly excited to be a part of such an iconic present in its twentieth 12 months.”

Hadland is greatest identified for being one of many unique forged members of the CBBC sketch present Horrible Histories and for her position as joke store supervisor Stevie Sutton on the BBC sitcom Miranda, which she starred in alongside the collection’ lead Miranda Hart, in addition to Tom Ellis and Patricia Hodge.

The actor beforehand revealed she didn’t initially suppose she’d get together with Hart: “I hadn’t been to school or drama college. I used to be instructed a gazillion instances, ‘You’ll not be an actress,’” she mentioned in an interview with The Observer in 2013.

“I keep in mind trying her up on the web and pondering, ‘We’ve nothing in frequent; you’re posh.’”

However Hadland later admitted she’d misjudged her co-stars: “I really feel fortunate to have achieved a job that has given me an excellent buddy for all times,” she instructed The Solar. “I’d like to do one other collection, nevertheless it’s as much as Miranda as a result of she writes the present.”

Hadland grew up in Hertfordshire and have become concerned in youth theatre whereas she was in school in Cheshire. After leaving house at 16, she skilled at Laine Theatre Arts Faculty in Epsom, Surrey and made her on-screen debut with a minor position within the second collection of the political sitcom The Thick of It, alongside Peter Capaldi and Chris Addison.

Like her fellow Strictly 2024 contestant Tasha Ghouri, Hadland already has some dance expertise, having skilled in ballet from the age of three. Forward of touchdown an appearing position, she began her profession dancing in West Finish musicals, together with Cats and Grease when she was 19.

The Physician Who star and Hadland’s shut buddy Alex Kingston beforehand referred to as out the Miranda actor for her dance coaching, saying: “Sarah Hadland and I talked about how a lot we’d love to do Strictly Come Dancing. Then I found that she’s truly a skilled ballet dancer. ‘Cling on a minute! That’s not truthful!’ So, I can’t do it on a season when she is on it.”

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The Miranda star has additionally had roles within the BBC drama Waterloo Highway, David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s sketch present That Mitchell and Webb Look and the 2008 James Bond epic Quantum of Solace.

Away from work, Hadland retains her health up by happening runs. “My paternal grandfather was a reserve runner for the British Olympic staff, so I wish to suppose it’s in my genes,” she beforehand instructed The Occasions. “I’ve accomplished two London Marathons in beneath 4 hours.

“The preliminary resistance to train is bizarre, however I make myself do it, then the endorphins kick in.”