Leeds TV company to air show with Strictly Come Dancing star Dame Darcey Bussell

Ballerina and Strictly Come Dancing star Dame Darcey Bussell will present a new documentary about her Scottish roots, made by a Yorkshire production company.

Darcey Bussell's Wild Coasts of Scotland starts at 9pm tomorrow (Monday) on More4.

True North, the company which made the channel's The Yorkshire Dales and the Lakes, and the hit Devon and Cornwall series for Channel 4, has made the series.

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In promotion material, the company said: "Dame Darcey Bussell is embarking on a personal journey of discovery and adventure as she explores her Scottish ancestry by visiting the wild coasts of Skye, The Outer Hebrides, Islay and Bute, the island where her Scottish grandfather spent so much of his youth.

Darcey Bussell following an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London, where she was made a Dame. Picture: Steve Parsons/PA Wire.Darcey Bussell following an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London, where she was made a Dame. Picture: Steve Parsons/PA Wire.
Darcey Bussell following an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London, where she was made a Dame. Picture: Steve Parsons/PA Wire.

"On her travels she meets the many and different people who call these islands home.

"She gets to indulge her passion for dance as she tries out different types of Scottish dancing, and she gets to witness, up close, some truly stunning spectacles.

"Her journey culminates in a truly emotional moment on the island of Bute when she visits, for the first time ever, the house her grandfather knew a as boy."

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Acclaimed as one of the great British ballerinas, Dame Darcey, 51, studied at The Royal Ballet School from the age of 13 and went on to become the then youngest-ever principal at the Royal Ballet in 1989 aged just 20.

At the time of her appointment she had been performing as the principal dancer in a production of The Prince of the Pagodas, after being chosen for the role by choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan.

She went on to dance on stages across the world and has taken roles including the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Giselle in Giselle and Swan Lake’s Odette.

In 2006 she announced she was retiring as the company principal from the Royal Ballet and in June 2007 she performed her last dance.

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Notable performances include the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday tribute in 1990 and then in 2012 during the Olympic closing ceremony she led a large group of ballet dancers in a routine.

She is known to television viewers after becoming one of the judges on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing between 2012 and 2019.