Yorkshire's Graeme 'The Dogfather' Hall on Strictly Come Dancing: 'My mum and dad met on the dancefloor - I hope I do them proud'

As the leaves start to change colour, there are a few constants we can look forward to: cosy nights in, winter coats, and the return of Strictly Come Dancing. This series, the nation’s favourite dancing show, welcomes a new line-up of hosts and 15 new celebrities, who will tango, jive, salsa and quickstep alongside their professional partners in the hope of winning the coveted Glitterball Trophy.

Judges Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and Anton Du Beke will once again take their seats, ready to scrutinise every step, turn and flourish. Meanwhile, presenter Emma Willis, professional dancer Johannes Radebe and comedian Josh Widdicombe are replacing long-time hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.

“It’s amazing to just get to do this kind of legendary show,” says Widdicombe, 43. “If a TV show can be a national treasure, this is it. It’s like the ultimate show, and so it just feels surreal. The pressure that comes with it is exciting because that’s what you want to do, isn’t it? And that shows you really care.”

Speaking about the audition process, the London-born stand-up comedian compared it to a John le Carré novel. “I turned up on my own because none of us knew who was going to be there,” he explains. “It was this wild thing where everything was really secretive. You didn’t know where the location was; you just got in the car.

“The show the drivers were told they were driving to was called The Great Garden Glow Up. So it was like being a kind of spy in the Cold War. It was brilliant. I was pretending I was in a John le Carré book or whatever, and then you’d turn up and you didn’t know who was going to be there.”

Willis, 50, who has presented shows including Big Brother, The Voice, The Circle and Love Is Blind, speaks about the enormity of the role. “I think as a presenter, there are few shows that have been on for that length of time, that are live television, and that are so iconic. They’re few and far between now. So that was definitely a positive aspect of it for me.”

She is also prepared for the comparisons to Daly and Winkleman. “I’m ready for the comparisons. I am ready for the negative opinions that can come with these things, but on the flip side, there are always positives as well. But at the end of the day, I feel like it’s really simple, right? We work in this industry, and we’ve been given the opportunity to work on a phenomenal show that is really well loved by the public and also by ourselves.

“We aren’t reinventing the wheel, and we’re not rocket scientists. We are working on an entertainment show about dancing that is meant to hopefully bring joy to everybody watching it. So hopefully we can be a small part of that joy and have a really lovely time doing it.”

Former Strictly professional dancer Radebe says he had to overcome imposter syndrome when taking on the hosting role. “I had to sit with myself when I got the phone call and say, ‘who do you think you are?’” laughs the 39-year-old South African. “But then I called my agent, and he was the one who said to me, ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained.’ And I just thought to myself, ‘Yeah, because if anybody was afforded this opportunity amongst my peers, any one of them would jump on it, whether they knew how to do it or not.’ But I feel like I know my stuff. And he said to me, ‘This is not tennis. This is not football. You’re speaking about your passion.’ So that’s how I came around.”

The celebrity contestants this season include former Love Island winner Dani Dyer-Bowen, actress Melanie Walters, former England footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips and Australian singer Delta Goodrem. They will be joined by actress Lacey Turner, celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton, Love Island winner Cach Mercer, presenter Will Best, Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey, actress Jaime Winstone, actress Bethany Antonia, Emmerdale’s Lawrence Robb, Olympian Tabby Stoecker, sports content creator John Nellis and dog trainer and presenter Graeme “The Dogfather” Hall.

Yorkshireman Hall says he’s “more excited than I’ve ever been to get stuck into something”. “I love dancing. I did a little dancing as a hobby years ago, but had to stop when I had a stroke. I recovered fully after a heart operation, but I haven’t danced for years.”

He admits he’s a “bit of a perfectionist” and is nervous about messing up a routine and letting his partner down. “‘If a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing right’ is something I say a lot and I’ll work hard to get it right but there’s no accounting for stage fright. Strictly is way out of my comfort zone.”

"My fellow Yorkshireman, the chef James Martin, laughed his head off when he heard I was competing,” Hall adds. “He said ‘You have no idea what you’re letting yourself in for!’ James made the semi-final in 2005, which is something he was quick to remind me of. The gauntlet has been thrown down.”

His mum, who has just turned 90 and still lives in the bungalow where Hall was born in Selby, will be cheering him on. “She met my dad, literally on the dance floor, in the late 1950s. They danced jive, as everyone did then, but also waltz and – my mum’s favourite – quickstep. Apparently, they would fly around the dancefloor, quickstepping their way past everyone else. I would love to make her proud. One of my dad’s sayings was ‘Do your best. No one can ask any more of you’. Good advice, isn’t it? I’ll 100 per cent be doing my very best on the dancefloor for my mum and in memory of my dad.”

Strictly will return tomorrow on BBC One and iPlayer.