Lewis Cope’s extensive dance experience will work against him on Strictly

It’s happened again. Strictly Come Dancing has snuck a trained dancer into its line-up of supposedly amateur celebrities, and critics are livid.

It’s a tale as old as time. Well, as old as Strictly Come Dancing.

Each year, one contestant takes to the dance floor and twirls around it like a world champion. This time though, one star has actually come close to being a genuine world champion.

Without lifting the Glitterball trophy, Emmerdale star Lewis Cope already has several dance accolades under his belt.

As a child, he learned from the best during his stint in Billy Elliot on London’s prestigious West End, and before we knew him as nanny Nicky Milligan on the Yorkshire-based soap, Lewis was on our screens in the dance competition show Got To Dance, finishing as runner-up with the hiph