ITV get their skates on for more Dancing on Ice

Dancing on Ice returns to ITV1 and ITVX in 2023 with a new cast and this evening ITV have given a little peek into what is to come as Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby return as hosts once more.

Eleven celebrities prepare to embark on the ultimate challenge as they take to the ice each week, skating live in a bid to impress both the panel and viewers at home. Back for a sparkling new series, the greatest show on ice promises more glitz, glamour and show stopping performances as the celebrities brave it all to learn this dangerous discipline. But who has what it takes to master the skill and steps and lift the trophy at the end of the series?

Holly Willoughby:

“It’s always good to be back! It’s a great start to the year because Christmas is over and you have a little bit of a peak for New Year’s Eve and then it’s January – it’s gloomy, grey and cold and it’s back to work and back to school. Suddenly, Dancing on Ice is back too and it’s the antidote for all of that.“

Meanwhile, ice royalty Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean resume their roles as judges on the ice panel alongside dancers Ashley Banjo and Oti Mabuse. The celebrity competitors taking part in the new series are actress and DJ Patsy Palmer, football legend John Fashanu, Love Island winner Ekin–Su Cülcüloğlu, olympic gymnast Nile Wilson, Coronation Street’s Mollie Gallagher, Drag Queen and TV personality The Vivienne, TV personality Joey Essex, comedian Darren Harriott, actress and West End star Carley Stenson, singer Michelle Heaton and The Wanted’s Siva Kaneswaran.

Phillip Schofield:

“It’s a massive relief that we’re back. Obviously, these are very tricky times, we seem to have left the worst threat of COVID behind us and we can begin to get back to some normality. It was tricky last year and hopefully a lot easier this year. I think it’s one of those things where you just want something back. It was so lovely to see I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! back in the jungle where it should be. We’ll be back hopefully with a full audience.

“We always say that you get Christmas and New Year and once you’ve done that you’re not far away from Dancing on Ice. Before you know it when it’s finished, you’re in the spring! That has always seen us through the worst, it’s been something great and exciting to do. Hopefully the worst of the weather has gone and we haven’t had to fight our way through blizzards and floods!”

Guiding the celebrity novices from their shaky first steps to spectacular routines are their professional partners. A new addition to the 2023 line–up is world–class ice dancer Olivia Smart. Returning to the new series are three Dancing on Ice favourites – Sylvain Longchambon, who last skated in the 2019 series and Vicky Ogden and Klabera Komini who both last skated in the 2021 series. Meanwhile, Matt Evers, who has been a part of Dancing on Ice since it launched in 2006, returns to the show alongside fellow series favourites Alexandra Schauman and husband Łukasz Różycki, Mark Hanretty, Brendyn Hatfield, Vanessa Bauer, Tippy Packard and Colin Grafton.

Holly Willoughby:

“The professionals are so fantastic and the choreography is so beautiful. Ice dancing is so beautiful to watch – I remember watching Torvill & Dean as a kid. It’s the combination of all of those things that I love and obviously with Dancing on Ice you have that added bonus of the ice itself which is its own character. The ice is unreliable, it adds an extra challenge and it’s dangerous. So, although it is beautiful, it has an element of real danger about it.”

Dancing on Ice starts Sunday 15th January, 6:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX