Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood hits Crawley in Annie the musical

Craig is Miss Hannigan Monday-Friday with Jodie Prenger stepping into Miss Hannigan’s shoes on the Saturday. As he says – rather like Strictly’s – the show’s popularity will go on forever.

“I think it's because of the story which is a story that just resonates with people. It's set in New York in 1933 through the Great Depression and we're going through exactly the same now with electrical and gas price hell and people just not able to afford to pay their bills. And also you have got the fact that there will always be orphans in the world.”

And it is in this world that we find Miss Hannigan, as Craig says, “an alcoholic desperate for a man. Her brother has been in and out of prison all the time and we sing about that and the mother was the one that said to her to build your life on gambling. It all stems from the family and she just turns out the same. She's trying to fix life for herself and it all goes wrong. But also with the show you've got the music and the songs and the costumes and that's what makes it so lovely but I think the big thing is also the fact that the lead character Annie has got hope in the world, and that is so important. She is one of those little gems that sees clearly what the world is and makes it a better place and she even influences the government. It's a really optimistic story and I think that's a big part of what makes it so popular.”

As for Miss Hannigan, Craig wonders whether she might be capable of some rehabilitation: “She ends up going to prison but you would have to hope that she would go into rehab in there and maybe come out the other side and become a nicer person. Maybe we'll find out in a sequel. Maybe I should start writing one, called Hannigan!”

But just as she is, she's a great role: “And it's a great role whether it's a woman playing a woman or a man playing a woman or anyone playing her. It's just a great part with some fantastic lines. You're either drunk or hungover all the time!”

Craig first did Annie back in 2015 and went on the first national tour. He did the West End in 2017 and rejoined in 2019 and is now “rebooted with the show”, as he says: “And it doesn't often happen that way that you have such a long association with a show. You just don't think of Annie as being a long-running show in the way Les Mis or Phantom Of The Opera is, but actually it is and I think the point is that all the generations enjoy and new generations enjoy it and that's similar to strictly. The people who were five years old when I first did strictly 20 years ago and now 25 and so the audience keeps developing.”

The strictly success, Craig believes, is also down to the format: “is a format that's so successful that has gone to 61 countries in the world and been a success in all of them. You've got the public my demand and it's also the fact that the cost every year engage different areas of the community. And i think that's the same with any.

"Everyone enjoys it whatever their walk of life.”