Sarah Hadland reveals how her next Strictly Come Dancing routine will pay homage to her Miranda days

Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola will dance to 'Proud' on 'Strictly Come Dancing' in homage to her 'Miranda' days.

The 53-year-old actress is currently competing on the BBC Latin and ballroom show alongside professional Vito, 32, but she initially became widely known for her role as Stevie Sutton in Miranda Hart's eponymous sitcom and her character would always sing the Heather Small classic, complete with a handheld cardboard cutout of the singer.

The running gag came about when Sarah first met Miranda at the audition for the series - which initially ran from 2009 until 2015 - and she just happened to be singing it when they went away together on a trip.

Speaking on 'Strictly: It Takes Two', she said: "When I first met Miranda and auditioned to be on the show, they sent us away for a couple of days with a camcorder to build a bit of a rapport.

“I was just wandering around and, as I do, suddenly sang [the chorus]. She wrote it down and said ‘we should make it a thing’. That’s how it began."

On Saturday (09.11.24) evening, the former 'Job Lot' actress and Vito will perform the American Smooth to the pop track, and Sarah recalled meeting with her former co-star just days ago, who gave her some comedic advice on executing the dance.

"It was quite intense. When she mentioned free-leg, I thought she was joking, but it is a thing. She was talking about a button pressing on my knee – she said ‘imagine there was a button on my knee and you’ve got to press it.’

“Straight away I understood it. I said that ‘he’s [Vito] been going on about this, that and other – diamonds and triangles and this shape and that shape’. She says ‘button on my knee’, and I was sorted."