STRICTLY ACE

LEWIS INSPIRES YOUNG FANS

- BY TOM BRYANT

DANCING his heart out on Strictly every Saturday, Lewis Cope is just like the boy who he once was from Billy Elliot. He was an 11-year-old lad from the northeast of England when he won a role in the West End hit.

"I probably wouldn't be doing Strictly now if it wasn't for Billy," he admits.

"Growing up in Hartlepool, my grandad was a miner, and my brothers used to box, so it was perhaps fitting that I ended up on the show."

Among the young cast Lewis danced with was Tom Holland, who went on to be one of the planet's biggest stars.

"He wasn't Spider-Man then, he was just Tom, and I was Lewis, and we were just little lads in our first job, just winging it and having fun," he says.

Tom played Billy, while Lewis played his best friend Michael, and the pair have stayed in touch ever since.

"I went to watch him in town last year doing Romeo and Juliet. I saw him afterwards. He is sound, and really, really nice.

"Whenever we are together, we are like 11-year-old kids again."

His role in Billy Elliot propelled the now 30-year-old Lewis to further success on stage, and a TV role playing Nicky in Emmerdale.