'Life's too short: go for what it is you secretly long to do'

Alex Kingston sits down with Helen Coffey to talk 'Strictly', recovery from uterine cancer, repping for superwomen over 60, and resisting getting embroiled in social media drama

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“Your body does try to warn you.

It just depends on whether you can read the warning signs.” Alex Kingston is talking about cancer. More specifically, her own recent, earth-shattering experience of womb cancer. The actor hasn’t spoken publicly about it before, but her 2024 was dominated by a shock diagnosis and subsequent recovery. “I had a major operation,” she says frankly. “I had to have a hysterectomy, I had to go into radiation therapy, and that took up a huge part of my life.” Her treatment only finished towards the end of last year.

It is astounding, really, considering the Doctor Who star is currently competing in the latest series of Strictly Come Dancing. The training schedule is notoriously gruelling, requiring a level of fitness that would be supremely challenging for most 62-year-olds - let alone a 62-year-old who’s just overcome the big C. But more than that, Kingston looks in incredible shape.

Two weeks into the iconic BBC show, she and professional dance partner Johannes Radebe have already delivered a gloriously dramatic Viennese waltz to “Cry Me a River”, Kingston swoon-worthy in a floor-length red gown with her signature golden curls smoothed into soft, 1940s waves. Last Saturday saw her snap into the samba, swathed in multi-coloured frills to the jaunty strains of “La Bamba”. Though she describes the experience of learning a complex routine in just three days as “intense”, she’s clearly loving every minute. “I feel like Superwoman,” she tells me – and I believe her. There’s an aura of buoyant, unquenchable energy emanating from this woman.