Strictly Come Dancing star Layton Williams has responded to people who are "offended" by his new role, telling them to not buy a ticket.
The Bad Education actor, who was partnered with Nikita Kuzmin in last year’s series of the BBC show, joined the cast of Titanique in October, the West End jukebox musical creatively depicting the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic.
The tone of the show, which sees Williams playing the role of the iceberg that caused the sinking, has been criticised by some for its portrayal of the real-life disaster. However, Williams has explained that the production instead serves as a celebration of James Cameron’s 1997 feature-film.
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"I think when so much time passes, [it’s good] to make joy [out] of something that happened," he told Metro. "It’s more a lol on [singer] Céline [Dion] - actually all the characters are fictional. It’s based on the Titanic film, and we all know the characters in the movie weren’t real."
Williams further clarified that they were "taking the piss out of made up characters" and not real people that died from the event, who are in fact acknowledged respectfully in the show in "a gorgeous little moment at the end".
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"So I really think you’re reaching for the stars if you’re offended - someone’s going to be offended about something or we wouldn’t be able to leave the house, let’s be f**king real," he added. "So if that is you, don’t book a ticket. If that is not you, get your arse down to The Criterion Theatre."
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Williams, who is joined in the cast by Lauren Drew and Rob Houchen, believes Titanique the musical is some light-hearted entertainment that will bring "a little bit of joy" to people in what is "a very crazy world at the moment".
"My big number is a Tina Turner tribute in a dusty, hard, lace, front wig and a throw-on gown and a cheeky kitten heel," he teases of his role. "It’s just stupid.
"Like my iceberg bitch is basically a mix between Tina Turner and RuPaul. That’s the energy, you better lip sync for your life boat, period."
Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturdays on BBC One, while spin-off Strictly: It Takes Two airs on weeknights on BBC Two. Both shows are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.
