Strictly Come Dancing star Layton on his mission to inspire

Last Saturday night, Layton and his professional partner Nikita Kuzmin danced their first routine on the top rated BBC TV show - a Samba to Little Mix’s Touch - and were awarded 29 points putting them joint second on the leaderboard.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, that’s for sure,” said Layton. “But we’re in our second week now so hopefully I’ll get into the swing of things. That first show was just wild.”

Layton described the experience of performing live in front of millions of TV viewers for the first time.

“It’s all pretty surreal,” he said. “You are up there cheering everybody on and then it’s your time. You go back stage and do a little warm up and before you know it they are playing the VT (the short film which introduces every couple) which you haven’t seen before.”

Before Layton danced, host Tess Daly introduced his mum and sister who were in the front row of the audience.

“When they interviewed my mum I did get a bit emotional,” Layton confessed. “I’m not going to lie, I did have a bit of a wobble but Nikita got me to take a few deep breaths and helped me get it together; I climbed into my box, struck a pose (the routine began with Layton in a large neon box) and just thought ‘let’s do this’.”

Layton, 29, who starred in Billy Elliott when he was just 12 and has also starred in the musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie has faced criticism from some fans of Strictly who say that his previous dance experience gives him an advantage.

“It’s quite clearly not as helpful as people think because was I at the top of the leader board?” he said. “It doesn’t mean that I’m going to be perfect and it clearly is not giving me too much of an advantage.

“I’m trying to crack on now and hopefully that narrative is becoming a little bit a yawnfest. I still have to work as hard as everybody else and I’m under a microscope.

“I’ve just got to keep carrying on doing the best I can. The more I go on and the more I’m challenged the more people will realise that I’m not perfect and that I want to learn. It’s a great challenge to me.”

Judge Anton du Beke addressed the issue when judging Layton’s performance saying; “I know you have previous dance experience but that’s very different from what we do here especially when you’re tackling a dance like samba with an enormously difficult technique.”

Layton - who starred in TV’s Bad Education - has been delighted with the support he has received, particularly from his home town.

“A lot of people didn’t realise I was from Bury until they saw the film when Strictly launched,” he said.

Layton discovered he was to be paired with Nikita in the show’s only same sex couple in a segment filmed on Holcombe Hill.

“I’ve had so many people get in touch. Even the Mill Gate Shopping Centre tweeted me wishing me luck; that was so nice.

“I am so fond of Bury and have so many memories growing up there. Everything for me started in Bury going to Carol Godby’s theatre workshops where I got a passion for performing. I really hope that Bury is getting behind me because that support really matters.

“Sometimes the viewers think that if you are top of the leader board or second top then you’ll be fine but the viewers votes really do count,” he said. “I really hope that you can count on your home town to get behind you.”

Layton and Nikita are now working on their new routine for next Saturday’s show.

“We’re in the studio for nine every day and will be there until five or six,” he said. “Maths isn’t my strong point but that’s an eight or nine hour day.It is hard work. I think the dance is a secret at the moment so I can’t tell you what it will be but it’s very different from last week.”

It may have only just begun but what does Layton want to take from his Strictly experience?

“I’d like to have genuinely challenged myself and made some gorgeous new friends, proving myself and doing things I didn’t necessarily think I could do,” he said. “I want to be a chameleon and challenge what people think they are going to see and then come out the next week and do something completely different.

“It’s a great opportunity for people to get to know the real Layton and see that I actually am just a normal boy from the Dickie Bird estate.

“Hopefully I can inspire all the young boys like me who are from an estate who have big dreams, who might look different to other people, who might get called because of their sexuality and convince them that actually it’s OK and you can more than survive, you can be a star in your own right.

“I want people at home who feel they can’t spread their wings to feel inspired by me.”