Tess Daly: Dancing queen

Fans of TV's Strictly Come Dancing will find it hard to believe that the glamorous Tess Daly has already reached the ripe old age of 40. Looking like someone who has barely left her twenties, let alone her thirties, Tess appears just as fresh now as she did back  in 1999, when she had her first big TV break on The Big Breakfast.

A stint as a presenter on children's Saturday morning show SMTV after Ant and Dec left the programme followed. However Tess admits the show that really turned her career around was Strictly, which she has hosted since the first series in 2004 alongside entertainment world legend – and recently knighted – Sir Bruce Forsyth.

Along the way Tess has also presented shows including Make Me A Supermodel, Back To Reality, The National Lottery: This Time Tomorrow, Children In Need and – alongside her TV presenter Vernon Kay, who Tess married in September 2003 – Just The Two Of Us. Not bad for a Derbyshire lass who excelled at maths but left school before finishing her 'A' Levels to try her hand at modelling.

With the new and highly anticipated series of Strictly Come Dancing bursting on our screens this autumn, Tess will yet again be one of the most watched British women on TV. But it's not all sequins and glamorous frocks in the Daly-Kay household, says Tess. Thanks to the couple's two young daughters – Phoebe Elizabeth, born in October 2004 and Amber Isabella born in May 2008 – late nights are a thing of the past.

"We have to be up at 7am in the morning," says Tess, who famously claims to disagree with employing a nanny because she doesn't want to over responsibility for her children to someone else. "If only people could see me in my tracksuit and trainers."

Showbiz family

Tess has obviously remained a down-to-earth Derbyshire girl at heart, but we're not fooled. We know she could look gorgeous in anything – after all, she did start her professional life as a model. As did her husband, Vernon. So do the girls show any inclination towards being in modelling or show business, we wondered?

"Phoebe never stops singing and dancing," says Tess. "She is always singing to us and dancing and running round the sofa giving us little shows, so it seems to be in her blood."

Yet both Tess and Vernon come from non-showbiz families. Well, nearly entirely  non-showbiz, she admits. "Vernon's dad has been in a band for the last 25 years – he plays the guitar and he sings. In fact he's been singing throughout Vern's life. He is quite rock and roll is our Norm," says Tess. "And he looks like Richard Gere – he's so handsome."

At the head of Tess's showbiz family is, of course, Sir Brucie – a man she describes as 'the daddy'. "Brucie is out there on his own, he's just unbelievable," says Tess. "I have never actually seen him complain about being tired.

"All these years I have worked with him, his energy has been just incredible. He's just looking for the laugh in every conversation that he has with anyone. He doesn't turn it on, that's who he is. He's great."

By royal command

As for the new series of Strictly Come Dancing, viewers are not just in for the usual Saturday and Sunday night treats, but according to Tess there may be the odd surprise too. "Who knows what's going to happen," hints Tess. "We like changing the goal posts a little bit – that worked with the last series. So we're changing the format a little bit, changing the look of the show. Obviously it works as we had a bigger audience last year than we'd had previously."

As for the rest of us, we'll have to wait and see what happens as the new series gets under way, and that includes the identities of the new contestants too. Talking of which, who would Tess most like to see on the show?

"I'd quite like to see Prince Charles in the show because he told me he's a huge dancing fan and that he loves the show and has always wanted to tango – sorry for name dropping," she says. "I thought that was quite exciting, so I said, 'Well, actually, Sir, you would be marvellous – see you there'."

And in case Prince Charles can't find time in his schedule to learn the tango, Tess has another celebrity contestant request. "Sean Connery," she says. "I've always had a bit of a hankering for him. He's a mate of Bruce's, so I reckon Brucie could fix it."

Sounds like a great suggestion to us, Tess. In the meantime we'll just keeeeep dancing.

Risky business

Dancing isn't the only form of activity that Tess takes part in. For instance, earlier this year, she performed an indoor skydive to raise funds for Red Nose Day.

"It was pretty nerve-wracking because I'm scared of heights and scared of flying, but thankfully it wasn't done out of a plane so I reckon I got off pretty lightly," says Tess.

"I actually had a bit of a panic attack when I first got into the wind tunnel where you get projected into the air. It's so intense, you can't actually breathe. It was a little bit claustrophobic because you're in a sort of perspex tunnel and you can't get out, and I literally just could not breathe.

"I just thought to myself, 'Get it together girl, get out there, breathe…' A rather hunky instructor held my hand for the main voyage too – that helped. Then I got into it and it was great fun. So I want to go again now and take the family."