Benedict Cumberbatch helping Strictly Come Dancing’s Judge Rinder with his facial expressions

The TV judge said Cumberbatch's comments helped him to impress the judges
Impressive: Judge Rinder turned to Benedict Cumberbatch for help
BBC/Guy Levy
Undefined18 November 2016
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Benedict Cumberbatch has been helping his good friend Judge Rinder to work on his facial expressions on Strictly Come Dancing.

The TV judge even credited Cumberbatch’s work to helping him impress the judges with his Paso Doble on Halloween night.

Speaking to Zoe Ball on It Takes Two, Rinder said: “He did help me with some faces for my Paso Doble, to get into the dramatic performance of it and we improved that week, so…”

Cumberbatch – who officiated Rinder’s wedding – has been unable to watch his friend in action on the BBC Ballroom show – but Rinder teased a possible appearance soon.

In action: Judge Robert Rinder and his partner Oksana Platero
BBC / Guy Levy

“Sadly he’s been busy promoting Doctor Strange, but watch this space,” he said.

Despite being unable to attend, Cumberbatch did provide a running commentary of Rinder’s jive to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by The Andrew Sisters on the BBC Radio One Breakfast Show.

Cumberbatch provided witty one liners as he told listeners “he's kicking out, it's all good though - they're not kicking each other,” before adding: “We have a one handed cartwheel and his knees are going, his knees are going. That’s going to cost him in the morning.”

After wrapping up the commentary he praised Rinder and said: “He’s amazing he’s so good.”

Rinder will dance in Blackpool's iconic Tower Ballroom this weekend and has teased some "Spice Girls action".

But the TV star said rehearsals have been taking a toll on his body and revealed he struggled to sit in court this week.

Speaking to Lorraine Kelly he said: "I've been learning things that I haven't done for about 29 years, I hurt. I've been walking around like John Wayne.

"The other day I had to go and sit in court. To get up the stairs to the judges bench, I needed assistance from Michelle to sit down."

Strictly Come Dancing 2016 - who's been eliminated so far?

1/8

Follow @StandardEnts or like us on Facebook for more entertainment news.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in