Simply Ballroom's Kate Galston's in a spin with Basil Brush

4:51pm Thursday 6th December 2007

By Melanie Dakin

HE'S BEEN sailing on the high seas with his theatre show Basil of the Caribbean, The Basil Brush Show currently airs on BBC1 at 4.30pm on Fridays and CBBC at 5pm, there's also a cartoon dedicated to him and now he's doing panto with Cinderella - is there no end to the foxy one's talents? I have to ask Basil if he ever gets brushed off with having such a busy schedule?

"I've been swept off my feet with all this work," says Basil. "We've travelled to 35 counties and I love it. I thrive on it. I'll take anything that's coming. I don't have too much time to relax, but when I can I lie in the bath."

Basil is no spring chicken, but despite living such a hectic life he looks so bright and bushy tailed. I wonder if he's had any cosmetic enhancements over the years?

Basil is quick with the witty repartee. "Anyone who thinks I've had a facelift is talking Botox."

"I work out every day. I work out what I'm going to have for my lunch. My brush has been insured for one million pounds. I go to D Rolls the hairdressers every day and buy my clothes from Baby Gap."

Although he is known for his good looks and humour, Basil has also proved himself to be something of an academic. He managed to walk away from The Weakest Link with the big prize. So just how did he outfox the flame-haired Anne Robinson?

"I said to Anne, we gingers should stick together', but it was obvious only one of us was a natural orange.

And so our conversation continues, peppered with off the cuff jokes and bucketfuls of charm, which audiences for Cinderella at The Alban Arena are bound to love. Basil is great company and no doubt he'll have the panto-goers rolling in the aisles. Basil's co-star, Simply Ballroom host Kate Galston, says this will be her first time working with a puppet, but she's no stranger to panto. Last Christmas she appeared alongside Jim Davidson in Dick Whittington on the Dartford stage. Kate has nothing but praise for Basil. She says: "It's very exciting to work with someone you've watched on TV for the past 26 years. I can't believe how attached you become to him."

Kate graduated five years ago and since then her career has just taken off. She's travelled to Dubai and India working on world cruise ships, appeared in The Genius of Ray Charles at The Haymarket, played Ariel in Covent Garden and accompanied Petula Clark in That's Amore at The London Palladium and on a UK tour. She also played Cat in Sir Peter Maxwell Davis' opera of Cinderella. For The Arena's production, Kate is happy to be playing the lead role and getting to grips with a proper "girlie part", having previously played a funky fairy godmother in roller boots and Cinderella's prince in a pair of knee-high boots.

"Now I get to wear the dress and it's a big spangly, sparkly, gorgeous frock," enthuses Kate.

Kate, who lives in East Finchley, is also delighted to be working close to home. Recently she toured the UK in Heartbeat and last year with Strictly Come Dancing. As the co-host for Simply Ballroom, Kate will certainly be able to keep Basil on his toes. She had to learn to tango and jive with Lionel Blair, which is probably why she has landed the lead role of Roxy Hart in a UK tour of Chicago next year.

"I recently went to Kuala Lumpar playing Roxy prior to the tour. The show involves a lot of Bob Fosse style dancing. I love singing and acting, but I have to say dancing is not something that comes naturally to me so I'm attending classes at Pineapple in London three times a week to prepare. I've done a lot of parts where I've not had to push myself but with Roxy I want to hit the right shapes."

Cinderella runs from Thursday, December 13, 2007 to Sunday, January 6, 2008. Tickets: 01727 844488 (£14-£19)