It will be a trip down memory lane but a big challenge – Torvill & Dean on last shows in Nottingham

Nottingham’s ice dance legends Torvill & Dean might need tissues instead of bouquets at their very last performance in the city where it all started 50 years ago. Jayne, 67, and Chris, 66, are getting ready to hang their skates up for good – but not before six shows on home ground.

The gold medal winning duo were back at Nottingham Ice Centre – the very site, if not the rink itself, where they first met in 1975 to talk about the Our Last Dance tour and the announcement of three extra performances in July, in what will be a fitting finale.

“It will be emotional but it’s hard to tell how we’re going to feel because at the moment we’re working on the creative side and getting excited to get it all together and ready to go on the road,” said Jayne.

Chris added: “I think I’m more emotional than Jayne is. It will mean a lot to be able to finish here.” They had been due to end the UK leg of the tour in Glasgow before jetting off to perform in Australia one last time.

But they didn’t want to end their illustrious career on the other side of the world. “We said we really would like to have our last shows in Nottingham. This is where it all started. We absolutely wanted to finish here,” said Chris.

The world’s most famous ice dancing duo are excited about the forthcoming tour which begins in London on April 12 but Chris said: “As you start, each show is getting closer to the last show and so I think we’ll get really sentimental being here with our home crowd and audience in Nottingham on the same ground where we first put skates on and this is where we’ll take them off.”

Joined by a troupe of 15 professional skaters, the shows will be a mix of new performances and fan favourites, taking the crowd on a journey of the last 50 years – including a spoof of their ITV show Dancing on Ice and of course, the memorable 1984 Olympic routine Bolero in Sarjevo.

Jayne said: “We really want to tell the story of our career and how it started, the routines people would have watched in the 80s when we were competing and we were amateurs. Some of those routines are remembered today even, people mention them. So we wanted to take a trip down memory lane and include a few of those routines and obviously people remember Bolero.”

Chris said: “We’re going to get out there and talk to everybody and do throwbacks. We grew up here in Nottingham so it will definitely be a trip down memory lane in the 70s and 80s, styles, trends, fashion and music, and bringing all that together. It’s like an evening with us through our life.

“We need to tell the stories as well and give a little insight that maybe a lot of people don’t know. It’s nostalgia as well. I think people of our age, and a little bit younger, are getting nostalgic about the past and 80’s theme parties are a big deal these day.”

“We brought a little bit of happiness to people as we were winning medals for our country and we want to take them back to that period when it was all happening,” added Jayne.

The 1984 Olympic champions had been ready to call it a day in 1998. Chris moved to the US and Jayne focused on her family. But the pair reunited in 2006 to become head judges on Dancing on Ice, which will return to TV screens in the new year.

“When Dancing on Ice came into our lives and that gave us another lease of life you might say. We’ve been doing Dancing on Ice longer than we did our competitive career – we competed for 10 years, then we turned pro and came back again but Dancing on Ice, with the break, is spanning 20 years now so it’s been very much part of our life,” said Chris.

While other 60-somethings are putting their free bus pass to good use or taking advantage of Iceland’s ten percent Tuesday discount, this pair are busy preparing for their gruelling 32-date tour.

“Age and health are a challenge to do this which is why we started in the summer preparing ourselves, getting the routines ready and now we’re constantly working on them to improve our stamina to get through the show. It’s a challenge but we’ve always wanted a challenge in our lives and this will be a big challenge but at the same time something we really want to do,” said Chris, outlining the toll it takes on knees, back and mental health.

Home turf holds countless memories, albeit the old ice rink which preceded the new ice stadium. Chris recalled: “Coming up Lower Parliament Street and opening it up at 5 O’clock in the morning. We had a key, we let ourselves in, we put the lights on and it was dark and dank and it would just be us. We’d skate for two or three hours and then we’d have to make the ice…

“Ready for the next people coming on,” said Jayne, finishing the sentence.

Asked what the future might hold Jayne said: “We might do coaching possibly and lots of things we never had time for. That might be something that just pops up when we know we have the time.”

For Chris, he’s hankering after a holiday and maybe a new hobby as a beekeeper. “It will be nice to have some spare time. We have always gone from one thing to the next thing. There has always been that next project or that next engagement so you can never let your guard down, your health down, your day-to-day routine stays the same even if it’s three or four months away, you’ve still got to keep doing what we’re doing and so that’s also a challenge

“We can book a holiday. I can’t remember the last holiday I had, it’s that long ago. I always say beekeeping. T&D honey.

“We hope that Dancing on Ice will continue. We don’t know until one show finishes whether they’ll commission it for the next year. If it did we’d still be going back as judges. We just wouldn’t have that performance side of it.”

Torvill & Dean: Our Last Dance will be at the Motorpoint Arena on April 23 and 24 and July 11 and 12. Tickets are available from TorvillandDean.com and on Ticketmaster here.