Meet This Year's Dancing on Ice Winner From Doncaster
Doncaster-born figure skater Molly Lanaghan skated to victory in her debut Dancing on Ice series with Coronation Street star Sam Aston
Molly started skating in Doncaster aged just seven, inspired by the skaters on Dancing on Ice. ‘I remember watching it and I was just in awe of the whole show so I begged my parents to let me skate,’ she says. ‘They took me to The Dome in Doncaster, and I remember my mum saying “be careful, and hold on, it’s really dangerous” and I just stepped on. I was just natural. I could go right away. Eventually I asked if I could do lessons and they signed me up at Doncaster, then I went to Sheffield and skated there until I was 16.’
Molly was homeschooled to allow her to train, and she represented Great Britain before emigrating to represent Canada with a skating partner. ‘I always wanted to compete and I never knew when my end goal for that would be. When I realised I was coming to the end of my competitive days I did my whole last season really taking it in and making sure I did what I loved.’
From the age of seven, it was Molly’s dream to skate on Dancing on Ice. Mark Hanretty, a pro skater, who after 14 years has now left the show, was one of Molly’s coaches and a commentator when she competed for Canada. ‘I saw him in Sheffield and he asked if I wanted to do the show,’ she recalls. ‘He connected us that day.’
Conversations started at the end of March last year and by July Molly was confirmed as one of two new professionals for ITV’s Dancing on Ice. Pros aren’t told who their celebrity skating partner will be until filming takes place. ‘They tell us roughly where in the country we're going to be training because we have to live there, but they don’t tell you who with until you meet them on camera. I knew I had Sam [Aston, who plays Chesney] because I got sent my schedule and I was filming at Coronation Street,’ she laughs. ‘From the second we met we just hit it off. We were such good friends, like a brother-sister connection instantly.
‘Pre-Christmas, we only have two hours a day, so me and Sam would get to the rink and we'd do a warm up and try lifts and routine stuff off ice. But we'd hang out at that point too. It's a really good time to bond with each other, so we’d do a two-hour session, sometimes we'd have a coffee together, or we'd go for a Nando’s and I went over to his house for Sunday dinners with him and his family. We travelled to a few different rinks in the car together too, so that was a good way to bond. Once you’re in the studio, you share a trailer together connected by a door, but we just left ours open so it like a big communal kind of area. All of the other celebs and pros on the show hung out backstage. It was so nice. We’d tell stories and play darts.’
Molly and Sam received high scores throughout the live shows, performing inventive and experimental routines. ‘The Jungle Book routine was really fun and we were both laughing the whole time,’ Molly says. ‘I kept saying to Sam “you've got to commit to it and the sillier you feel, the better it's going to come across”. The first time we put the costumes on we literally couldn’t get through the routine. We were looking at each other and laughing so much but it was one of our most memorable routines – that's always how it works.’
Torvill and Dean's iconic 1984 Olympic free dance was famously skated to Maurice Ravel's Boléro, and since Dancing on Ice has aired the finalists have all been challenged with creating their own version of this skate to win. Yorkshire actress Gaynor Faye won the first series with her take on the routine in 2006. ‘One of my favourite skates was definitely the Boléro,’ says Molly. ‘It was just incredible. Skaters never touch that routine. No skater will ever play that music and be like “I'm going to compete to this”. It's just an unwritten rule. So the first time it was played for me to do choreography, I was taken aback and I had a lump in my throat. That was obviously an incredible pinch-me moment.’
Having competed for years, Molly is always striving to win and she and Sam were eventually crowned winners of this year’s series, with Mark and his celebrity partner Michaela Strachan runners up. ‘I'm always someone who's going to back myself and through the show, myself and Sam,’ she says. ‘That was always the goal, even from the start. We were always like “we've got a Boléro to do”. We were pushing each other,’ she says. ‘I think once we got to the semi final and we got through, we both had a moment the next day realising we could actually, maybe, win this. But it obviously all comes down to the public vote, and the other skaters were so incredible. I think Sam was more shocked than I was. There's one picture of him where he looks so shocked when we we’re announced as the winners. That’s my favourite picture of the whole season.’
Molly was showered in support from locals in Doncaster. ‘I felt like all the community in Doncaster came together,’ she says. ‘I was down south the whole time but through Facebook, news articles and Instagram, I was getting so many people and businesses reaching out. People were getting together and having TV show parties, they were making banners at home and sending me pictures and videos every week. All my school friends reached out and messaged me, which just meant a lot for them to even watch the show, to vote for me and then to say congrats and that they’re proud. It just made me super proud to be from the North, seeing that community coming together.’
Molly’s advice to budding skaters is to keep practicing as long as it makes you happy. ‘So many people fall in love with it and it’s a happy place, so just keep it enjoyable and do it for yourself,’ she adds. ‘Just be authentic and don't try to copy too many people. Just take the best parts of others, learn from other people's mistakes and put it all into your own version.’
