Miranda Hart is back in the public eye after a grueling battle with undiagnosed Lyme disease and is set to take part in Strictly Come Dancing.
Mrs Hart – who secretly married this year aged 51 – is reportedly fascinated by former ‘Miranda’ co-star Sarah Hadland’s performances in the current series of the BBC1 show and has set her sights on a performance next year.
A well-placed insider told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Sarah and Miranda used to watch Strictly together at home before Sarah was on it. It was their shared dream to participate [the show]. Ultimately, Miranda would love to be on the show.”
Mrs Hart, who played Chummy in Call The Midwife and had an award-winning comedy show, disappeared from TV screens as she struggled with miserable symptoms of fatigue, pain and loss of energy. They had plagued her for decades, but grew worse with age.
Miranda Hart during the taping of The Graham Norton Show in 2017
Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola have been paired on Strictly Come Dancing this year
Miranda Hart shows off her ring on BBC’s The One Show – it was recently revealed she was married
But after she was finally diagnosed, she slowly began to recover. Her confidence has returned and – as the MoS exclusively revealed – she fell in love and married 60-year-old construction surveyor Richard Fairs.
She has returned to TV screens to promote her memoirs I Haven’t Been Completely Honest with You on the One Show and Graham Norton. She also appeared at the Cheltenham Literature Festival earlier this month.
And last week she posted an energetic Instagram video, demonstrating her own choreography idea for Ms Hadland, 53, and her Strictly dance partner Vito Coppola.
Another video shows her performing Samba moves and telling her friend, “Come on, Hadders… Samba with your hips away.” Go Team tiramisu.”
Ms. Hart uploaded a video last week of herself experimenting at home with ganchos, an Argentine tango move, accompanied by professional dancer Janette Manrara.
Miranda is reportedly fascinated by her former co-star’s performances on the show
Miranda pictured in a wedding dress from an episode of her hit comedy show
Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola during their performance on Saturday’s Strictly Come Dancing live show
Energetically rotating her hips, Miranda says: ‘I call that the pitfalls… you keep your foot on the ground. But I say: lift it up and shake it back.’
The source added: “Miranda would like to learn to dance well. Of course the Beeb would love that too. The BBC is desperate to get the big names back on the show. If they could get Miranda to do it, it could encourage other big celebrities to do it again. Sarah is their hope because she is so close to Miranda.”
Speaking on last week’s show, Strictly presenter Claudia Winkleman said: ‘This is an official message to Miranda Hart. Your amazing friend dances in exactly 27 minutes and 55 seconds.’
Hadland added that Mrs Winkleman ‘made it crystal clear that she has time to put the kettle on, toilet break, no talking, watching’.
The source close to Hadland – who attended Miranda’s secret wedding – told the Mail on Sunday: ‘That was a shout-out to Miranda.
‘The whole BBC is trying to convince her by referring to her in the show. She’s just got married, everyone is raving about her and she’s Strictly’s biggest fan.
‘She used to be self-conscious, she’s also ridiculously tall, she’s a head taller than Sarah. But Sarah has given her the confidence to possibly give it a try.’