Strictly star Ore Oduba’s in the frame as he joins thriller Picture You Dead at Floral Pavilion

Armed with a sports science degree, Ore Oduba set his sights on a career as a sports broadcaster, with the thought that his love of acting might just be an advantage.

A talented rugby and hockey player in his youth, he admits:

“It wasn’t a vocation or something I ever considered as a career option. But I remember thinking that if I wasn’t going to be an athlete, then maybe I’d be a broadcaster and my passion for performing and being on stage might help in that effort in television.

“Interestingly, fast forward 20 years and I’ve straddled those two worlds.”

Ore has just completed a UK theatre tour as Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and is about to join the cast of Peter James’ play Picture You Dead.

He’ll star alongside Emmerdale’s Fiona Wade and BBC favourite George Rainsford in the thriller which has received rave reviews since it began a six-month tour, taking his first curtain call at the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton on Tuesday, May 20.

After becoming a familiar face as a TV and radio news and sports presenter – among other roles – the country saw a different side to Ore when he won the Strictly Come Dancing series with Joanne Clifton in 2016.

But it was one that was there all along, just waiting to be discovered.

“I guess what not everyone will be aware of is that, when I was at school, if I wasn’t on a sports field, I was on a stage,” says Ore. “That was very much my childhood.

“It wasn’t a sports or stage school or anything, it was a regular school, but I found that from 11 to 17 or 18, a stage was where I felt really at home.

“I felt like I could be myself, express myself, and it’s what I loved to do. It’s interesting that I’ve felt more myself on stage than in any other guise. It’s like the job I was always supposed to be doing.

“And in many ways, sport and theatre are very similar: it’s a team effort, you’re playing it live in that moment and you’ve got the shared goal of getting to the finish line, ie., the curtain call, and you ‘pass the ball between you’ and share that energy.

“You get to express yourself and go and shine, and that makes sense for me. I do feel very lucky that I’ve been able to have those two passions as a thing I call my career.”

The 39-year-old was able to join the cast in rehearsals at the beginning of the year so he doesn’t feel like the new boy joining the crew, he says: “And that has taken a lot of the pressure off.

“I could just pick up where I left off and make this my own.”

‘This’ is the role of Stuart Piper in Picture Your Dead, written by Peter James who’s penned 21 best-selling DSI Roy Grace novels, some of which have been adapted for the hit ITV drama, Grace, starring John Simm.

Picture You Dead is the seventh story to be adapted for stage, and it’s not yet been converted to screen, so live theatre is the only place Grace fans can watch it while it’s on tour this summer.

Set in Brighton, Picture You Dead sees DSI Grace investigate a cold case that leads him to the rarified air of fine art, but beneath the respectable veneer lurks a murky underworld of greed, deception and murder. 

When an unsuspecting couple unwittingly buy a potentially long-lost masterpiece in a car boot sale, they discover that their dream find is about to turn into their worst nightmare and only Grace can stop them from paying the ultimate price.

Ore says:

“I’m so excited to become part of the fantastic cast. I’ve watched their excellent performances in front of a packed house and seen audiences have a fabulous time watching the show. 

“It’s great fun and full of twists and turns, comedy and shocks! I can’t wait to be in it!”

Stuart Piper is an eccentric millionaire art collector: “He’s one of those extraordinary characters.  He’s an art lover and expert and collector who lives in his ‘castle in the sky’ away from the paupers.  He’s very well off.

“But he has chip on his shoulder and a dark past.

“As a character, he’s terrific. I can’t wait to get my teeth stuck into him because he’s an enjoyable character to watch, in that love to hate kind of thing.

“For anyone who loves a crime thriller Picture You Dead will be right up their street – but there’s lots of humour in it too. And I think we have a finish that really packs a punch.”

Ore says he can’t promise any of the moves we admired in Strictly Come Dancing, but we can hope to see him in many more productions on stage.

“I’m lucky to be able to do a job that keeps challenging me, and I would like more of the same.

“I’d also like to get myself a dog,” smiles Ore, “but keep that between you and me, I don’t want to tell the children just yet.”

Find more information about Picture You Dead on the Floral Pavilion website.

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