Craig Revel Horwood strips for charity calendar

Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has put down his number 10 paddle and stripped off for a fab-u-lous charity calendar.

Inspired by the film Calendar Girls, villagers in King's Cliffe in Northamptonshire rallied round to create a naked edition after their neighbour was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2024.

Calling themselves the Heritage Hunks, the group have been photographed against historical backdrops of the village, with proceeds going towards Prostate Cancer UK and local charity King's Cliffe Heritage.

"I found it bizarrely frightening," said Revel Horwood.

"I was pretending to be extremely amazing about this, extremely confident, but I sort of wasn't."

Revel Horwood, who has been part of the Strictly line-up since 2004, said the idea for the calendar came about after neighbour Chris Wickes was diagnosed.

"We decided round a few pints of lager a calendar would be great fun to do and involve all the guys from the village, the people who are big in the village or do stuff in the village and I thought why don't we do a naked calendar."

Featuring as Mr December, Revel Horwood said the shoot took place at his house which provided the perfect space despite ongoing renovations.

"I'm 60 now... I said boys come on let's do something wonderful get your kit off and we had the biggest laugh.

"All the builders were there at the same time as everyone was getting their kit off... I said there will be some naked men, I am doing a naked shoot for prostate cancer at the house."

According to Prostate Cancer UK, it is the most common cancer among males with more than 63,000 men diagnosed each year in the UK.

Mr Wickes, 65, said: "Being told I had prostate cancer was a real shock. It doesn't run in the family, and I hadn't had any of the symptoms you hear about.

"I'm so glad I got tested when I did and thankfully, the cancer is slow growing, so I've been able to avoid potentially life-changing treatments for as long as possible, and we're keeping an eye on it every three months."

Seren Evans, senior head of mass fundraising at Prostate Cancer UK, said: "Loads of us here at Prostate Cancer UK are huge fans of Strictly, so we're really excited and grateful to be part of this fab-u-lous project."

She praised Revel Horwood and the group for raising vita funds for "game-changing" research.