“It’s incredible, and exhilarating, but also so nerve-wracking.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
But I’m kind of here for that chaotic energy.
asserted
I → ’m → energy
If there were any celebrity well-equipped to deal with the chaos of the 13-week BBC dancing competition, it’s 41-year-old Winstone, who seemingly has unending bags of stamina.
asserted
who → be → stamina
But despite showing accomplishment on the dance floor, she is still battling some anxiety about the show.
asserted
she → show → show
She told The Standard: “My biggest fear is if I fall down the stairs
“Then I’ve been having a lot of dreams where suddenly I’m dancing with no clothes on or — oh my God — my tooth just has fallen out or something.
asserted
tooth → tell → dreams
“But I’ve done a lot of work with anxiety.
asserted
I → do → anxiety
When you do feel the fear, that is it’s a very close feeling to excitement.
asserted
it → feel → excitement
“You know?
asserted
You → know → ?
You’ve just gotta learn how to rewire that.
asserted
You → get → that
Ultimately, you’ve just gotta have fun.”
asserted
you → get → fun
A fixture of the London scene since she was a teenager, Camden-born Winstone came of age very publicly, partly due to her famous father, actor Ray Winstone, but also because of her own move into the acting world, with breakthrough roles in Bullet Boy and Kidulthood.
asserted
Winstone → bear → Boy
Winstone learned her craft by shadowing her dad on set in LA, working as a camera assistant and runner on films such as 2008’s Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, or 2006’s The Departed with Cate Blanchett, who proved to be a massive inspiration.
asserted
who → learn → Blanchett
“I think Cate’s one of the most phenomenal actors,” says Winstone.
asserted
Winstone → think → actors
“I watched her on set, and I think that instilled a lot of confidence in me at a young age just to watch someone who now is Oscar-winning.”
asserted
who → watch → someone
A spate of roles followed with more acting greats.
asserted
spate → follow → greats
In 2010’s Made in Dagenham, about the Ford sewing machinists’ strike, she shared the screen with Andrea Riseborough, Geraldine James, Sally Hawkins and the late Bob Hoskins.
asserted
she → make → Riseborough
“Do you know I’d just given birth before that audition?”
asserted
I → know → audition
“I never knew how to do an improvised scene until I was with these heavyweight actors,” she says.
asserted
she → know → actors
“I would happily sit there and just get lost in Sally Hawkins’ performance.
asserted
I → sit → performance
“And I remember at one point Bob saying in one scene: ‘Come on you, little one, get to the front’ and moments like that in my career just changed my path.”
asserted
moments → remember → path
One of Winstone’s best performances was appearing as Dame Barbara Windsor in the 2017 BBC biopic Babs.
asserted
One → appear → Babs
Winstone as Windsor was described by The Guardian as “delicious…sweet and self-knowing…with a perfect Babs laugh, deep and dirty as a drain”.
asserted
Winstone → describe → drain
“Do you know I’d just given birth before that audition?” she asks now, referring to the arrival of her now 10-year-old son Raymond Junior.
asserted
she → know → son
“So I taped myself up, I bleached my hair, I wiggled my way into that audition and did the laugh.
asserted
I → tap → laugh
I actually met her when I was about nine, and I giggled behind her and she said ‘Oh, you should play me one day!’ and that was that.
asserted
that → meet → me
It stayed with me and I thought, well, this is my chance now.”
But she was unsure about taking the role at first.
asserted
she → stay → role
“I questioned whether I should do EastEnders, because there’s a real cultural snobbery about soap work in TV work, which is ridiculous because they work so hard.
asserted
they → question → work
“What they have to deliver is insane.
asserted
have → deliver → What
And this pace of it is almost like doing theatre, and it ended up being amazing.”
asserted
it → do → theatre
So much so, she made a return to the same role in 2025.
asserted
she → make → 2025
Spending her late teens and twenties in London as part of the showbiz world naturally meant that Winstone indulged in all the joys of the mid-Noughties nightlife scene.
asserted
Winstone → spend → scene
“I did a lot of stuff with [DJ] Jodie Harsh at that time,” she remembers.
asserted
she → do → time
“Some nights, I would be spraying hairspray and holding up dresses for the queens to go on stage.
asserted
queens → spray → stage
We had a lot of nights in the Revuebar and Madame Jojos.
asserted
We → have → Revuebar
“I’ve always grafted from a young age.
asserted
I → graft → age
I’ve always worked, so I’ve always earned my right to dance.”
asserted
I → work → right
“I think you’re just on a natural high after you come off stage, so what better way to deal with it than dance your night away?
asserted
you → think → night
I’ve always felt really at home in Soho.”
asserted
I → feel → Soho
However, a lot of people seemed more interested in her life off-camera as well — at one point she was engaged to Lily Allen’s brother Alfie — which led her to be disparagingly branded as a “party girl”, a reputation that stuck with her for a long while afterwards.
asserted
that → seem → while
“I’ve always grafted from a young age.
asserted
I → graft → age
…and 38 more, not listed.
The Aporia
