"In February 2001, Dance had the dubious honour of being spotlighted by the British version of This is Your Life. When asked about it, he lets out a long, suspicious "Yeeeeees?" Satisfied that there is no malicious intent behind the inquiry, merely curiosity to know whether the experience was flattering or, as often appears to be the case, an exercise in prolonged awkwardness, he lets loose."
It was one of the most sphincterclenching evenings of my life! Deeply embarrassing. It really was - and it was the last thing I wanted because actually, that night, I was in the middle of a run with (Eugene O'Neill's) Long Day's Journey Into Night on the West End with Jessica Lange. I was playing Tyrone and she was playing my wife."
So, after a night of emotional shredding on stage, I was going to go to a club and just have a drink and maybe some supper. Then this man with a big red book leaps out at me! And I'm wheeled down to the BBC and the thing was recorded there and then about bloody midnight!
"They were wheeling people out who were recounting things that happened donkey's years ago, which not only did I not remember, but I didn't remember them, either! People came out who I was at school with who I simply didn't recognise. It was really embarrassing. 'Who the f--k is that?' Terrible."
