In the New Theatre Royal Lincoln pantomime Robin Hood, Louis Smith MBE is currently playing The Sheriff of Nottingham, which runs until Sunday 4th January 2026, and this is Louis’s third consecutive year of starring in the theatre’s pantomime, having made his pantomime debut in Aladdin in 2023. Next year, Louis is heading out on tour alongside Nadiya Bychkova and The Overtones for Jukebox Idols of the 50s and 60s, and in 2012, he was a contestant on and the winner of Strictly Come Dancing with his professional dance partner Flavia Cacace. Louis also competed on the first series of The Masked Dancer as Car Wash, once again, being announced as the winner, and on stage, he made his musical theatre debut as Cameron in Bring It On at the Southbank Centre in 2021/22. As a successful Team GB artistic gymnast, Louis has competed at three Olympic Games – Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016, where he won medals on the Pommel Horse at each Olympics, as well as Bronze with his British teammates in 2012. At the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Montpellier in 2015, Louis won his first major individual international title when he won Gold on Pommel Horse, with his further competitions including the Commonwealth Games for Team England (winning the Gold medal on Pommel Horse in 2006), the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (winning four medals on Pommel Horse) and the 2012 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships (winning Team Gold). Having announced his retirement from artistic gymnastics in 2018, Louis commentated for BBC Radio 5 Live at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and works as a self-employed photographer. Talking with Louis, he chatted to us about starring as The Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood at New Theatre Royal Lincoln, touring in 2026 in Jukebox Idols of the 50s and 60s with Nadiya and The Overtones, winning Strictly Come Dancing and The Masked Dancer, and his success over the years as an artistic gymnast for Great Britain – including medalling at three Olympic Games.

This Christmas, you are playing The Sheriff of Nottingham in New Theatre Royal Lincoln’s pantomime of Robin Hood, what can audiences expect from your portrayal of the character?

My character is a meanie. He’s a little bit deranged, quirky, weird and evil. I’m just trying to make him look like he has a screw loose at moments, and hopefully this brings a new dynamic and difference to the bad guys and good guys that I’ve played before.

Having performed in New Theatre Royal Lincoln’s pantomime for three consecutive years, how does it feel to be returning for another season and how was it making your pantomime debut in 2023?

It’s honestly an absolute dream and pleasure to be back here again for the third time! I had such a brilliant experience the first time around here at Lincoln with the NTR family. Natalie and Becca were very welcoming and made it a very positive and learning experience.

I haven’t been to stage school and haven’t had all this training, so I very much want to learn and pick up as much as I can from everyone around me who’s done this before. This is a fantastic place to do that.

I’m just honoured to be welcomed back and to perform with these guys again.

How was it reading this year’s script for the first time and what is the story like to tell?

I was very excited. Natalie is such a talented writer, director and producer – she does so much with the show, and it’s a pleasure to be able to bring her vision to life. It’s an honour that she trusts me to play the part she’s written, and hopefully I do her some justice.

The script itself is great. There are jokes in it for all ages, boys and girls and mums and dads. It’s going to be good fun, a good laugh, and a good day out.

What is it like interacting with a pantomime audience and seeing families getting involved?

I love it. It’s challenging, but I prefer being the bad guy because then you get a lot more chance to go off script and interact with the crowd.

I was given the choice: do I want to be a good guy or a bad guy this year? I chose the bad guy. I look forward to being heckled, booed, shouted at, and being tested on my ad-lib abilities.

Why would you recommend booking tickets to see Robin Hood at New Theatre Royal Lincoln, which is booking until Sunday 4th January?

I recommend booking tickets because you don’t want to miss out! Tickets sell fast, especially coming up towards Christmastime and the school holidays. It’s a good day out, and you don’t want to be left separated from your family trying to book tickets. Book your tickets now, get your seats together, and come and have a good old Christmas panto experience.

You are set to head out on tour next year with Jukebox Idols of the 50s & 60s alongside Nadiya Bychkova and The Overtones, what are you looking forward to most for the tour and what can you tell us about the show?

I’m really looking forward to touring next year with the lovely Nadiya and The Overtones. It’s going to be great fun! I’ve worked with the company and the choreographer many times before.

I think I might get a chance to do more ballroom and Latin, which is nice. It’s going to be nice to dust off the dancing shoes and get my real dancing shoes back on.

It’s going to be tough as I’m a little bit out of practice! I’ve been going to the gym and have been dieting for the last year, so I’m going to be in tip-top shape to give the audiences a fantastic show.

It’s going to be full-on and fast-paced, dancing to all those absolute classic hits from the 50s and 60s jukebox era.

What was it like being a contestant on/winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2012 with your professional partner Flavia Cacace-Mistry and did you have any favourite dances to learn and perform?

My time on Strictly was incredible. It was really fun, very stressful and very hard work – I can’t sugarcoat that – but I had a brilliant time.

I was in brilliant hands. The BBC did a fantastic job of making sure that I was looked after and having a good time, and Flavia backed that up completely. She was an absolute dream to work with. She was so patient, but knew when and how to push me to get the most out of me, so it really was an absolute pleasure to do that show.

The show taught me so much about performing, dance, the entertainment industry, and the media/publicists, like how they print in entertainment tabloids. It was a really good learning curve, and I have nothing but fond memories looking back.

Now that I’ve seen the movie Dirty Dancing – and I really, really, really, really like it – I think my Salsa is a very memorable moment for me, and my Charleston.

How was it being a contestant on the first series of ITV’s The Masked Dancer and how did you feel being announced as the winner?

That was a crazy experience! It was such a difficult show because the dances were so hard, so much energy, fast-paced, and it was just exhausting. Toppled with that, I was wearing a 10-15kg weighted suit and a really big, heavy mask that I couldn’t see out of or breathe very well inside. It was, at times, very claustrophobic. I didn’t know where the edge of the stage was, and I didn’t want to fall off!

You would also have blank moments on stage and forget your dance routine, and you can’t really see the professional dancers to get back in step, so it was very tough!

To win the show was brilliant – a nice, very cool little surprise during the lockdown era. I had a brilliant time on that show.

You made your musical theatre debut in 2021/22 as Cameron in Bring It On at the Southbank Centre, what was the musical like to perform in?

It was great. That show took a long time to come around because it was constantly being pushed back through COVID, but to actually get going on it was just a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant experience. I learned so much working with so many amazing people like with Fabian Aloise (the choreographer), Selladoor, and the absolutely incredible professionals that are Amber Davies, Vanessa Fisher, Chloe Pole and Georgia Bradshaw.

Every single cast member from that show is going on to do absolutely mind-blowing things in so many crazy, brilliant shows, and I’m just so proud of everyone. It was a real honour to perform in that show.

What are some of your stand-out memories from competing as an artistic gymnast at three Olympic Games (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016), where you won medals on the Pommel Horse at each Olympics and Bronze with your British teammates in front of a home crowd in London in 2012?

My whole gymnastics career is fantastic to reflect on! I was just 19 in Beijing, 23 in London and 27 in Rio. I’ve had a very colourful gymnastics career in Olympic history, winning four medals – three on the Pommel Horse and one in the Team event.

It’s great to think back and go: I was able to achieve so much with the help of my mum, my coach, medical team, and so many others along the way. It’s nice to have medals at the end of it and be able to say, “look what we all achieved”.

Do you remember how you felt winning your first major international individual title in 2015, when you won Gold on the Pommel Horse at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Montpellier?

That was quite a sweet moment because, a year before, I wasn’t selected for the European team. The national coach, Eddie Van Hoof at the time, even did an interview saying: “The rest of the team have moved on. Louis isn’t good enough anymore”.

Fast forward a year, and I became European champion! I was kind of like, “Say that again… I wasn’t good enough, did you say? And now I’m European champion!” That was a pretty cool little moment – I like that one!

Your further medals include Gold on Pommel Horse at the 2006 Commonwealth Games for Team England, 4x medals on Pommel Horse at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and Gold with the Team at the 2012 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships; can you tell us about your favourite highlights and most memorable competitions over your successful career as an artistic gymnast?

I’ve got loads of crazy highlights – some good, some bad.

One thing I’ll never forget is my teammate falling out of a window on the fifth story in a hotel in Ljubljana in Slovenia. My other teammates just stood there, doing nothing, while I had to run down to reception, call an ambulance, run back upstairs to tell the senior team squad, and then go downstairs and jump out onto the first-floor window to go and see him. That was a wild experience!

For context, his name is Steven Jehu – he’s now a stuntman for television and Hollywood movies.

How did you find the experience attending the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as a commentator for BBC Radio 5 Live, and how different do you find commentating opposed to competing?

Believe it or not, competing is so much harder – I definitely prefer watching! It’s less stressful, but I was crazy stressed watching the Pommel Horse final because obviously I wanted Rhys (McClenaghan), our Irish over the waters companion, to do well.

It was really good fun, and I was very grateful to Radio 5 Live for having me, and to Ellie Oldroyd, who I was co-commentating with and who looked after me. She is the most incredible professional, and it was an honour to sit next to her, listen to her do her thing, and watch her keep the show going – filling the gaps and keeping it interesting and engaging.

It was a real honour to sit there and commentate on the Olympic Games. It was brilliant – I had no stress and it was nice.

You are now a photographer with your own company, can you tell us about this and what do you enjoy most about photography?

Yes, I do photography and videography. People always ask me, “What do I photograph?” It’s kind of easier for me to tell you what I don’t photograph! I don’t photograph newborns, pets or maternity – but everything else I will give a go.

When I was an athlete, constantly in front of the camera for sponsors and photoshoots, I always tried to give input to photographers, and had an eye for creativity. Now, I get a real chance to do that behind the camera. Whenever I get a chance to do something quite creative, I love it.

I also take on event work and charity work. I do weddings, properties, agricultural, portraits, headshots and studio work. I do lots of different types of photography, but I really like to do studio work and creative work.

Where does your love of performing and artistic gymnastics come from and how did you get into both?

I started gymnastics when I was four. I was extremely hyperactive, so my mum got me into loads of after-school clubs to try and curb some of the energy that I would bring home. Gymnastics was a sport that captivated me – there was so much to learn, and I never got bored. I have ADHD and a short attention span, so the fact that there was constantly something new to learn and be challenged with in gymnastics really helped.

In terms of performing, I’d say Strictly really opened the door for that. I didn’t really have any aspirations to perform, but I loved acting a bit of a wally at home – acting out movie scenes and being a bit extra. I always thought theatre was something that I wouldn’t know how to or where to even start with wanting to get into. Thankfully, Strictly opened that door and gave me an opportunity to do those kind of shows. I said yes to lots of opportunities when they came knocking.

Do you have any favourite gymnasts (either current or retired) to support and favourite films, TV and theatre shows to watch?

My favourite gymnast of all time is probably Vitaly Scherbo – an absolutely incredible gymnast – shortly followed by Alexei Nemov. Both legends of the sport.

In terms of favourite movies, Harry Potter is my favourite franchise, and Interstellar is probably one of my all-time favourite sci-fi movies – I could watch that all the time.

TV series, I would say anything on Apple TV. Apple TV has the most amazing shows I’ve ever seen. The writing, directing and cinematography are just absolutely outstanding. Go and watch anything on Apple TV, but this isn’t an advert or a plug!

How do you like to spend your free time?

With my beautiful children and my beautiful partner, Charlie. Playing a little bit of PlayStation when I get that opportunity, and – on the rare occasion – escaping for four-and-a-half hours to play some golf. But that’s a very rare occasion!

Follow Louis on:

X

Instagram