Olympic figure skating champion Robin Cousins is swapping skates for Brylcreem as he appears in Grease the Musical. Chris Price caught up with the Dancing on Ice judge.

He has won an Olympic gold medal but stepping out on stage is a much bigger trial for Robin Cousins.

“The sport side wasn’t as hard. In my first ever stage show I was skating, singing and acting at the same time,” said the Dancing On Ice judge.

Yet as he prepares to return as Teen Angel in Grease, which is arriving in Kent for three weeks this month, there are some things Robin finds comforting about the stage compared to the rink. Robin explained he grew up wanting to be Gene Kelly when he was a boy, before skating “sidetracked me for 25 years”.

“I like the intimacy of the theatre compared to the arena,” said the 54-year-old, whose parents spent their last years living in Wrotham, near West Malling.

“To not have to think about performing to all 360 degrees is nice. It is just to the front. Some theatres still feel intimate to me.”

A role he has performed numerous times since he first appeared in the show in the West End in 2010, there is an overlap between Robin’s return to Grease and his judging work on ITV’s Dancing on Ice. Performing in Grease during the week but appearing on our screens at the weekend, Robin has been a Dancing on Ice judge since its first series in 2006. This has been the hardest year yet when it comes to picking a winner.

“We are used to having one or two good contestants and one or two bad ones each year but this year we have four or five good ones,” said Robin, whose father’s family were originally from Eltham. Many of his relatives live in the Maidstone area.

“The standard isn’t higher. It is just a collectively stronger group. That happens with most shows. The contestants always take it to the next level and the producers do a fantastic job in getting who they want. Within weeks these people have transformed themselves from celebrities with day jobs to skaters and four or five of them are quite good.”

He would not be drawn on his favourite contestant this series but does have an all-time favourite.

“Ray Quinn’s win was terrific. He was so strong from week six or seven and understood it completely. Had he started to skate when he was a boy he could well have been a national competitor.”

X Factor runner up Ray went on to star in Grease in the West End after his winning run on Dancing On Ice. The original musical was first performed in Chicago in 1971, with the 1978 film developed from that. This show is based on the original Broadway production, with a couple of the songs that were written for the movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

Robin said: “The audience just want to get to the next song they know so the story is very tight and short compared to other shows. You get carried away from the first song to the last.”

Ambassador for London 2012

Robin took gold in the men’s singles figure skating at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid and was also a three time World Championship medallist and one time European champion.

He is part of the ambassador programme for London 2012, giving advice to many of Britain’s hopefuls for the Games. He is also looking forward to the Winter Olympics in Russia in 2014, for which he believes Team GB will have a good squad.

“What I say to our young competitors is there is nothing different on the day of the Olympics,” he said.

“You have to think what you are going to do is something you have done every day of your life.”

Grease the Musical comes to Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre from Tuesday, March 6, to Saturday, March 17. Tickets from £20. Box office 01227 787787. The show is then at Tunbridge Wells’ Assembly Hall Theatre from Monday, March 19, to Saturday, March 24. Tickets from £18. Box office 01892 530613. The show returns to the county from Monday, August 27, to Saturday, September 1, at Dartford’s Orchard Theatre. Tickets from £24.50. Box office 01322 220000.