Comedy legend Sir Lenny Henry is returning to our screens on New Year’s Day in Harlan Coben’s brand new thriller, Missing You. Lenny plays the deceased dad of the lead character, Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar). It wasn’t all doom and cloom though as there were some dancing involved during filming – and it was the moment Lenny realised he won’t be signing up to Strictly Come Dancing.

Lenny explained: “There is a legendary dancing scene in the show. Every wedding and birthday, people get up to do the candy dance, right? Well, I can’t dance at all, they keep asking me to do Strictly but I would let every black person in Britain down. At the end of the take, we got the crew to do it too, there is a video!”

Lenny Henry stars in Missing You which airs on New Year’s Day

Lenny plays Clint Donovan in the five-part series, a character who has passed having been brutally killed, but he does appear in flashback scenes.

Despite his character’s death, he remains a big part in the series as his daughter, Kat, re-opens the case into Clint’s killing. And Lenny couldn’t speak more highly of the show. The star explained: “It’s a twisty, turny, procedural drama with a big, big heart. And can I just say, Ros, oh my god, she’s like Clint Eastwood with an afro – she’s legendary as Kat!”

Rosalind takes over as leading lady one year after Michelle Keegan’s Fool Me Once became the talk of New Year’s Day 2024. Fool Me Once was viewed almost 100 million times and became a huge hit for Netflix. Luckily, Rosalind never felt any pressure for Harlan Coben’s next thriller.

She said: “Hilariously, I got this job before Fool Me Once even came out. Then when it did air, it was watched by everyone! The numbers are ridiculous, it was such a huge success. So there was a part of me that went ‘oh no’. But that quickly went away, and I hope that Missing You will be just as successful. It’s a completely different story – this one feels smaller in a way and more intense.”

Rosalind plays Detective Kat Donovan who leads a missing persons unit and in the very first scene, where she happens to be on a date with Busted’s Matt Willis, shows-off her incredible fighting skills. “I don’t think I’m like Kat at all, she’s far braver than I am!” confesses Rosalind. “But I did love all the stunts! I got very bruised after being shoved in that opening scene which I had to do in six inch heels while the sprinklers were going off. As the show goes on, there’s so much sprinting, and it was quite funny because I’d end up outrunning the camera.”