The inspiration behind Netflix’s Bank of Dave revealed why he turned down Strictly Come Dancing.
Dave Fishwick, 53, captured the hearts of the nation when Rory Kinnear played him in his biopic two years ago. And the actor will do so again with The Bank of Dave: The Long Ranger sequel, which hit Netflix on Friday (January 9).
However, unlike last time, the real-life Burnley businessman even has a role in the movie – playing an Italian-American gangster. But we won’t see him on Strictly any time soon.
He was offered the chance to do the tango last year but gave an honest answer to the BBC when declining the offer.
Speaking to Reach PLC, he said: “They were saying to me, ‘Look Dave, there is 35 hours a week of practice.’ I was like, ‘35 hours a week! How am I supposed to… I can’t even find three and a half hours.’
Rory Kinnear and Dave Fishwick a the Bank of Dave 2 world premiere at The Reel Cinema in Burnley
(Image: Getty Images)
“I just said ‘look I can’t dance’, and they said ‘that’s brilliant,’ and then my wife said to them ‘no he really can’t dance’ – and they said ‘even better’.
“There was a piece of me that thought, ‘do you know what, it sounds really fun’, and they said, ‘we will send one of the dancers up to live with you’, and I thought, ‘that’s marvellous’, but they didn’t mean to live with me.”
After an initial buzz of excitement at the prospect of welcoming a professional dancer to his home, he soon realised they meant having them stay in the area to better fit his schedule for training.
But weighing it up, he came to the conclusion that he simply did not have the time.
Dave made his fortunes from selling minibuses before becoming a household name by setting up his own community bank called Burnley Savings and Loans after the 2008 financial crisis.
He also turned down another popular celebrity show
(Image: Tim Merry / Daily Mirror)
He has since made documentaries which has tackled payday loan companies (the plot to his next film).
And that is something he wants to focus more on in 2025 – so the chances of him being on I’m a Celeb or Dancing on Ice are slim.
He said: “The jungle one I turned down last year. It is not for me, that ain’t for me. I go after the baddies.
“I’ve spent the last 12 months on ITV News working very closely and we have done their biggest story of the year which is going after the loan sharks – it has done 21 million views on YouTube.
“We’ve been looking at loan sharks and payday loans and looking at people stealing data out of phones and I have really got into that so I am going to do more of that this year.
“We are going to go after more of the baddies.”