Dance judge died days before his 79th birthday in April 2023. Bruno Tonioli has revealed how he coped with the death of his Strictly Come Dancing co-star, Len Goodman. Goodman, who served as head judge on the hit BBC series from its launch in 2004 until 2016, died of bone cancer days before his 79th birthday in April 2023, after being admitted to a hospice in Kent. Tonioli, 69, joined the judge’s panel of the BBC dance competition the same year as Goodman. By the time the much-loved Strictly star died in 2023, the pair had been friends for almost two decades.
![[Bruno Tonioli has said Len Goodman’s death hit him ‘like a truck']](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/12/10/GettyImages-78123905.jpg)
The former Strictly Come Dancing judge revealed he had already navigated a “continuously harrowing” period of tragedy in his life, ahead of Goodman’s death, when he lost both his parents in the space of seven years. Tonioli’s mother Fulvia died from a heart attack at the age of 63 in 1994. Meanwhile, his father developed Alzheimer’s and died, aged 70, in 2001. “You cannot ignore grief,” Tonioli reflected. “You have to scream and shout. But don’t stop living. I love my work. It has always been therapeutic because you focus your energy on something that is creative.
![[Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/11/26/08/judges-1.jpg)
“You get depressed, very down, but you get your socks on, go on and do something,” he added. In 2023, Tonioli said that he was “heartbroken” over Goodman’s death, adding that he would “treasure the memory of our incredible adventures and hundreds of shows we did together”. “There will never be anyone like you. We will miss you,” he said. Goodman began dancing at 19, winning various competitions including the British Championships in Blackpool in his late 20s, after which he retired from professional competition. As well as his successful dancing and television career, he was also the owner of the Goodman Academy, a dance school in Dartford, Kent.
Goodman was known for his colourful turns of phrase, such as “pickle me walnuts”, when describing performances that especially entertained him. His most recognisable contribution to both dance programmes was his triumphant pronunciation of the number seven when scoring dances. As he held up a paddle with the number on it, Goodman would always say “se-VEN!”, emphasising the second syllable. It is a trait that has become synonymous with Strictly and one that his fellow judges have inherited.
