Amy Dowden was unable to make it to the National Television Awards herself as she was preoccupied with Strictly Come Dancing commitments. Instead, her mum and dad attended in her place as she was up for two awards, one individual and a collective one for the BBC dance show.
The professional dancer will be involved in the upcoming series of Strictly Come Dancing series. Speaking to Lorraine last week, Amy said she would be missing the award show due to filming conflicts. When asked about the NTA awards, she said: “Unfortunately no, the good thing is I’m back on Strictly and we’re recording the launch show.”
A documentary made about the dancer’s cancer battle was up for an award. Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me is described by BBC as a “Powerfully honest documentary following Strictly pro Amy Dowden’s battle for her health, a future family and a return to dance after a breast cancer diagnosis blows apart her world.”
The nomination was in the Authored Documentary category. She was up against Molly-Mae Hague’s Amazon Prime series Behind It All, Boyzone: No Matter What, Freddie Flintoff’s programme detailing his recovery after his horror Top Gear crash and There’s Only One Rob Burrow.
After losing out on the award to former Love Island star Molly Mae, Amy shared her thoughts on Instagram. She said: “Huge congratulations to Molly Mae on your NTA win.
“It’s been an honour to be nominated alongside such powerful and inspiring documentaries. I’m incredibly proud to have been nominated for my documentary Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me. When I made the deeply personal decision to share my recent breast cancer journey, it was to raise awareness, promote early detection and give hope and strength to others going through it.”
The 35-year-old continued: “An NTA nomination is just the icing on the cake. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who voted and supported the documentary. Your messages, love and encouragement mean the world to me.”
While she didn’t win the award, Amy’s parents are still immensely proud. Sharing a selfie with her mum and dad, Amy wrote: “After this pic my mam just said ‘tonight was fab but the best thing of all is that we still have you’.
“You’re still with us! So glad they had the best time”, alongside a series of emotional face emojis. Speaking about her Strictly return, Amy said to Lorraine: “I’ve worked on my strength and fitness, worked on myself mentally and physically because cancer diagnoses are tough, and I don’t think there’s enough out there about the reality of after the diagnosis and how long it takes to recover.”
She added: “I’ve hope to be able to give others hope who are going through a diagnosis as well.” Amy has been open about her breast cancer journey since she was diagnosed in 2023.
Thankfully, she was told she is cancer free in February 2024, but still needs to visit hospital for monthly check-ups. Amy recently told followers she still has to return to hospital every month for injections.
Amy has also been nominated for two awards at the Welsh edition of the awards ceremony for her documentary programmes. She told fans she had been put forward in “two categories- presenter and documentary”.
The next season of Strictly Come Dancing gets underway on September 20. Amy will be partnered with one of the 15 celebrities who have been confirmed for the show.
The celebrities confirmed are Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Dani-Dyer Bowen, Alex Kingston, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Balvinder Sopal, George Clarke, La Voix, Chris Robshaw, Ellie Goldstein, Vicky Pattison, Stefan Dennis, Thomas Skinner, Karen Carney, Ross King and Lewis Cope.
Strictly Come Dancing took home the National Television Award for Talent Show at this year’s ceremony. Last year’s celebrity cast took to the stage to accept the award, with Pete Wicks and JB Gill giving a speech.