Debbie McGee

About

Debbie McGee is an English television, radio and stage performer.

Ballet

At the age of 16 Debbie McGee attended the Royal Ballet School. She then joined the Iranian National Ballet Company in Tehran. And, at 19, became part of the Corps de Ballet. Unfortunately, the Iranian Revolution cut short her ballet career.

Paul Daniels

The Bernard Delfont Organisation found Debbie a job performing on stage with magician Paul Daniels. She met Paul in London in 1979 at rehearsals for his summer show.

After winter work in pantomime, Debbie joined Paul again for his 1980 summer season in Bournemouth. She then performed in his London stage show It’s Magic. By the time it closed 14 months later, it had become the longest running magic show ever to play in the West End.

Debbie McGee achieved fame through TV appearances with Daniels. Then, after seeing her on stage in the West End, BBC producer John Fisher asked Debbie to appear in the series The Paul Daniels Magic Show. The series was a huge hit and regularly attracted audiences of 15 million in the UK.

Paul and Debbie were married in Buckinghamshire in April 1988.

Television and Film

McGee appeared on comedian Caroline Aherne’s talk show The Mrs Merton Show in 1995. Aherne’s character Mrs Merton asked McGee “what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?”, a joke which a poll later ranked as Britain’s second-best one-liner.

In August 2017 Debbie McGee appeared as a contestant on the fifteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing. Her professional dance partner was Giovanni Pernice.