TV's vicar Reverend Richard Coles has been dubbed 'the only vicar to be spray-tanned with Debbie McGee' ahead of his retirement next month.

He will be stepping down from his current role in Northamptonshire in order to work with prisoners. 

He has frequently appeared on the BBC, as a regular host of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live programme. He is a regular contributor to QI, Would I Lie to You? and Have I Got News for You.

Prior to becoming a Church of England vicar, Fr Coles played multiple instruments in The Communards; a 1980s band. 

It was during his time on Strictly Come Dancing - where he compares his abilities to that of a walrus - that he worked alongside Debbie McGee, and also enjoyed a spray-tan,  earning him his rather bizarre claim. 

The former popstar has shared his thoughts on stepping down, and reflected on the loss of his partner, Reverend David Coles, two years ago. 

Fr Coles told the BBC: "When your life partner dies what dies with them is your future and I realised I wanted to be with people who I love and care about and know well and it just so happens that some of them live in Sussex and one of my oldest friends, a house two doors up from hers was up for sale, and she said 'why don't you move here' so I did.

"I think David on a good day would have wanted me to face forwards and step forwards; on a bad day he'd have loved me to stay at home stirring polenta and thinking of him again.

"But it's just part of the process of bereavement, you get used to a world in which the other person's not in it and then you start thinking, 'well, I'm in it', so what am I going to do?

"I think I've got some more to do."