SHANE Richie is planning a drag career after I’m A Celebrity as he launches TV show ‘Dads Do Drag’.
The former EastEnders actor, who is currently holed up in a Welsh castle, is setting up a company using the catchy name.
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Shane, 56, got a taste for cross-dressing when he took to the West End stage last year.
He wore five inch heels when he starred as drag queen Loco Chanelle in the musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
The I’m A Celebrity favourite has registered the name ‘Dads Do Drag’ as a trademark under the classification for ‘development of formats for television programmes’.
It’s not yet known exactly what sort of shows Shane will be making, but it will mark the actor’s his first foray into TV production.
Although Shane has a producer credit on the 2003 film Shoreditch, in which he starred opposite Joely Richardson.
Just before going off to Gwrych Castle in Wales for I’m A Celeb, Shane said he wanted to use the ITV show to drop two dress sizes as he’s due to go on a UK theatre tour for the musical.
He said: “If I can drop two dress sizes I’ll be happy because I might be going back into Jamie The Musical in the West End, and right now there’s no way I’m going to get into my dress.
“Girls you feel my pain right?! If I’m gonna be a Drag Queen I can’t be a size 16!”
When he joined the musical last year, Shane admitted in an interview with This Morning that he hoped that his male friends would come and see the show and fancy him – but added that he hadn’t succeeded.
Shane said: “And I sat down with the designer and I said I wanna dress where my mates would come and see the show and go ‘You know, after a couple of beers I would.’
“That was always in the back of my head, sadly none of them have come up on the offer.”
He also commented on the role which saw him transform from shopkeeper Hugo to the glamorous Loco: “I literally walk off stage, there’s three people waiting in the dressing room, wonderful Jess does my make up and I strip off down to my pants and my fishnets.
“And I walk into my five inch heels.”
All this is a world away from Shane’s current situation in Wales, where he’s camping in a creepy castle alongside the likes of Vernon Kay, Mo Farah and AJ Pritchard.
The actor was voted by the public to take on the first I’m A Celebrity bushtucker trial with Radio One DJ Jordan North.
The terrifying task saw the pair sealed in coffins full of slithering snakes with a series of safes to crack to win stars for the camp.
