Former 'Strictly Come Dancing' star Brendan Cole will enjoy an audience with Pope Francis in a new BBC Two series.
Brendan Cole
The 42-year-old professional dancer will appear in 'Pilgrimage: The Road To Rome' alongside comedian Les Dennis, singer Dana Scallon, comedian Stephen K. Amos, Birds of a Feather's Lesley Joseph, Olympic long jumper Greg Rutherford, actress Katy Brand and presenter Mehreen Baig.
The show sees the stars abandoning their luxurious lives to embark on the later stages of the Via Francigena - the route that connected Canterbury to Rome in ancient times but has been made popular by modern travellers - and they will be filmed with the Pope when the crew make it to the Italian capital.
A show source told The Sun newspaper: "It was unprecedented access and the 'pilgrims' were understandably excited.
"It was really emotional. There were lots of tears -- as viewers will find out."
The upcoming show is similar to a BBC Two series 'Pilgrimage: The Road to Santiago' which followed a group of celebrities - including Ed Byrne, Debbie McGee and Heather Small - on a pilgrimage across Northern Spain to Santiago.
The group had only two weeks to follow the ancient 780km pilgrimage and reach the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela and the shrine of St James.
Around 1,200 pilgrims take the route to Rome every year, and numbers are much lower than the Santiago journey because of a lack of infrastructure and accommodation.
The three-part series is due on air later this year.
Tagged in Greg Rutherford Lesley Joseph