Stacey Dooley fumes at boyfriend Kevin Clifton as she says 'you've done me dirty'

Strictly Come Dancing star Kevin Clifton was every inch the proud partner yesterday when he congratulated Stacey Dooley on her West End debut in the chilling play 2:22 A Ghost Story. She stars as Jenny in the show, crafted by the award-winning writer of BBC podcast The Battersea Poltergeist, and has already gained notoriety for her acting skills.

However, the 37-year-old didn't take too kindly to the picture Kevin chose to post of the pair of them outside the Gielgud Theatre. In the snap, Kevin - a doting dad to their one-year-old daughter, Minnie - appeared to lift her up off her feet in an affectionate clinch outside the stage door.

Stacey made her feelings clear when she took to Instagram to reply, in view of almost 400,000 followers: "You’ve done me dirty with this pic but stilllllllllllll ILYSM [I love you so much]." Even if she didn't like her unposed pout, fans did, with one challenging Stacey: "Nah, you still look gorgeous!"

Another playfully ribbed her, joking: "You look like you're saying 'put me down'!" A third quipped: "I didn’t realise there was such a height difference ;-)."

Kevin had exclaimed: "Baby I’m so b****y proud of you. West End Superstar! What a debut!" Referring to the star-studded cast, he added that James Buckley, Joe McFadden and Donna Air had also been "absolutely brilliant".

Fans agreed, with one sharing in the comments: "The whole cast were amazing, but Stacey was awesome..... loved it and highly recommend it."

Cheryl Cole had previously taken on the role of Jenny in the show, meaning first-time actress Stacey had a lot to live up to, but her debut seems to have been a huge hit.

Stacey rose from obscurity back in 2008, when she made her TV debut in a BBC Three documentary about sweatshops, filmed in India and titled Blood, Sweat and T-shirts.

Her candid and unfiltered emotional reactions to the heartbreaking scenes she saw made her instantly likeable with viewers, and she went on to appear as a presenter of numerous other shows.

She interviewed everyone from Islamic fundamentalists to far-righters from the EDL (English Defence League) for the Luton-based documentary My Hometown Fanatics.

Stacey also travelled to Thailand to investigate corruption and sex tourism, and to the USA where she tackled hard-hitting issues and visited locations like anti-abortion summer camps.

She received a MBE in 2018 for her services to broadcasting, while that same year she was announced as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, where she first met Kevin.

Her career has continued to be eventful, with an appearance on The Masked Dancer as Prawn Cocktail following - but 2:22 A Ghost Story will mark Stacey's first foray into acting, and so far it's been a huge success.