"Now it's all about the creativity"

It says something about the place the pair holds in the nation’s heart that this became headline news. We knew it!

We knew their famously close relationship couldn’t have been purely platonic!

“I found it quite funny really,” says Torvill. “I had no idea Chris would say anything but it doesn’t bother me that he did. It was a long time ago.”

Throughout a career spanning some 30 years the pair have been quizzed endlessly about the nature of their partnership yet they have never spoken of their brief encounter until now.

What changed?

“People always asked if we thought we’d get married and it was never like that with us.

But no one had ever asked the specific question Piers asked.”

Although things never went any further than that kiss on the back seat of a tour bus, the pair, who are both in their 50s now, remain incredibly tight-knit. “We finish each other’s sentences and I usually know what he’s thinking,”

says Torvill. They have spent most of their lives together after all, starting out as shy amateurs growing up in Nottingham in 1975 and later going on to take gold – and become the highest scoring figure skaters of all time – with Bolero, the routine they performed in the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo.

After retiring from skating in 1998, both ostensibly pursued separate lives; Torvill moving to Surrey with sound engineer husband Phil Christensen and adopting a son and daughter, and Dean relocating to the States with his then-wife Jill Trenary and two sons. But they spoke on the phone every day and it wasn’t long before they were brought out of retirement and back together when ITV launched Dancing On Ice in 2006.

The show, which sees celebrities trained to compete as ice skaters, became a surprise hit, with many competitors showing an unexpected aptitude for the sport. “Over the years the standard has got better and better,” says Torvill. “People look at what was achieved in the last show and set out to better it. We’ve been really impressed.”

But ice skating is no easy feat and it’s been almost as tough for the professionals as the amateurs. As she approaches 60, Torvill admits it takes ever more commitment to stay fit enough to perform.

She experienced agonising back pain from a spinal cyst during filming in 2012, while a few years previously, Dean had to undergo keyhole surgery for a knee problem.

“It’s tough both physically and mentally and you do have to keep up your fitness.

New routines put strains on different muscles. But I’m fitter now than I’ve ever been.”

Dean remarked recently that he felt his partner had gained confidence with age.

“Oh yeah. I think both of us have become more confident,”

says Torvill. “We’re both very shy naturally and we struggled with some of the attention when we were younger. We’re not naturally gregarious people. Our personalities came out more when we were on the ice performing. But I don’t worry about that side of things so much now.”

The current series of Dancing On Ice, which sees many past winners return to compete again, will be the last, as Torvill and Dean prepare to mark the 30th anniversary of their Olympics glory with a national arena tour. February 14, 1984, will always be etched in their memories says Torvill. Even now, just hearing Ravel’s Bolero prompts a surge of emotion.

It could have been very different though. The pair had originally planned to dance to a number from the Broadway musical 42nd Street but were talked out of it by friends and mentors Courtney Jones and Bobby Thompson, who suggested Ravel’s piece, with its dramatic climax. It was Jones who helped create Torvill’s iconic purple chiffon costume too, dip-dyeing the material by hand in her West London bathroom.

But the real magic happened during the performance, which elicited a row of perfect sixes from the judges.

It proved to be the end of their days as professional competitors, says Torvill, but what a finale.

“We don’t miss competing at all. The Olympics couldn’t have been any better for us and we are tremendously proud of what we achieved but now it’s all about the performance and the creativity and we both love that.”

What goes through her head when she is out there on the ice? “I’m not thinking about anything but the routine.

You have to. If you were to drift off and think about dinner it would be a disaster.

You have to focus very intensely, like an actor performing a role.”

Although she has performed solo, it never feels quite right without Dean she says. “Our success is very much tied up in each other. I don’t think either of us would have achieved what we have alone, or even with other partners.”

Torvill has been married since 1990. Dean has married twice but is currently single.

Does their relationship cause friction with romantic partners?

“I think it has taken them some getting used to, yes. But we were in this partnership when they met us, so that’s how they’ve always known us.” Torvill, Christensen and their children Kieran and Jessica now live in Mayfield, East Sussex, a place she loves despite her frustration at the lack of skating facilities.

“It’s a beautiful area and a great place to bring up kids.”

Motherhood was something she had feared she would never experience.

Her career meant she had put off starting a family until she was in her 40s, but after an ectopic pregnancy and 12 months of gruelling IVF treatment, she remained unable to conceive. The decision to adopt wasn’t an easy one but now she says it was the best thing she’s ever done.

“I can talk about it now because I’ve come out the other side and have two wonderful children but it was a difficult period.

Motherhood has put a different perspective on everything. Initially it’s so frightening because you want to get everything right for this little person, but I’ve loved every minute of it.”

* The final series of Dancing On Ice continues on ITV at 6.15pm on Sunday * For more on Torvill and Dean’s UK tour, visit www.dancingonicetour.co.uk