THE region’s own ‘dancing policeman’ who captivated the nation after dancing with two girls at the One Love Manchester benefit gig will take to the stage on primetime television this week.

PC Paul Taylor touched the hearts of millions after his ‘dad-dancing’ with the little girls, named Myah Pearson and Tegan Greaves, at the benefit gig for victims of the Manchester Arena bombing.

Footage of the moment – which made the girls smile for the first time since they had witnessed the terrorist attack – went viral and PC Taylor became an overnight celebrity.

Now he and colleagues from his shift at Darlington Police will appear on TV on Wednesday, dancing a routine with Britain’s Got Winners, dance troupe Diversity.

The dancers travelled to Darlington last month and spent two days practicing with the 11 police officers, under a shroud of secrecy in the town’s Dolphin Centre.

The officers later travelled to London to record the show, A Night for the Emergency Services. Stars such as Leona Lewis and Michael Ball also took part.

PC Taylor said they enjoyed the experience of being in London, where they were chauffeur driven and "hob-nobbed" with stars before performing in front of a live studio audience.

He said: “I managed to persuade some of my shift to take part in the dance and we had a really good time in London.

“I think we did okay considering none of us had any experience of dancing. The worst part was when we started practising – Perri, Jordan and Ashley [from Diversity]asked us to do a little jig on our own in front of them.”

He added: “I still keep in touch with the two girls now, and one of their mothers has applied to join the police in Manchester.

“The girls were really badly affected by what they saw during the terrorist attack and hadn’t smiled at all since it happened.

“When I did that dance with them they were laughing and her dad came up and said that was the first time she had smiled.”

Twenty-three people were killed in May when an Ariana Grande concert was attacked by a suicide bomber at the Manchester Arena.

  • A Night for the Emergency Services is screened on ITV1 at 9pm on Wednesday.