It’s back to school for actor Tom Chambers in his new car

Actor and reigning Strictly Come Dancing champion Tom Chambers celebrated his return to television this week by collecting a new Fiat 500C.

Tom, who appears in the latest series of the BBC1 smash-hit school drama Waterloo Road, (starting tonight, 28 October, 8pm), called in to collect a Raggamuffin Red 1.2 Pop version of the sought-after Fiat 500 soft-top from Fiat’s flagship dealer, Fiat Marylebone, in Wigmore Street, Central London.

The actor has been driving a 500 hatchback – recently voted Best Supermini in What Car? magazine’s Reader Awards 2009 – since last Christmas, but planned to swop into a 500C after the car’s UK launch in July this year. Tom and his wife Clare also own an early Fiat 500.

“Everyone knows I love the Fiat 500 – both the original and this latest version,” says Tom. “So I was really excited when I first saw the convertible. It has all the benefits of the hard top car with the addition of that fantastic folding roof.

“As an actor, my work takes me to locations all over the country and it’s really important to have a car that can take me there comfortably, reliably and certainly economically. And it helps that it’s a stylish little number too!”

Available with a choice of three frugal, ultra-low emissions, Euro 5 engines: 69 bhp 1.2-litre and 100bhp 1.4-litre petrol, or 75 bhp 1.3-litre MultiJet turbodiesel, the new Fiat 500C can be ordered in two trim levels – Pop and Lounge.

With a starting price of £11,700 on-the-road, the new Fiat 500C represents outstanding value for money when compared with similar soft-top rivals.