Strictly Come Dancing

The cult BBC show Strictly Come Dancing has become compulsive viewing of a Saturday teatime. OK, so Ballroom and Latin American dancing professionals teaming up with celebs may sound as if it is scrapping the barrel a bit, but it is sucking in quite a broad spectrum of viewers. Basically four male celebs (Rugby player Martin Offiah, Bargain Hunt host David Dickinson, comedian Jason Woods (no, I don’t know who he is either) and Eastenders’ actor Christopher Parker have teamed up with professional women dancers to compete against breakfast TV presenter Natasha Kaplinsky, opera singer, Lesley Garrett, and actresses Claire Sweeney and Verona Joseph, who get to dance with the male professionals.

Generally the celeb women were always a better standard than the men. After each dance a panel of judges scores the pairs, these scores are combined with an audience telephone vote. The pair with the lowest score overall is eliminated each week. This has meant that we have lost good dancers like Claire Sweeney and Lesley Garrett whilst a number of young female viewers that support Christopher Parker, have seen him go through week after week, in spite of the low scores he receives from the judges. The poor boy has absolutely no sense of rhythm whatsoever and this is a shame.

The interest in the show has been assisted by a number of alleged romances in the press. There were rumours circulating in the tabloids that Brendan Cole, Natasha Kaplinsky’s dancing partner was dumped by his fiancée Camilla (David Dickinson’s partner) because of his flirting with the TV presenter. Martin Offiah has also been pictured cuddling his dancing partner Erin Boag during a picnic in a park. How much of these romances are true or whether they are just a bit of harmless flirting is not for me to ascertain, but they certainly add attention to the show.

One other aspect is the spin-off show on BBC3, presented by mad West-country comedian Justin Lee Collins (who I once saw live, comparing a show at an East End comedy club). He is lively, funny and not afraid to ask anything (almost) of the contestants. I predict this is not the last we will see of him.

All in all this show has become a real climber in the ratings for the Beeb (who really have nothing to compete against – Football or a hidden camera show - yawn). Not to mention the impact it has had on the ballroom circuit, as professional rivalries flare up and now many people are flocking to dance classes across the land. Natasha to win!