Dancing on Ice

The first of eight weeks of pro-celeb ice dancing presented by Philip Schofield and some bird called Holly (no Tess Daly). The format of the first part is like Strictly Come Dancing with a panel of five judges voting out of six and then a few will give their comments.

First onto the ice was Martin Platt AKA Sean Wilson, with pro Marika Humphrey dancing to Little Less Conversation and I thought they danced well, were in synch with each other and did some good moves such as the 'tabletop' or layback where they lent right back supporting each others weight. The judges were impressed enough to score them 18 out of a possible 30. Next up was actress Gaynor Faye with pro Daniel Whiston and they skated to the dire and dreadful Beautiful. Gaynor looked terrified and seemed to have no confidence in her own balance. They were given a score of 15.5.

Next up was actor Stefan Booth with bubbly Canadian Kristina Cousins dancing to Young Hearts Run Free, apart from a good lift or two he didn't do much skating beyond the basics, but got a respectable 17.5. He was followed by dancer and actress Bonnie Langford skating with Matt Evers to Mad About the Boy and they did a fabulous spin lift and you could really tell she had dance training and deserved her score of 21.5 points.

TV presenter Andi Peters and partner Tamara Shaw were on next, skating to I Love to Boogie and it was the least adventurous routine we had seen so far, with no real lifts and garnered them a poor 11. TV weather girl Andrea McLean and Doug Webster skated to Crazy in Love, and unfortunately stumbled before the end, but apart from that they performed an elegant and confident routine for 16.5 points.

England goalie David Seaman had skated before and even appeared on Strictly Ice Dancing for the BBC last Christmas. He skated with Pam O'Connor to Wild Thing and I had high expectations that were not met as he was rather clumsy, scoring a modest 16. Socialite Tamara Beckwith and Russian Sergey Maleyshev skated to Get The Party Started, Tamara certainly gave a good performance as far as dance and facial expression was concerned but she was a bit stiff on the lifts, saying that their score of 13.5 was a bit harsh.

Dr Who actor John Barrowman who played Sergeant Jack, skated with Olga Sharutenko to a disco version of Beethoven. It was a good dance routine with good musical interpretation and they must have been pleased with the score of 21 points. Last up was Dame Kelly Holmes and Todd Sand skating to Hit Me Baby One more Time and did a fun routine, if slightly hesitant at times, with a score of 14.5.

For the second part of the show - The Results Show - the pairs with the most votes from the public (combined with the judges? I am not sure, either it wasn't made clear or I fast forwarded it) went through and the bottom two did a skate off and were saved by the judges X-Factor stylee. It was Tamara and Gaynor in the bottom two and Gaynor was much more confident this time round and I even enjoyed their routine inspite of the dire track. Tamara, however, had lost a bit of her sparkle, thus the judges unanimously elected to save Gaynor.

This show has potential though I don't think it has the glamour of Strictly, there is a lot of waffle so the remote is needed too hand to fast forward through the crap.