Addictive Strictly ticks the boxes for young and old

Date Published: {J}

It’s hard to believe that a programme based on ballroom dancing could be so popular, but the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing is a runaway success.

On Saturday night the latest series ended with a young pop singer as this year’s champion.

Harry Judd, the drummer with the group, McFly, seemed an unlikely contestant but then so did his band mate, Dougie, who won this year’s Celebrity Get Me Out of Here on ITV.

In fact you would have got good odds by putting down a bet that the two mates would win their respective TV shows. I wouldn’t have placed the bet because I never dreamed Dougie would have been crowned King of the Jungle and Harry seemed too shy in the beginning to have found his dancing feet.

I didn’t follow both programmes religiously but Dougie hardly made any impression while he was in the jungle and then I tuned in to the final night and couldn’t believe he was a finalist.

Strictly, though, is addictive if you start following the celebs going through their paces and each week getting more confident and better at the various dances.

The BBC have it sorted. At the weekends they hold the actual competition, where each week one couple leaves and then during the week they have a half hour analysis programme.

It is now watched by all ages and growing in popularity. I have noticed that the dancing has become better but the rules have relaxed a bit. In the early days only ballroom dances were actually allowed. But now there’s a bit of freestyle.

The judges are brilliant, though one of them, Alesha Dixon (a former Strictly winner), got into trouble last week when she spilled some beans on the Alan Carr chat show, Chatty Man. And she was criticised for drinking wine out of a bottle – but come on, the whole ethos of that programme is to get people chatting like they were in someone’s sitting room, complete with the drinks cabinet! Actually, Carr is brilliant because he is so natural. He makes presenting seem effortless.

And another pro is Bruce Forsythe, who along with Tess Daly, presents Strictly. He is a national treasure in the UK and is as sprightly now as he ever was.

The production of the final, in Blackpool’s Tower Ballroom, was spectacular – and they had the semi-final in Wembley, showing the money that the BBC pour into it.

And that’s why it looks so polished and why it makes such good viewing. There’s money poured into costumes, sets, props, choreography and guest entertainment.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.