(Dancing with the Stars for those outside the UK)
I’m usually uninspired by the television schedules but I only have to hear one bar of that music and I’m racing for my armchair with a virtual ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign above my head. I’ve even been known to switch off my phone while I watch!
Maybe it’s to do with timing. Just as the nights draw in and the weather becomes dour, Strictly Come Dancing provides glitter, glamour and bling by the bucket-load. I know that I’ll never get the chance to dance like those couples but I can dream, and I do. Every time they glide, chasse or do neat little heel turns, it’s me out there wearing a beautiful gown or skimpy cat suit, with the audience admiring my every move.
Strictly is different from most reality TV shows. The contestants are celebrities. They know how to entertain. They have camera presence and charisma... well most of them do, anyway. Of course they want to win but it doesn’t ‘mean the whole world’ to them, unlike those reality contestants who sob with utter desperation because this is their ‘last chance to make it’.
It’s not only the contestants and their sexy, slick professional partners who provide quality entertainment. The Dave Arch Band are am-az-ing (said in Craig Revel Horwood’s fabulous accent, dahling). The Band can play and sing any style of music the dancers choose. Such talent! What a shame we don’t get to see more of them. They may be tucked away at one end of the dance floor, but Strictly certainly wouldn’t be the same without them.
This is not just a weekend obsession. I’m also hooked on Strictly It Takes Two and so every evening there’s a scramble to prepare supper and be sitting in front of the telly by 6.30. I can’t miss Claudia.
Strictly Come Dancing keeps me going throughout the autumn and right into December, but what will I do with myself in January? I can feel a dose of the mulligrubs coming on already. I suppose I’ll have to make do with You Tube extracts until next autumn comes round again.
[For those with especially large birthdays looming, please note that Pamela Stevenson, who is dancing in this clip, is 61 years old. If I can dance like that at her age I’ll be a happy blogger indeed!!]
