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Why I Love...Strictly Come Dancing

Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly
  • Posted at 12:08pm
  • 08 December 2006
  • by KateCoffey-RT
  • 9 comments

For the past few weeks, my flatmate and his friends have swapped their usual alpha-male-about-town Saturday-evening activities for a night in front of the telly, unashamedly enthralled in various celebrities trying to master the foxtrot.

Could it be they are practising some kind of urbane "metrosexuality" swapping beer for ballroom? Or is the allure of female dancers dressed in nothing but a few strategically placed sequins just too strong? Whatever the motivation, they like everyone else, seem to be hooked. "Strictly" (as it's known to devotees) has serious crossover appeal, with everyone from your granny to your greengrocer proffering an expert opinion.

To recap, Strictly is basically the old Come Dancing, but with a dose of Viagra, having been razzed up with that ubiquitous reality-show formula: celebrities, paired with professional ballroom dancers, compete to impress a panel of judges and us, the telephone-voting public, in order to be saved from the ignominy of elimination. As the weeks go by, the stakes get high and the hemlines higher, while we are increasingly stuck to our screens engrossed in some D-list celebrities attempting to salsa to a dubious rendition of Ain't Nobody by Chaka Khan. It all seems a bit silly really. So why do we watch?

Forget the likes of EastEnders, reality TV is the new drama. There is something about celebrities (or mere mortals, for that matter) being put through the mill for our viewing pleasure that makes watching fictional poor people with incongruous Barbados suntans shouting at each other in a TV studio in Elstree tedious by comparison.

Everyone knows the lifeblood of drama is conflict. In Strictly, this conflict is twofold: the celebrities' Two Left Feet and the Implacable Judging Panel. Having samba-ed their proverbial socks off all week, bless them, to see them visibly quaking on the night in anticipation of incurring either the wrath or praise of the judges is enough to propel even the most passive TV viewer to the very edge of their three-piece-suite, clutching their remote control in a state of high anxiety.

And what of the judging panel? We have Arlene, a piranha in lipstick who, were she not doing Strictly may well be hunting down 101 Dalmatians with which to make a fur coat. Then we have Craig Revel Horwood, second only to Arlene in exercising intolerable cruelty in his evaluations and having a silly name. Thank heavens for Bruno, an Italian fairy godmother of camp effervescence and Len who, despite sounding like he should be selling knock-off leather jackets down Petticoat Lane market, is that rare breed of True Gentleman.

Overseeing all this is Brucey, a constant winner in the Saturday-night TV formula and true presenting professional. There's something entirely comforting about his perpetual Cheshire-cat grin and dismal one-liners. Whatever happens, with Bruce around somehow you know everything is going to be OK. Even if the worst comes to the worst and your favourite celeb gets voted off and is forced back into their meagre soap starlet/ex-rugby champion existence.

Ultimately though, why Strictly appeals to such a wide cross-section of entertainment junkies is simple: the dancing. There's a Fred and Ginger lurking in each and every one of us; secretly wouldn't we all like to don a spangled dress or penguin suit and waltz under a mirror ball? Come Saturday, in a toss-up between the Argentine tango and binge-drinking down the pub, I know which gets my vote.

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Post a comment | 9 comments

Comments

  • Posted on 23 September 2009
  • at 5:03pm
  • by June

I love SCD, but I'm irritated to death by the camera work. Half of the time we can't see the lower half of the dancers, and sometimes we're looking over the shoulders of audience members. The judges make comments about footwork that we haven't seen. The dancing is visual enough without 'clever' camera angles. Let us see what the judges see, ie the whole of the dancers' bodies, including their feet.

  • Posted on 16 November 2008
  • at 4:09pm
  • by Ray

Jonathan Ross on strictly !*** get serious

  • Posted on 08 November 2008
  • at 4:27pm
  • by Emerald2805

By the way...Bruce rocks. You try doing what he does when your 218 years old!!

  • Posted on 08 November 2008
  • at 4:23pm
  • by Emerald2805

I lovd SCD, and am pleased we have the results show on a Sunday, because i get my Strictly fix twice. And it cheer's Sunday night up, as i dread going back to work on a Monday morning and have to hang my sequins up for another week!

  • Posted on 01 November 2008
  • at 12:48pm
  • by ash

I love Tess Daly.

  • Posted on 31 October 2008
  • at 11:34am
  • by Richard Glyn Rees

I love SCD, though think that the Sunday show is un called for. It could all be wrapped up in the Saturday show. Go Brucie!

  • Posted on 14 October 2008
  • at 1:07pm
  • by Ann Canton

I love SCD but I have to say Bruce Forsythe spoils it. Are people in the audience paid to laugh at his jokes? He is just pathetic and spoils the whole show so please retire him gracefully and replace him with someone who is not so sickly and is actually funny - Jonathan Ross could do a hilarious job........

  • Posted on 12 October 2008
  • at 2:22pm
  • by Avis

I do wish the BBC would put Strictly on at a later time when the family can sit down together to watch.

  • Posted on 11 January 2007
  • at 3:02pm
  • by MazY

Lord knows that I've tried to fathom who is actually watching this series enough for it to keep infesting my screen on a Saturday night. However, try as I might, it's proving impossible. Not one single person I know watches it (or at doesn't own up to watching it) so who is responsible?

As for Bruce, he's a talented individual but I'm really not sure that he has a place in today's fast-paced programming. We can't keep dragging out variety-driven programmes just to keep him in work - can we?

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