For the love of Strictly

October 19, 2015 by Ray Morgan

For the love of Strictly

Saturday nights (don't worry - I'm not quoting Whigfield) are somewhat mythical. Adverts show girls getting ready in front of mirrors with eyeliner and pop soundtracks, or groups of lads out on the town walking in quad formations in slow motion (or something). They're what you live for when you're a younger: everything happens on Saturday nights.

Saturday nights are where first kisses happen, where you get into the Brush with a friend's ID for the first time, where you put on your glad rags and dance and laugh and - ok, I'm going to stop there. This was what I used to do on a Saturday night. I used to drink Rodneys and Del Boys and dance to The Cure and wear the soles of my Converse down to nothing and eat a crappy £5 burger from a van in the street at 1am and then do it all again the following week.

NOT SO NOW. Why? Because from September onwards, Saturday nights mean STRICTLY. Yeah, I know. Glitter, sequins, and foxtrots. Bit different from the Pink Toothbrush eh?

My new Saturday night ritual means celebrating the fact that the evenings are getting darker. Why go out when you can put the heating on, get under a blanket, eat popcorn and watch celebrities dancing? I know it might not sound like the new rock and roll but hear me out.

It is SUCH a heartwarming programme. Celebrities you don't know anything about and ones you know and love learn how to ballroom dance with incredible professional dancers, and get judged by a panel that is 50% constructive and helpful and 50% downright bitchy. I think it's the model Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood use on GBBO.

Who knew that watching Carol, the kindly Scot who does the weather on BBC Breakfast, attempt the paso doble could invite such joy? I grin like an idiot at the opening sequences each week where the professionals and celebs do a big group dance to a rousing pop song? What can I say - it makes me feel good.

Saturday nights as a child meant Blind Date and Gladiators - one charming and funny, and the other high-octane thrills (well, people hitting each other with giant cotton buds - I was 8) - Strictly seems to bring back some of that traditional Saturday night entertainment.

I also must say how great it is that my two favourite programmes on the telly are presented by two women. Bake Off has Mel and Sue, and Strictly has Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. It shouldn't feel unusual or progressive, but it is. Since they ditched Brucie, Strictly has a more relaxed, improvisational feel. Yes, there are the usual stock jokes and cued laughs, but Tess and Claude riff off each other and it really works. Well done BBC for realising you don't need to pair an old man with a young hottie. And I'm sure Tess prefers Claudia pawing at her on a Saturday night than a man twice her age. (I know I would! *boom*) But seriously...

Strictly is fun, light hearted; what makes it different from *insert thunder clap here* X Factor, is that the people often start with no dancing knowledge and work hard and train and learn over the course of the show. It's inspiring. No sob stories to Coldplay's Trouble, no fake tears and dramas - this is real entertainment at its best. BBC Strictly, I salute you.

My top 5 dancers on strictly:

1. Aliona Vilani - one of the professionals. Forever my fave <3
2. Matt Baker from Blue Peter and latterly the One Show! Who knew!
3. Susanna Reid. She rocked it, man. I miss her on Breakfast.
4. Mark Benton - doin' it for the larger gents. I loved him.
5. Alison Hammond - she was a HOOT.