It’s a big shame that Arlene Phillips is departing Strictly Come Dancing for this year’s season. The BBC claims to be ‘refreshing’ the show with Alesha Dixon, but Arlene (I’ll refer to her by her Christian name as is the luvvie way) is a big draw and looked twenty years younger than her reported age. Alesha was a worthy winner in her year (unlike last year, when Rachel Stevens should have won; Len Goodman gave a mandated standing ovation to Tom Chambers but the head judge wasn’t smiling), but she’s still an amateur and, to my knowledge, hasn’t created any significant choreography. Contestants could throw her critique of their technique back in their face, if they were less polite. A perfect replacement for Arlene would be Lilia Kopylova, but she’s too good to leave the dance floor yet.
Also, I don’t want to hear about whingeing judges from whingeing commentators. So the panel may be po-faced? So what? It’s their role in the show to be critical when they don’t think a couple has developed the celebrity enough. And that is the crux of it – they are only delivering their zingers and acid put-downs to celebrities and B-list at that (admittedly, a level of ‘importance’ most reality shows can’t muster). It’s the audience who should be voted off if they persist in their puerile antics. You don’t boo an umpire if they call a tennis player out when you thought the ball was in or, conversely, cheer when they call a ball in you thought out (Hawkeye is cheered, but no-one is stupid enough to boo it). There’s a good reason why pantomime is rarely televised and that’s because interactivity with its audience – it’s raison d’etre – is compromised as the large majority cannot access it. Ending these reactions from the studio audience of Strictly really would be a breath of fresh air.