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“Did you hear? Strictly was at Wembley this week. You know, the big arena? Yeah, they've mentioned it once or twice this series, I think Robbie said something about wanting to get there? And possibly Russell? Yeah, it wasn't so good, though.”
I'm all for TV shows trying something new, especially when they've been going for about seventy years like Strictly. But Wembley was just far too big a space, and most of the dancers ended up overwhelmed by its sheer vastness. Still, at least Len was on better form. Well, apart from that time he told Harry, easily the gentlest, politest contestant in the competition, that he had “a bit of a nasty way” with him. Oh, Len.
I doubt a smaller space would have helped Anita, especially with her terrible song (“This is a dancing competition NOT A SONG CHOOSING COMPETITION.” Thanks for that, Barlow) and the samba bounce was just not there at all. Also pretty bad was the manic opening number from Robbie. There was lots of energy, but salsa? Not so much. Much better lifts than his American Smooth, though. And as for Russell, also known as 'The Greatest Thing Ever To Happen To Comedy Since Ricky Groves Did A Paso'... he was shot out of a sparkly cannon and then sort of moved around and kicked a bit to 'Reach for the Stars'. Whatever.
Holly had some lovely choreography that really used the whole space pretty darn well. Unfortunately, despite some great moments, her quickstep had too much gapping and she sort of ended up running quite a lot of it. We'd been told to expect something magical from Jason and his jive, and it did start very well. Jumping through a big clock! Sharp kicks and flicks! Terrible 80s costumes! And then, he lost his footing and and the magic was gone. It didn't help that we'd already been reminded of one of the most iconic dances in Strictly history when Harry did his salsa to the same music as Jill Halfpenny's jive. There have been several repeated songs this series, but really, using the same song as the first ever perfect score in Strictly history was probably not the way to go. It was a solid if not amazing dance, even if it lacked any real hip action.
At the very top of the table, we once again found Chelsee, also dancing to a repeated song, although I notice no-one was screaming SACRILEGE at the ABOMINATION of reusing Mark Foster's samba music. Despite the venue, Chelsee did a pretty bang-up job of creating the party spirit and getting the technique of the dance. Perhaps more surprisingly was the fact that lovely Alex joined her there. I had my “this dance just doesn't suit you” klaxon all ready to go before I watched it, but her tango had real attack and technique, and the routine really used the space wonderfully. Love the lovely Alex.
And so Russell and Holly found themselves in the bottom 2. It says a lot about Strictly that Russell's presence was more of a shock than Holly's; once again, an average, mid-table dance is always a big risk. I think everyone, though, expected that Russell had a few more weeks in him, but the Great British public decided that his time was up. He was obviously having a great time, but I've been bored of the whole “comedy” thing for several weeks now, so I can't say I'm sorry to see him go.
But, if S Club 7, The Spice Girls and Robbie Williams represent the “Best of British”... well, things are much worse than we thought. So, so much worse
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