Vests, nerves and wellies - Strictly Series 8 gets under way

Well all I can say, having finally watched the first show of the new season is "Darn you, BBC!" Well, actually, it's a bit more than darn, but this is a family blog.

Not only have they infuriated me by removing five of my favourite dancers, but they've also conspired to make the line up and show unmissable. I may forgive the second if not the first.

The new titles added a sleekness and a bit of backbone to the pink and glitter that there was before.

It looks like Tess has completely ditched the ballroom look this year. Her black dress actually looked more like a vest (and was about as long) and her hair looked like it was taking the natural look to its margins - I spent most of the show wondering if her style was going to completely unravel. I know this is mean, because I am no oil painting, but if I were her, I wouldn't be inclined to show off those knees too much.

First up for Strictly 2010 was Felicity in a sunshine yellow dress. Her cha cha cha with Vincent was totally playful, charming and engaging and the chemistry between them is clearly good. She looked like she was enjoying every minute. Her timing was spot on and I really liked watching the way she moved. She placed her feet in a precise way. Craig was unspeakably mean about it, but if you stripped back his comments he was right on some of the technical aspects. Len was right that she needed more hip action. I actually wonder if that particular aspect of her routine was the reason her dress had had the frills which looked like dusters attached to it. It deserved much higher than the 4 Craig gave it.

Next up was Scott Maslen looking mighty fine indeed  in a DJ as opposed to tails. He'd said in the trailer that he had demons to slay after fluffing his lines in the live EastEnders episode earlier this year and he wanted to get through a live performance without incident. You don't expect to see rumba-esque body strokes in the opening of a waltz but it worked, big time. Craig was right about some of  his hand positions, and I think his description of the dance as "dangerously romantic" was pretty much spot on. This was an inspired routine from Natalie. Presumably her aim was to make her mark on the competition early and she did that in spades.

Goldie looked like he was having fun at a disco. His routine was cheeky but managed to avoid being embarrassing. His hands were pretty dreadful and Craig was right to point out that Kristina couldn't hide that forever  by making him put them on his hips. There wasn't much in the way of technical difficulty in the routine but it was fun. He's going to have to stop mucking about in training and do some work, though. As an aside it was interesting to see in the intro that he went out of his way to mention having introduced his wife to Kristina and her boyfriend, last year's partner Joe Calzaghe because he "didn't want any of that nonsense."

Poor Patsy Kensit. From her intro she's doing the show for therapy following her break up with Jeremy Healy after only 10 months of marriage. She said she'd had lots of laughs and would recommend it to anyone as a pick me up - but she's been insulated for 3 weeks in a training room. Unfortunately, on the live show, nerves well and truly got the better of her. She was tight, awkward and gawky. She really needs just to let herself go and enjoy the experience. You could have had Nadal and Federer play a full grand slam final between her and Robin Windsor so she has to work on her hold. I think she could do it if she could overcome her nerves - you could see that from the training footage. She looked gorgeous in a floaty, scarlet dress.

If Scott Maslen had intended to snatch the first night sex bomb mantle, Matt Baker made sure he was disappointed. It didn't look good to start with. When he and Aliona came down the stairs at the beginning with her wearing next to nothing and him wearing a tartan waistcoat and a tie - for the cha cha cha, I almost despaired. In his VT when he spoke about comparing dancing moves to sport, it really did not bode well. Gimmicks in Strictly are usually there to hide bad dancing - but Aliona Vilani clearly hadn't read that rule. There she was standing behind a pair of sequinned wellies. He was on the stairs with binoculars, playing up to his Countryfile background. It could have been awful - but it was brilliant. The third staircase up to Tess's tower is actually a good addition to the stage. Matt came down it and did 2 cartwheels across the dance floor in a testament to his gymnastic routine. He even had a bit of a stumble as he arrived at Aliona but it didn't look like it had bothered him.

That boy really knows a) where his hips are and b) what to do with them. It is utterly wrong that a contestant could make me think of Darren Bennett on the first show. He danced confidently and cleanly, far away from Aliona. It was utterly stunning. Aliona had almost produced a biography in a dance routine and I think that'll be one of the things we remember about this series. I just hope that he can pull off similar when he only has one week to rehearse, not three. I think all the above can be summed up by a simple "Phwoar!"

I always thought the combination of Pamela Stephenson and James Jordan was going to be great. She plays the deferential woman, but she will give him what for - and it seems that they have developed a relationship that's spirited in the right way. She looked radiant and graceful last night. Dressed in a floaty aqua number, to mix my reality tv show cliches, she owned that stage. She did look like she completely belonged there. It was great to see her husband Billy Connolly in her training footage. He might whinge about her dancing with a man half her age, but he's clearly very proud of her.

Bruno raved about the grace and elegance of her arm placement, saying that it was the best he'd ever seen on a first show and I think he's right. It was fantastic. I hope this partnership goes a very long way.

The show was like one of those dreams you really don't want to wake up from - and then all of a sudden there was a huge crash to reality when Paul Daniels took to the floor with Ola. The gimmicks this time were back to their traditional use - Ola's aim was to waste as much time as possible centring people's attention on a
box. Paul is 72 and wearing less well than Brucie who's 10 years older so you have to admire him for giving it a go, but he really has no sense of rhythm and his cha cha cha to Could it be Magic (or Tragic as Bruno said) was about as dire as it gets. It would have been bad even without the added embarrassment of him singing along. Paul disarmingly said "Whatever Craig says, I agree with him".

When I got up this morning I saw that Twitter was full of references to Paul having said something homophobic to Craig. What he actually said was "Don't give up your day job tasting sausages." Well, Twitter is very smutty, but it's a good job I know what my Strictly judges are up to. Our Craig is the face of British Sausage Week and will spend the week after Hallowe'en promoting the British banger. I love sausages, and they've had a bit of a bad press this year, so I hope Craig helps to give them a bit of good publicity.

As far as scores are concerned, Matt and Aliona shared the top of the leaderboard with Pamela and James, both with an impressive 31,  Then came Scott and Natalie with 29, Felicity and Vincent with 23, Patsy and Robin with 22, Goldie and Kristina with 20 and Paul and Ola with 16.  Injustice of the night (there's always one), was Felicity getting only one mark higher than Patsy. In my view she should have been a couple of marks below Scott.

As season openers go, that was one of the best we've ever had. And there's more to come tonight, in less than two hours. And, on top of that, there's one of the sexiest and most talented men on earth, Robbie Williams. What more could you ever want from a TV show?

Bruce to miss Strictly show tonight

Poor Bruce Forsyth has the Flu and is very sensibly staying at home tonight. For the first time ever, he won't be present for a Strictly live show. I hope he gets better soon and is back there next week. That man has been brightening up my Saturday nights since I was a child and I adore him.

I'm glad that the BBC have not decided they need to bring in a random man to replace him. For tonight, Tess will take over Bruce's presenting abilities and the effervescent and just slightly bonkers Claudia Winkleman will take her unique interviewing style backstage to do Tess's job.

It'll be a unique show, I hope, but I can't wait to see how Tess and Claudia adjust to their new roles.

The First Show - the Countdown to Christmas has begun

There's something about Strictly that makes it feel like all is well with the world, regardless of what else may be going on around you. I can almost feel myself relaxing and smiling with the merest hint of the theme tune and so it was with a sense of optimism that I dragged myself out of bed where I'd been languishing all day being ill to watch the first live show last night.

Bruce seemed sprightlier than ever when he did his little dance at the start. I'm constantly surprised by his fitness with every passing year. Tess looked great, in a fuschia off one shoulder satin dress with a thin black belt. I didn't look quite that good 3 months after giving birth!

It was fabulous to see the professional dancers produce a dramatic, tempo changing, complex, bright medley of all the dances they will be doing during the series.

There had been some musical chairs in the judges' panel. Alesha doesn't take Arlene's seat (which could be taken as a visual representation that she is simply not as good as the woman she's replacing) but cuddles up in between Len (who is now beside Craig) and Bruno. She was wearing some very scary green eye shadow and I think the make up people need to soften her look for tonight's show.

I like this new way of doing things - half the couples dancing a ballroom and then a Latin over two nights. It gives us a chance to see them in both disciplines to see if they take to one or the other. Although I was more than happy to see the back of the annoying Gary Rhodes last year, it did seem a bit unfair that he was given Latin dances, which he was clearly rubbish at, for his only two competitive shows.

While it may be fairer, it must be more stressful for the celebrities to have to learn two dances to performance standards which is why I really could have slapped Craig for being so mean to first up performer Rav Wilding.

Rav and Aliona kicked off with a Tango. They managed to capture something of the mood and drama of the dance, but Aliona really did all the work and Rav's posture and hold wasn't brilliant. To add insult to injury, they did an illegal lift which Aliona tried to make out was involuntary. Not big and not clever. Even so, he did a very good job but Craig was unduly mean, giving them only a 3, while the other judges gave them 5s and 6s. Rav is clearly throwing himself into the spirit of the show - and I laughed at a comment in his training footage where he shook his head and said "I can't even cross my legs."

The training footage for Erin and Ricky prompted me to tweet that her hair gets lighter every year, but it had gone very dark again by the time they took to the floor - as did her stare when Bruce referred to her as an old banger. I get the impression there might have been a few words said backstage after that one. Anyway, despite Ricky looking more petrified than a rabbit looking down the barrel of a gun, they executed a very nice looking waltz. He does have a dance background so may well be one to watch - although I'm not sure the Latin will work for him.

The Judges weren't so sweet to them, although Bruno's comment "I've seen more romance between David Cameron and Gordon Brown" was very funny.

Chris and Ola were up next with their Tango to Sharp Dressed Man - Ola certainly doesn't like conventional Tango music. I thought that they were technically very good, but there was just no great sense of drama and performance from Chris. Not surprising, seeing as he's a sports journalist, really.

Then in succession we had two elegant and graceful waltzes from the sportswomen in the field. First came Jade and Ian. Clearly they did very well, not perfect, as you wouldn't expect from a week one performance, but it looked fantastic, and it was to "Weekend in New England", which, and I don't care if it's a Barry Manilow song, I love. Jade's dress was so beautiful - creamy coloured, floaty and princess like. I think she needs to relax a bit more if she's going to get the public to take to her as competitive perfectionists don't tend to inspire votes in these shows. She was very self crtiical and clearly upset at the end of her performance.

You have to cut her a bit of slack, I think, because, unlike the likes of Tuffers and Martina Hingis, she's still part of that lonely, competitive athletic world and it'll be difficult for her to come out of that mindset. I think she needs to try though - and in fact, being able to be a bit more relaxed might actually help her on field performance, too.

Martina and Matthew were lovely, too. I think we were all waiting to see how Alesha would deal with her previous partner with whom she formed a close friendship. She told Martina to trust him because she was "in safe hands". I think the partnership has potential for the rest of the show.

They got some harsher comments from the judges than I think they deserved - I think in particular someone had hidden Craig's higher numbered paddles. No way was that only worth a 4.

Also in for some harsh criticism were Lynda and Darren. From the waist up, Lynda was fabulous - dramatic and tempestuous, but the footwork didn't really match up. She needed to be a lot faster and lighter on her feet but I certainly wouldn't write her off. Craig again was mean to her.

Then came the performance of the night - a fantastic, graceful, beautiful waltz from Ali and Brian. If she can do Latin, she's a clear frontrunner. To get 30 points on show 1 is quite something and it was well deserved. Here it is so you can judge for yourself.



Last up was a tango from Joe Calzaghe that disappointed. The guy's a boxer so I thought he'd be good with the aggression, but it was a bit of a limp lettuce to be honest. It was the only Tango of the night to be danced to proper Tango music, so they should be credited for that.

Then came the group dance of the non competing couples, a Mambo. In general it was a good effort, but it did look a bit like they were doing a Latin version of the Hokey Cokey at times and you could see the confusion in some of their faces. I have a horrible feeling that Natalie Cassidy is going to take a lot of flack in the press, but she looked fantastic and you could tell she was allowing herself to get swept up in the music.

Craig's comment at the end was unforgivable - saying "Good luck Brendan" in a very disparaging way. Jo Wood looked devastated and I felt that was outrageously cruel and unfair of Craig to be quite so horrid.

I wonder if he was deliberately upping the vinegar to counteract the sweetness and fluffiness from Alesha. I think the almost universal pleading from the Strictly Twitterverse was that we all desperately wanted to see Arlene back. Alesha's lovely, but I don't think she has the potential to even grow into Arlene's shoes. She can be very funny and I think she needs to relax and bring that side of herself out. Ricky Whittle seems to be the one to lust over this year, and I can imagine how Arlene would have played that. I think the BBC have put Alesha into a role she's just not suited to, which is a great shame.

One thing I think would have enhanced the experience of the first show would have been a pre-match ITT with a Friday Panel and Claudia. I hope they think about doing that next year.

It's exciting that rather than a week, we have only another few hours to wait until the next instalment of the new Adventures of Strictly.

See you tomorrow, I hope, for a round up of the Latin performances.