Strictly Family - Series 3

Series 3 Dates

Oct-Dec 2005 (10 weeks, 12 couples).

 

That time period in context

This was not long after Hurricane Katrina had hit Louisiana in August 2005. The Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force in the UK, granting same-sex couples similar legal rights to those of married heterosexuals. The first Parkrun was held in London (under another name). The Star Wars franchise was up to Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (apparently) and David Tennant became Dr Who. I wonder if David Tennant will ever do Strictly – he’d probably win….

 

Judges

Len Goodman (head judge), Arlene Phillips, Craig Revel Horwood, Bruno Tonioli.

 

Presenters

Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly (main show).

Claudia Winkleman (It Takes Two).

 

Changes to the format

There was a longer run to the series and more couples than in series 2. 

There was no Blackpool visit this year. 

The American Smooth was added to the list of dances for the competition.

Also, this is the first series with an annual (as in a book, sold in the run up to Xmas) and, yes, our daughter has them all (picture of the first one at the top of the post, it covered series 1-3). We’re not sure when they started selling the calendars (she has most of those too).

 

Dancers 

(celebrities first, professional partners second; couples listed in order of elimination with winners last)

Siobhan Hayes and Matthew Cutler (new pro)

Jaye Jacobs and Andrew Cuerden (new pro)

Gloria Hunniford and Darren Bennett

Fiona Phillips and Brendan Cole

Dennis Taylor and Izabela Hannah (new pro)

Will Thorp and Hanna Haarala (new pro)

Bill Turnbull and Karen Hardy (new pro)

Patsy Palmer and Anton du Beke

James Martin and Camilla Dallerup

Zoe Ball and Ian Waite

Colin Jackson and Erin Boag

Darren Gough and Lilia Kopylova

Celebrities we had heard of before the series (and how we knew them)

Gloria Hunniford (TV presenter), Dennis Taylor (snooker), Bill Turnbull (Breakfast TV – we didn’t watch it but had heard of him), Patsy Palmer (Eastenders’ Bianca – my Eastenders knowledge is a bit vintage but even I had heard of Patsy), James Martin (TV chef, plus he’s from Leeds where we lived for years), Zoe Ball (TV/radio presenter), Colin Jackson (athletics, hurdles), Darren Gough (cricket).

Who did we vote for?

I mainly voted for Colin and Erin. I think Mum and Heather both voted for Darren Gough and Lilia. I suspect Darren Gough reminded Mum of my brother David (but then any white man with brown hair under the age of 50 could make her say “Isn’t he like David?” with a wistful smile). That brother was living in New Zealand at the time and we didn’t see him much.

Celebrities we liked more after the series

Whilst a lot of the talk of this series was connected to Darren Gough for us it was new pro Karen Hardy who became another family favourite. We all thought she should have been a judge on the show when she stopped competing (and in fact she has been a judge on the live tour from time to time). We would have had two women judges a long time before the show finally made that change. I really hate that “one woman is enough for a panel” thing that affected shows like this and The Voice. The one woman would be replaced by another woman if she left but that was the only way in (“them’s the rules, ladies, one in and one out”). It was ridiculous and a bit embarrassing to be honest.  

 

Was it obvious who was going to win?

Not completely. Cricketer and Yorkshireman Darren certainly got a lot of coverage and had the “I couldn’t dance at all and now I come alive when I hit the dancefloor” appeal. A lot was made of him being a manly Northern (English) bloke who embraced disco and sequins but Colin and Zoe were both amazing dancers and there was a possibility (in our minds anyway) that any of those 3 might win.

 

Were there articles in the papers moaning about one of the celebrities being good because they’d danced before?

Zoe, I suppose. I have no idea if she’d had training but she was very good and I think I heard something about her Mum being a dancer (maybe on her Desert Island Discs – I’m a serious DID listener, though can happily live without the rest of Radio 4).

Did it matter?

It did maybe affect her chances of winning but her career has been pretty great (including working on It Takes Two in later years) so I don’t think we need lose any sleep about it.

 

Was there an obvious “shouldn’t stay in long but did” contestant?

Not really, though the show was a much shorter run back in 2005.

 

Shock exit?

Maybe not shock but actor Jaye Jacobs going out in week 2 was early, considering some of the dancing of the other celebs. Another ITV breakfast presenter Fiona Phillips, for example, was very, very bad, if somehow almost endearingly so, and she made it to week 4. Was this the start of a trend discussed in the press and elsewhere of black contestants being more likely to be voted off sooner (one such article from a few years later here)? Knowing a section of the British public as I do, I definitely have voted more for contestants who I think might not get the big vote for reasons unconnected to dancing. More on this issue in later posts (a recurring theme).

 

The story of the series

There were a couple of stories this time. The main one was Northern (white) man Darren embraces dancing. This was hardly a shocking development to many of us (did you miss house music, everyone? Northern Soul?) but maybe it was news to some of the mainstream audience. This was the first time the story of the win was more about the journey than the quality of the dancing (and the journey would go on to be a Strictly basic, don't leave the house without one).

There was also Colin and Erin’s “disastrous” showdance in the final (the one with the mannequins). It was chosen to show Colin could dance on his own but it was very disappointing and more than a little creepy – more Inside Number 9 than Mambo Number 5. I suspect remembering it still gives lovely pro dancer Erin Boag the shivers.

 

And our family - what was going on with us at the time?

By this point we had started to find our places in the 3-generational household (and watching Strictly every autumn became a big part of that). We tried other shows (like the first series of Dancing on Ice in January 2006) but few worked as well for our mix of ages and tastes. We only watched that one series of Dancing on Ice (Bonnie Langford!) and never came back to it. It always just made me feel cold. 

Away from TV, Heather had started school proper (P1 as they call it in Scotland), Mum was settling in to her new surroundings and she and Heather were really enjoying all their time together as total partners in crime (if “eating all the biscuits” and “wearing all the tiaras” could ever be considered crimes). 

I was writing more poems and wondering what to do with them but other than that Mark and I were getting on with whatever needed getting on with (work, house, dog, food, coping with the endless illnesses that accompany the early stages of primary school). Mark did watch Strictly with us back in this era (though he’s fallen by the wayside now). 20 series was more than he was prepared to experience (and fair enough really).

See you tomorrow for Series 4. If you want to read any of the previous posts just click Older Post below till you get to the one you want.