Dates
Sept-Dec 2015 (13 weeks plus launch show, 15 couples).
That time period in context
The musical Hamilton opened off-Broadway in Feb 2015. In May there was a general election in the UK – the Conservatives won again (Cameron still in evidence) though in Scotland the SNP won 56 of 59 seats. In June the 14th Dalai Lama made an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival. Also in September, 3-year-old Syrian Alan Kurdi died and though many people from many countries, young and old, have died in similar circumstances in the Med and the English Channel before and since, this boy was named, photographed and talked about. It’s a scandal of our age that so many richer/safer countries do so little to help those in trouble (even when they’ve contributed to the trouble in the first place). In November Storm Abigail was the first storm to be officially named (jointly) by the Met Office of the United Kingdom and Met Éireann of the Republic of Ireland. Films released in 2015 included Paddington, Into the Woods and Fifty Shades of Grey.
Judges
Len Goodman (head judge), Darcey Bussell, Craig Revel Horwood, Bruno Tonioli.
Presenters
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman (main and results shows).
Zoe Ball (It Takes Two).
Addition to format
Return of the thons – this time a Quickstep-a-thon. Was this the last thon? I do hope so.
Dancers
(celebrities first, professional partners second; couples listed in order of elimination with winners last)
Iwan Thomas and Ola Jordan
Anthony Ogogo and Oti Mabuse (new pro)
Daniel O’Donnell and Kristina Rihanoff
Ainsley Harriott and Natalie Lowe
Kirsty Gallacher and Brendan Cole
Carol Kirkwood and Pasha Kovalev
Jeremy Vine and Karen Clifton
Jamelia and Tristan MacManus
Peter Andre and Janette Manrara
Helen George and Aljaž Škorjanec
Anita Rani and Gleb Savchenko (new pro)
Katie Derham and Anton du Beke
Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice (new pro)
Kellie Bright and Kevin Clifton
Jay McGuiness and Aliona Vilani
Celebrities we had heard of before the series (and how we knew them)
Daniel O’Donnell (singer, pic below, right), Ainsley Harriott (chef), Kirsty Gallacher (TV sports presenter), Carol Kirkwood (TV weather), Jeremy Vine (TV/radio presenter), Jamelia (singer/TV personality), Peter Andre (singer, pic below, left and don’t they make a bonny pair?), Anita Rani (TV presenter), Katie Derham (radio presenter).
Who did we vote for?
I think I voted for Anita and new pro Gleb (below) and after that I don’t remember having a favourite. Like a few other pros in the show’s history, Gleb only stayed for one series. We had a lot going on that year so I don’t think we voted very often.
Celebrities we liked more after the series
Often it’s the pros who we seem to get to know most and we certainly liked all the new ones this year (Oti, Gleb and Giovanni). Oti and boxer (now wrestler) Anthony (pic below) went out early in this series but Oti made up for it in later seasons and became one of the most successful pros ever on the show.
Most of the celebrities seemed nice. Despite her being on the show Loose Women (not keen), we liked Jamelia (and Tristan, pic below). In 2017 we saw Tristan on tour with Kristina Rihanoff (in Arbroath – a great show with amazing dancing and a little chat about the show because they had both left by then).
Was it obvious who was going to win?
For the main part, yes. All the dancers in the final were very good but as early as week 3 pop star Jay and Aliona did that jive (Pulp Fiction in movie week, pic below and at top of post) and from then it was probably all over (glitterball wise). They scored 37 for that dance and were audience faves from then on most likely, certainly they were never in the dance-off and they didn’t always get the highest scores. Sometimes that one WOW dance is all you need.
Were there articles in the papers moaning about one of the celebrities being good because they’d danced before?
Not sure. I did see something about Jay having danced before but that might even have been after he won, not during the series (in general you might ask if the press go easier on male celebrities when it comes to this kind of “story” and the answer would most likely be “yes”). I can never remember which band Jay was in (“boy” bands, post Osmonds, are not my specialist subject). Google says it was The Wanted.
Did it matter?
N/A
Was there an obvious “shouldn’t stay in long but did” contestant?
Jeremy Vine. We love his partner Karen but we were still glad when he finally rode off into the distance (we’re not fans). He did a cowboy themed dance (a tango to the Village People’s Go West according to the ever-helpful Wikipedia). You couldn’t, as they so often say, make this stuff up.
Shock exit?
Not that I remember although it was unusual for sports people, other than the very senior, to go out early but athlete Iwan and boxer Anthony went out in weeks 1 and 2 respectively.
The story of the series
That Pulp Fiction jive. Also Aliona being the first pro to win twice (first with Harry Judd in Series 9, then with Jay McGuiness).
Anton’s first final (he’d been in the show since the very beginning … of time).
New pro Giovanni making it to the final with actor Georgia. He is another pro who has made more than his share of finals.
And our family - what was going on with us at the time?
This was a really different year for us. We were still working out what we were going to do next re fostering when in January 2015, a few months before her 15th birthday, Heather was diagnosed with a health condition (Turner Syndrome). It was pretty huge news and getting our heads round all its implications took some time. She’d had the condition her whole life but it was only diagnosed at this point. I’m not going to write a lot about it here as she wrote about it herself in 2020 (in amongst a lockdown project, a blog about musicals – see this post) and it is her story most of all.
When this series of Strictly began we were actually in England for our first visit to the national conference weekend organised by the society that exists to support the girls and women with this health condition (TSSS). TSSS helped a lot in the early days and we went to the conference every October until Covid put it on pause. An October event isn’t totally ideal for a Strictly superfan but it was worth it and she usually watched the Saturday night show on the way back north after the event. In 2015 we tied the conference trip in with family meet-ups and a visit to Blackpool (including the famous Tower Ballroom, much seen and talked about on Strictly). Heather’s remaining grandparent, Mark’s Mum Isobel, came to Blackpool to meet us and we all behaved like we were in a Strictly VT (Disney-style carriage on the prom, chips, tea and sandwiches in the Ballroom, chips). Here is our superfan and her Grandma.
For Heather and Isobel (one in their teens, one in their seventies) Strictly was one of their few common interests and at this stage Heather would often phone her Grandma in Leeds after the main show on Saturdays and they would discuss the dances, their favourites, any “scandals”/low marks etc. Without it I’m not sure what they would have had to talk about (that Grandma did once tell her a very long tale about buying dishwasher tablets so Strictly was a much better source of subject matter in comparison).
Heather is a Xmas enthusiast too and the winter of 2015 (perhaps partly to do with the tough year it had been for her) she went on a Xmas mini-break to Copenhagen with a family friend (a friend who really helped her deal with the diagnosis). They visited the Tivoli Gardens and all the tourist stuff, but they still managed to catch a bit of the Danish Strictly (Vild med dans) once back in their hotel room. For contrast Mark and I were back in Scotland watching something violent like The Walking Dead or Fargo (we’re not such Xmas fans).
In my diary on the night of the Strictly final in December I wrote “h sad – end of Strictly for another year.” This had been a difficult year in so many ways (with more to come) but, as ever for her, Strictly took her off to a happier place where the sparkles all shined and the worst shock you’d ever get was Anton du Beke in another pair of outrageous trousers. It really meant something and it really helped.
If you want to read any of the previous posts just click Older Post below till you get to the one you want. Or use these links: Series 1, Series 2, Series 3, Series 4, Series 5, Series 6, Series 7, Series 8, our Dancing with the Stars interlude, Series 9, Series 10, Series 11 and Series 12. Back tomorrow for Series 14 (beware: Gangnam Style a’comin’).
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