Dates
Oct-Dec 2020 (9 weeks plus a launch show, 12 couples). The calendars for each series (like the annuals) very confusingly have the following year’s date on (see above). As if the series number being 2 years behind the year wasn’t confusing enough for someone trying to do a blog series... Still, only 2 series left to go!
That time period in context
The first two cases of Covid-19 in the UK were confirmed on 30 January. Then on 31 Jan the UK left the EU – quite a week. After a bout of fervent handshaking and blustering about it all being nonsense, infector in chief Boris Johnson announced the first UK lockdown on 23 March (there were several more to come). Obviously, the lockdown rules didn’t apply to MPs or government advisers (silly us, for thinking they might). The message to Dominic Cummings must just have been a quick text saying “you do you, babe” or something along those lines.
After the murder of George Floyd by police officers in the US earlier in the year the summer saw global protest in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. There was a US election in November and Biden/Harris won. The first Covid-19 vaccination (in the world) was given in December (in Coventry, England).
The theatrical release of the brilliant film The Personal History of David Copperfield in the UK was in January. DJ/producer Andy Weatherall died in February. The TV version of Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People was on TV in April. Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You was on the BBC TV in the early summer (another series with a really, really strong last episode –triumphant writing). In November Douglas Stuart’s novel Shuggie Bain won the Booker Prize for Fiction. And finally, possibly the worst Xmas film of all time came out in December (sorry, Scotland, I love you dearly but the Lost at Christmas is really, really bad, even with some great talent in the cast). It’s on the i-player this year if anyone wants to try it. We laughed for all the wrong reasons (the sex scene at the end... hilarious).
Judges
Shirley Ballas (head judge), Motsi Mabuse and Craig Revel Horwood.
Anton du Beke stood in for Motsi when she had to travel to Germany (Covid rules).
Presenters
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman (main and results shows).
Zoe Ball and Rylan (It Takes Two). Series 5 contestant Gethin Jones stood in for Rylan for a couple of weeks (Covid restrictions).
Addition to format
The first same sex couple in the competition (boxer Nicola and pro Katya, pic below).
Fewer couples this year and a shorter run. To keep fans going until the later start date a couple of “best of” shows were broadcast (featuring musicals week dances and finals).
No Blackpool visit this year (Covid restrictions).
No Halloween week this year (Covid restrictions)
Just 3 judges this year (Covid restrictions).
No partners this year for pros Neil Jones, Nadiya Bychkova, Graziano Di Prima and Nancy Xu.
Dancers
(celebrities first, professional partners second; couples listed in order of elimination with winners last)
Jacqui Smith and Anton du Beke
Jason Bell and Luba Mushtuk
Nicola Adams and Katya Jones (withdrew, Covid issues)
Max George and Dianne Buswell
Caroline Quentin and Johannes Radebe
Clara Amfo and Aljaž Škorjanec
JJ Chalmers and Amy Dowden
Ranvir Singh and Giovanni Pernice
HRVY and Janette Manrara
Jamie Laing and Karen Hauer
Maisie Smith and Gorka Márquez
Bill Bailey and Oti Mabuse
Celebrities we had heard of before the series (and how we knew them)
Jacqui Smith (politician), Nicola Adams (boxer), Caroline Quentin (actor, though can’t say I’ve ever watched any of her big shows – Men Behaving Badly, ugh, or Jonathan Creek, my Mum loved that one), Clara Amfo (Radio 1 DJ), Jamie Laing (only because he was in Strictly last year, for the launch show, then left with an injury, pic below with his 2020 pro Karen), Bill Bailey (comedian/actor/TV presenter).
Who did we vote for?
Nicola (we were excited about the first same sex couple on the show), then Clara (she was brilliant – that Charleston in week 4!), then finally HRVY (we loved their Chorus Line American Smooth, plus pro Janette – all these years and this was her first final … but it was not to be, pic of that couple below). We did enjoy Bill and Oti too but we knew they had a big vote so we felt Janette and HRVY needed the support more.
Celebrities we liked more after the series
Nicola, Clara (love her!), news presenter Ranvir (pic below with pro Giovanni), actor Maisie, Bill (we already liked him but he was great on Strictly too).
Was it obvious who was going to win?
I suspect Bill and Oti (pic below) were always the majority choice. Both already had their own following and there was so much good in their partnership but their slick, joyful Couple’s Choice to Rapper’s Delight in week 4 probably clinched the deal. The new most-often-seen Strictly click article seems to be “Ban Couple’s Choice – it’s not fair and it ruins the competition!” but really, some of us have been watching this show for nearly 20 frickin’ years and we really need variety and for the show to change and grow. There are only so many waltzes a person can watch in their life if they’re not actually that bothered about ballroom dancing (yes, I admit it – I have watched the show for all these years and yet I’m not that fussed about the top line or the heel leads, it all looks bloody uncomfortable and bad for your back if you ask me). I’m happy for the ballroom to continue but we need the other stuff too – it’s Saturday night TV, spice up our lives (especially in lockdown).
Were there articles in the papers moaning about one of the celebrities being good because they’d danced before?
Hopefully with the global pandemic and the criminal Tories (led by Lord Walloper of Wallpaper, the laziest man at the most significant time), our piddly press had something better to do than recycle some of the same old Strictly material. But did they..?
Did it matter?
Well, the Tories are still in power so someone’s not doing their job very well (and I include the Labour leadership in that category – they have been the weakest opposition that is humanly possible in recent years).
Was there an obvious “shouldn’t stay in long but did” contestant?
Jamie Laing – last year’s injured non-starter did too well for my taste (though we’re always pleased for pro Karen). For me, Clara Amfo (pic below with pro Aljaž) should have been in that final.
Shock exit?
Clara.
The story of the series
Finally, the first same sex couple took part in the competition. I suspect most people would have expected two men to break the mould so having two women (boxer Nicola and one of Strictly’s most memorable pros Katya Jones) was a nice touch. I read that the issue was forced because Nicola would only take part if she had a same sex partner (and if that’s true, more power to her, using her fame for good and not evil). Unfortunately, the pair had to withdraw after week 3 (Covid related) but it was a great start and after all the much-muttered fears and fuss (would the show have a same sex couple or not? Would the oh-so-delicate public be able to cope?) it was just suddenly part of the show and no stranger than Craig’s facial expressions or Tess’s way of saying Salsa. In the most recent series (2022) there were 2 same sex couples and behold, the world has not ended (well, not for that reason). Watching how the pro dancers (whatever their sexuality) have embraced the development is really lovely too.
This series saw the 1st pro to win twice in a row (Oti, first with Kelvin then with Bill).
This series also saw the oldest winner – Bill was 55 when he lifted the glitterball.
This series was the first to feature an ex-military contestant in the main show who had been disabled in service (Cassidy Little had taken part in a previous Comic Relief Strictly mini series The People’s Strictly in 2015). JJ (pic below with pro Amy) is now a TV presenter but was a Royal Marine and injured in Afghanistan. Something about TV coverage of military issues in light entertainment often makes me uncomfortable (it can be a bit saccharine, never mind the unquestioning nature of the way the issues are presented), but I understand that I’m not really the target audience for those sections. He did really well and was popular (and was another Scotsman to don a kilt for one of his dances).
And the other story – Covid, of course. This was the first Strictly Covid year. For fans having the show on at all was such a saving grace for 2020. I know our daughter was thrilled to have at least one normal thing that year and with Xmas quite trimmed back, Strictly was a very welcome gift for her in 2020. I’m sure it was the same for many other fans.
And our family - what was going on with us at the time?
Like most people we started 2020 not knowing much about Covid-19. In January I took part in my first Fun A Day Dundee (a friendly community art project that happens most years). I wrote and illustrated a poem, one word a day, it was the beginning of the one-a-days that has led to this mighty undertaking. There are a few of the illustrations in this section (they all had a musical link).
We had an Edinburgh trip in February so Heather could see the musical Six that she had heard so much about (it’s quite the phenomenon – a bit like going to a Little Mix concert with added history lessons). I’ve been to a lot of musicals with the daughter and they can blend together a little but this one was loud and full-on but still funny and interesting (with a rave throwback here and there). I really kind of liked it. Plus Katherine Howard made me cry.
Once lockdown began we worked at home, studied at home (the 3 of us plus dog). We did the music quiz Popmaster with our lunch (pretty much every day – family harmony maintained by Radio 2’s Ken Bruce). We did Zoom quizzes and Zoom exercise, we did a lot of cooking and walking. I got into audiobooks (the longer the better), especially in the bath. Heather and I had a musicals week (at home) the week Hamilton made it to TV which involved just watching a musical every night (we didn’t have to come up with an Oklahoma-themed Argentine Tango or anything). In July Mark turned 50.
Mostly, we made the best of it where we could (knowing others were having much tougher times, working in hospitals, care homes etc. or being properly isolated and afraid). I was wary of the doorstep-clapping to begin with (it seemed tokenistic when the UK Government were making so many terrible, criminal, decisions) but when I read that some workers did feel more valued as a result we joined in with the weekly applause. Some people felt hemmed in locked down in cities but Dundee is a city with a lot of nature in and around it, with seaviews and hills, so I didn’t feel too claustrophobic (and I do have a tendency in that direction – don’t sit with me on a plane, or even a train, it’s not pretty). Here is a shot from the top of the Law in Dundee in March 2020.
In the summer I persuaded Heather to try writing a blog to make up for the lack of activities and human contact (it’s here). It’s about musicals she’s seen and about life in general (sound familiar?). She has collected programmes from every show she’s seen (and been in) and that was the starting point for the project.
Unlike many, we didn’t lose anyone close to Covid but Mark’s Mum (now in her 80s) did spend a lot of this (hot) summer in various hospitals in Leeds (and never got Covid, quite the achievement). We went down to see her when allowed but she had a lot of isolating in 2020 and it was tough in many ways. We knew a few other people who were ill in 2020 too and everything was especially tough for them (the added risks, the limitations, the anxiety) – a lot of that still hasn’t gone away. One of these people, Fi Munro, who’d been very public about her ovarian cancer, died in the summer of 2020 but not long before that she had been on national radio talking about death and how we deal with it (one of many issues she felt strongly about and campaigned around). I listened to that interview on headphones in the garden in April of that year, enjoying hearing Fi talk with her usual humour and feistiness, making her mark on life. It was a year of extreme feelings, no doubt about that.
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, Series 12, Series 13, Series 14, Series 15, Series 16 and Series 17. Back tomorrow for Series 19 (2021) – a Rose is a Rose...
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