Dates
Sept-Dec 2008 (14 weeks, 16 couples).
That time period in context
The Summer Olympics and Paralympics were held in Beijing. We saw the beginning of what was to be called the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) (Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in Sept ’08). Barack Obama won the US presidential election in November. Lovely English poet Adrian Mitchell (born 1932, best known for To Whom It May Concern/Tell Me Lies About Vietnam) died in December 2008. In Scotland Eigg Electrical began generation of the island’s entire electricity supply from renewable energy sources. In February the BBC TV series Being Human brought ghosts and vampires and werewolves to Bristol.
Judges
Len Goodman (head judge), Arlene Phillips (her last series), Craig Revel Horwood, Bruno Tonioli.
Presenters
Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly (main show).
Claudia Winkleman (It Takes Two).
Addition to format
Again, it was a longer series and more couples than the previous year. Viewers started to wonder when the growth would end – would Strictly eventually just extend to fill the whole year? Would we all have to compete at some point like in The Hunger Games (though the first book of that series was only published in 2008 so this reference might be pushing it)?
Again, a dancer withdrew from the competition (Strictly not The Hunger Games) – political journalist John Sergeant left in week 10.
There was some complicated business re results and the semi-final. I’m just going to copy and paste from Wikipedia rather than try to explain it myself:
“… 13 December 2008, the semi-final, when it was announced in the live results show that all three remaining couples would be going through to the final, regardless of the judges' scores and the public vote. This was due to a tie at the top of the leaderboard, which made it mathematically impossible for Tom Chambers and Camilla Dallerup to avoid the dance-off. Despite this, viewers were encouraged to vote, although the problem was noticed by the start of the results show, which was shortened by 10 minutes. All phone votes cast were carried on to the following Saturday, the final. Since then, the system has been modified, so instead of having a traditional tie structure for points, such as 3–3–1 (as was the case here), the system 3–3–2 is now used. This therefore ensures that each couple can mathematically avoid the bottom two.”
So, that was helpful.
Dancers
(celebrities first, professional partners second; couples listed in order of elimination with winners last)
Phil Daniels and Flavia Cacace
Gillian Taylforth and Anton du Beke
Gary Rhodes and Karen Hardy
Jessie Wallace and Darren Bennett
Don Warrington and Lilia Kopylova
Mark Foster and Hayley Holt (new pro)
Andrew Castle and Ola Jordan
Heather Small and Brian Fortuna (new pro)
Cherie Lunghi and James Jordan
John Sergeant and Kristina Rihanoff (new pro) (withdrew)
Jodie Kidd and Ian Waite
Christine Bleakley and Matthew Cutler
Austin Healey and Erin Boag
Lisa Snowden and Brendan Cole
Rachel Stevens and Vincent Simone
Tom Chambers and Camilla Dallerup (pic at top of post)
Celebrities we had heard of before the series (and how we knew them)
Phil Daniels (actor, Quadrophenia!), Gillian Taylforth (Eastenders’ Kath – my era), Gary Rhodes (chef), Don Warrington (actor, Rising Damp, also my era), Heather Small (singer, M People! Proud! Anthem!), Cherie Lunghi (actor), John Sergeant (news/politics reporter), Rachel Stevens (singer, S Club 7, not big in our house but we had heard of her), my mum would have known Andrew Castle (tennis) and Mark and Mum would have known Austin Healey (rugby).
Who did we vote for?
I voted for Rachel and Vincent (and I think our Heather liked them best too). They made a great pair and moved beautifully together. My Mum was team Tom and Camilla (and they won so she was happy with that – she had waited a while for the Camilla win). Tom’s an actor but none of us knew him before Strictly.
Celebrities we liked more after the series
Heather and I had never listened to much S Club 7 but we did really enjoy Rachel’s dancing in this series. There hasn’t been a better rumba in the show for my taste (and it helps that it was a great song – Paul Weller’s You Do Something To Me). Mum became a big Tom Chambers fan as the show went on. I already knew Heather Small’s unique voice but I liked her in this series too, we all did (and this was a wee while before she became a catchphrase on the Miranda TV comedy show as well). Here she is from the Strictly annual.
Was it obvious who was going to win?
Not to me. There were lots of serious contenders this year. Austin was a favourite in the early stages, Cherie very good too. The finalists (Tom, Rachel and TV/radio presenter Lisa) were all great dancers and any of them would have been a worthy winner. Swimmer Mark Foster danced shirtless (or virtually shirtless) a lot.
Were there articles in the papers moaning about one of the celebrities being good because they’d danced before?
Maybe about Tom? But really they had a lot of other things to write about that year including Kristina (Marilyn Monroe, via Vladivostok) and the whole John Sergeant business. It was almost an international incident, you’d think, from the coverage. There was a press conference when he left (really, there was, read all about it).
Did it matter?
No.
Was there an obvious “shouldn’t stay in long but did” contestant?
Why, yes there was – John Sergeant.
Shock exit?
I guess we imagined people from well-known shows like Eastenders would stay in a long time but that didn’t happen to any of them this year. I think some might have expected Cherie to last a little longer in the competition (high marks if I remember) but there was the Sergeant factor – Cherie was a much better dancer but few could match John for the “I can’t stop watching” angle. Austin started really well and was expected to make the final (great Paso Doble) but somehow he didn’t even get to the semis. Something to do with scores maybe. I’m sure someone somewhere has a theory… did he peak too soon?
The story of the series
For a good part of the series it was the John Sergeant business. And why was he so popular, so watchable, such a vote winner? Some of it was the unexpected, I think. People expected him to go out quickly (he was older than many, known for political journalism not his looks or his fitness or his musicality). A lot of it was down to his partner Kristina too and the “odd couple” nature of their pairing (her soooo glamorous, him anything but). She got a lot of press coverage in later years for relationship stories (again, I am avoiding that kind of thing in these posts) but in this, her first series, there was something very sweet about their routines together – they were sometimes funny, sometimes kind of charming. He wasn’t one of the terrible dancers – he could move and he tried pretty hard – but he wasn’t what you might call an obvious matinee idol either (though men tend to get more room to manoeuvre on that score – Fred Astaire wasn’t exactly obvious matinee idol material either, in terms of looks). Part of the audience voted for this couple for so long that John insisted on withdrawing and leaving others to fight it out to the end. It made the series a bit different and it’s always good when a series isn’t totally predictable – that’s what keeps at least some of us watching. So much in these kinds of shows is very predictable (some of the jokes, the catchphrases and language) and if that was all there was to Strictly I definitely would not have made it through so many series. My “journey” would have “literally” ended and I would have not “raised” any “bars” or ridden any “rollercoasters”.
The other contestants couldn’t really compete with this Sergeant business but they did their best. Tom and Camilla won with a great, musical theatre style showdance (see pic below). My Mum (Strictly old school) LOVED it. It was so up her street she wanted to move there. Tom went on to dance on stage in Top Hat to much acclaim.
And our family - what was going on with us at the time?
Heather was 8 and keen on shows, shows, shows (musicals, pantos, all of it). She was still acting out Strictly with toys (but now with full scripts). She loved the programme but never liked the harsher comments from judges (she still doesn’t). I have a diary entry for one Saturday after the show: “h crying at mean judges”. Also we now had a puppy border terrier called Zoe (as well as Mum’s now very elderly cairn terrier). Zoe as a young pup is in the pic below (she is getting on for 15 now) and it’s only as I write this that I realise Heather probably picked the name Zoe at least partly because of Zoe Ball (and therefore Strictly). That show got everywhere.
As for the rest of us, Mum was busy with more local friends and activities and I was cooking, cleaning, dog walking and still working on the poems. I put out my first book More about the song (self-published, before it was cool…) and I communicated with a lot of poets and other writing people via blogs mostly. I organised a poetry and music event in Edinburgh. Mark helped us all do what we needed to do, worked far too much and did some decorating when he had a spare minute. Plus earlier in the year, to join in with the general Strictly fever in the house, Mark and I joined a class to learn a bit of ballroom and Latin dancing (sadly no photos...). It was a brief encounter – maybe 6 classes – all taught by Heather’s dance teacher, Beryl Couper of the very grand-sounding Esk Academy of Dancing. Mark was better at the ballroom (a good quickstepper) whilst I was better at bouncing and Latin (according to Beryl, though maybe she was just being kind – I dance like Tigger). We did not keeeep dancing, but it was fun.
Back tomorrow with series 7. 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.
