Two of my favourite things to do are reading (of which I probably do too much) and dancing (of which I definitely don’t do enough).   I am particularly reminded of this at this time of year, when Strictly Come Dancing invades our lives.

When this series first started twelve years ago I was the biggest fan, Saturday evenings would find me lying on the floor as close to the television as possible and wailing into the carpet ‘it should be me!  It should be me!’  This is what my winning the lottery dream looks like;  I don’t need flashy cars or yachts, just give me a professional to dance with four hours a day.  Heaven.

I find it easier to resist the lure of the sequin these days.  Living abroad I missed the past three seasons, surviving on email updates from kind friends.  I’ve therefore been saved some of the frustration at what the BBC have done to ruin something I loved so much.  I fear SCD is a victim of its own success.  I can still be captivated by a beautiful frock and some divine moves – the American Smooth! The Quickstep! The Argentine Tango! – but I shan’t be committing the hours required of a dedicated fan any more.  Which is the first on my list of what bugs me about the show now:

1. Sixteen couples – seriously?  Required Saturday and Sunday viewing for four months?  A third of a year.  For me it started to go wrong when there were so many couples they needed two nights just to do their first dance.  And it starts even early with the ‘meet your partner’ show.  I don’t blame the BBC for milking this phenomenon for all that it can, but this is too much.
2. Props!  The props drive me crazy.  I wasn’t a fan when they introduced ‘Prop Week’ but they seem to be everywhere now.  Rarely is there a dance that doesn’t rely on some ridiculous distraction.  Very annoying, this isn’t Hollywood, people.
3. That the money from calls no longer gets donated to Children In Need.  A few years ago Pudsey surreptitiously disappeared off the phone banner info.  I am glad we have the BBC and don’t have an issue with how it gets its funds, but this was so sneakily done it took a friend to point it out to me or I wouldn’t have noticed.  There should have been some acknowledgement of this from the BBC, shame.
4. The judges:  the strategic voting undermines the show, and they have become caricatures of themselves.  Particularly Bruno, will someone please pin him to his seat?  So annoying and embarrassing these days.  Talking of which:  Bruce Forsyth.  It took far too long for Brucie to go, about five years too long in my opinion.  I don’t blame him for hanging on as long as possible with the exorbitant fee he was paid, but he was enough to make us record rather than watch in real-time, simply to skip his cringeworthy performance.

That does lead me on to the one good change:  Claudia Winkleman.  I just adore her.  Warm, intelligent, funny and gorgeous, she is as sparkly as the costumes and quite possibly enough to make me tune in twice weekly again.  Before Strictly Come Dancing eats itself.