After seeing her on Over The Rainbow (my girlfriend chose to watch it- honest!) I thought how great Sheila would be on Strictly. Stick her with Matthew and you have a classic on your hands. She's witty, she's eccentric and she's never heard of Queen. She'd be a better class Bellingham I think.

Sorry no more OAP's please

Thats a bit ageist

I like the older contestants- they might not win but they give it a bit more flare and colour.

I think what we want is 12 contestants who are as close to the same level as possible and no matter how PC you try to be someone over 65 ain't going to win SCD unless the get the public sympathy vote like JS did

Why not have a mini SCD in the summer with all the OAP's

What 'we' (to use your collective terminology) want is 14 contestants so that the good pro dancers don't have to be culled!

And different levels is what makes the show interesting at the start - how boring would it be if everyone scored between, say, 28 and 30?

And older dancers have done well on the show before (Cherie Lunghi, for instance) - it's more about personality, where Sheila Hancock would definitely qualify! I think she'd be great on the show

I think Cherie would be dreadfully offended if you think they are both of similar ages

Sheila Hancock is 77! That is far too old for Strictly, and it wouldn't be fair on her competing with much younger contestants, or on the Pro who partnered her. Imagine her doing the Rumba or Samba with a Pro of 30 -35 yrs - a bit embarrassing

hEAR hEAR

I didn't say that, I said older dancers. I was going to say that Cherie is of course quite a bit younger than Sheila but I thought that was evident

The point remains - there's no magic formula for success on Strictly, there's nothing to stop a popular older dancer doing well.

And rumbas don't have to be extremely rauchy - Cherie's wasn't and it's arguably the best or second best rumba the show's ever seen. There's no reason why an older person cannot dance a perfectly classy rumba.

Cloris Leachman managed it, Buzz Aldrin is managing it!

Don't watch DWTS, but good luck to them. Just don't think they'd stand a chance on Strictly, and for the reasons I gave ,I wouldn't like to see the producers of it adopt the same idea.

I thought she was being suggested as a judge at first! now i see it's as a contestant that's even worse! I agree she is too old, and Buzz on DWTS is awful imo!

She's in Sister Act at the London Palladium, probably until the end of the year. So that is likely to rule her out.

haha some people are sooooo ageist !!!

Sheila Hancock at 77 looks in a lot better condition than many people half her age and is probably fitter than many forum contributers, and she does at least have a personality and recognisable name. I don't see why we can't just stop attaching labels to people based on their age, size etc and just assess each individual on their own merits. How dull SCD would be if every female had to conform to stereotype (young, size 8, medium height, probably anonymous member of a girl band) before they were allowed on the show!

Well said VL. I imagine Sheila Hancock would rule herself out, not because she couldnt rise to it but because she is involved with Sister Act for some time yet.

I dont see much mention of ruling out old men though, if you lot are going to be ageist then get the knives out for the men as well, older men are hopeless dancers if they have never done any, so lets weed them out as well if you are going down that road.

Age, size, race, none of it should matter really just personality and fit enough to actually dance, unlike JS.

I was going to mention older men as well. And heavier ones. It seems like a well developed beer belly doesn't attract anywhere near as much criticism as a size 12/14 woman (even though the latter may still be in the healthy and medically recommended weight range), although admittedly the male celebs are not so much at the mercy of the whims of the wardrobe department as far as exposing weaknesses in their physique is concerned.

I thought you meant for the panel as well. Yes after seeing her excellent, informative comments on Over the Rainbow she would make a good judge, way better then Ms Dixon. Although on second thoughts she does not have enough ballroom and latin experience.

I don't care about age just people on the judging panel with lots of experience of ballroom and latin.

Are you forgetting John Barnes in that ghastly tight yellow tshirt, and no costume could disguise Willie Thornes big belly

I don't understand this bit, as this thread was only talking about Sheila Hancock

I had forgotten! Although it wasn't John's size that was a problem in the end, but his round shoulders. Maybe that's the problem. Let's forget about age and size. We should not allow anyone on Strictly who has round shoulders (and I was going to say bandy legs but Ricky Whittle managed ok).

Actually Sheila looks as if she would have good posture for the ballroom.

Sorry Daisy19, we're off topic! (By the way, I think elizabethjo was only responding to my post about the dangers of labelling people based on their age, that was all.

I couldn't agree more, especially with the bit in bold.



Lol i did think after i posted this may have been referring to old/other posts, so tks for responding

she did do a good rumba but I wouldn't go as far as saying it was the best rumba. Rachel Stevens & Matt Diangelo did the best rumbas. Not a big fan of Matt but I'll give credit where credit is due.

That's so cruel but I love it!

Sheila has starred in Musical Theatre in WE - so she's probably ineligible.