I am not keen on her as a judge but didn't watch the show that year as I was living abroad. I guess my dislike must stem from the fact that she is just so beautiful and I resent her for it

However, some women do have other qualities, such as your brilliant line in self-irony. I think I'd rather spend an evening chatting to you than Alesha any time.

Why thank you.

Do you think we could meet some time in the buffet on Carnforth railway station?
(God it would be so great if you get this oblique reference!)

The railway station featured in the 1940s film classic, Brief Encounter, is being revitalised after almost 20 years of dereliction.
Carnforth station in Lancashire is to be fully re-opened in a joint scheme involving Railtrack and local enthusiasts.

The development of shops, a transport interchange and a recreation of the film set, should be complete by Easter 2002.

It is the result of a decade of campaigning by local residents who formed the Carnforth Railway Trust in 1996.

People have visited us from all over the world because of Brief Encounter

Peter Yates, Carnforth Railway Trust
The tea-room where the film's Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard begin their journey of forbidden love will be turned into a visitor centre.
David Taylor, the project manager, said Brief Encounter fans had played a key role in the station's preservation.

"The clock is being rebuilt by volunteers after one of them tracked down its original workings to a shop in Twickenham.

"He paid £2,500 to buy them back," he added.

'Goodwill gesture'

The developers have exploited the station's strategic crossroads position on the west coast mainline and it will be manned for the first time since the 1970s.

A spokesman for Railtrack said: "We are spending in the region of half a million pounds refurbishing the operational part of the station for the travelling public.

Parts of the clock were found in London

"In addition, Railtrack has given the trust £150,000 towards its project, partly as a goodwill gesture and partly to fund work that the trust is going to carry out on behalf of Railtrack."
A £10,000 donation has also come from the David Lean Trust, a charity set up in honour of the film's famous producer.

Peter Yates, founder of the Carnforth Railway Trust, added: "People have visited us from all over the world because of Brief Encounter.

"It's trying to depict an era we would like to see come back and people are fascinated by it."

do I get a gold star for recognising it straight away?

I recently saw the stage show, which was also fab, and you wouldnt think it would work because it was done as a musical, but very tastefully

Silver gilt star definitely, Mrs F. Gold would have been reserved for starpuss, but now I'm afraid the moment has passed.

Channel 4 show the original occasionally, which I watch whenever I can, because of the steam engines, of course .

Nice to hear a good first-hand revue of the stage play. Which theatre is it on at?

Trouble is she doesn't really give much in the way of dance information in laymans terms which would offer a counterbalance and make her being there seem worthwhile. Occasionally she does (although personally I would prefer even laymans language to come from someone with a professional dance background) but most of the time what she says is just bland and uninteresting which makes viewers, it would seem, focus on her vocabulary. If it was felt she was somebody with something worth saying or who didn't but had a humerous turn of phrase her grammar would probably be overlooked. If being told she was been a contender and therefore knows how nervous competitors are is the extent of her benefit to the viewer, something even the least dance literate could have worked out for themselves then she is fairly pointless other than a pretty face.

The grammar thing can be a bit annoying if you're trying to learn the language as my daughter-in-law is, but I suppose they can't be expected to think of things like that - difficult enough trying to keep up with what the English want! I'm grateful though that French and Swiss TV personalities are usually quite grammatical. My French is bad enough as it is without adding unwanted local colour.

Just hang on a minute Rikki.
Just what kind of prejudice do you mean??
Off the screen I think Alesha would be fun to be around. A really lovely girl.......off screen.
On screen she seems very pleasant but she has a job to do, and doesn't do it very well.
Tess has a strong Northern accent, but what she says is formed of good well constructed sentences.
Nothing wrong with Len's London sounding delivery either.

Honestly can't stand her on my fave show.

Loved it when Craig stated he disagree with her. Meant to much.

Gay!

I get the sense that A LOT of Alesha's detractors were fine with her winning SCD, after all she was a good dancer. Now that she's a judge, her detractors think she's risen "above her station" or is an "uppity" 'person'.
I'm sure they would have NO problem with Zoe Ball or even that guy who won last year, since they have an excellent grasp of the English language...unlike Alesha, who apparently speaks like a gangster.

*speaks in a clipped tone*

I would love to but have to think of Fred waiting for me at home

You're assuming an awful lot about Alesha's detractors with no basis upon which to base such opinions, unless of course these are the findings from a personal opinion poll you've conducted involving every dissenter on DS - SCD and even further afield.

As a critic I speak for myself and know that my view is based on her ability as a dancer and inability as a judge; nothing at all to do with her getting 'above herself.' and I resent the suggestion that my opinion should be influenced by such shallow reasoning.

You cannot possibly be sure that those who criticise Alesha would find Zoe Ball acceptable based solely on accent. It is pure conjecture and does not take into account those like who maintain that not a single celeb dancer has the knowledge or experience necessary to take a seat on the judging panel.

Alesha attracted huge support as a dancer because in the view of many she was good, very good.

She attracts major criticism as a judge because in the view of many she is poor, very poor.

Now please resist the urge to analyse (and find wanting) the reasoning of a group of people whose deliberations are just as valid as those of Alesha's admirers.

Alesha gets here was and were grammatically wrong, no doubt; however if Len or Tessa goes one week without making more than one grammatical error I may just decide to pickle me walnuts.

How about returning the compliment, hm? It works both ways you know.

'Well those that DO need to get a life and stop being snobbish!!. As long as she's understood by the masses that's all that matters.

All those Alesha dislikers are simply nit picking, which is becoming quite tedious on this forum'

I have no problem understanding the attraction of Alesha to her supporters. She is a very attractive woman and on SCD not only showed dancing ability but also a sparkling personality. She's tenacious too - and grabbed with both hands the opportunity to resurrect a career that appeared to be in free fall. On that front I salute her - however physical attraction, personality and tenacity are not prerequisites for a judge and don't make up for knowledge and experience - which is where I find her lacking.

I have never categorised her supporters in a derogatory manner; unlike the epithets aimed at her critics e.g. racist, jealous, snobs, haters, bashers etc.

This is a forum where discussion can be stimulating - but debate is difficult when discussion descends into name calling.

Had to look that word up. You is clevva

I agree btw. I'm no Alesha fan but her poor grammar isn't the reason. My probem is with the BBC for employing someone with very limited knowledge of dance and my licence fee paying her salary.
She gets my money, I get "Your bum looks great" in return. I feel robbed

I`ve noticed Craig throwing in a huge amount of technical terms whenever he comments on the celebs performance in this series <maybe he`s always done this but it seems more noticeable this year>.

Wonder if the celebs know what he`s talking about - nevermind 80%+ of the viewing public !!

I find I can quite easily block out most of the judges comments if necessary

I don't always know what he is talking about but he obviously does and that is what I want in a judge, Someone who knows dancing.

The public vote on personality and entertainment. We don't need a judge who does that. The judges should vote on technical ability, interpretation etc.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Her grammar doesn't bother me - Len's football manager speak 'you done good' is as bad and James Jordan also repeatedly uses 'was' when he should grammatically speaking use 'were'. I actually even like her laugh which is another thing that irritates a lot of people. It's her sheer pointlessness as a judge that bothers me and makes me wish her gone. I suspect a lot of people feel the same and it makes me sad that it's tainting the memory of what a great contestant she was and because she doesn't really know enough to offer anything of interest it does make her look like bimbo which she isn't.

Clearly Craig belongs with the army of 'nit-pickers'


Craig tells new! magazine: “She needs to get her tenses sorted out – ‘was’ and ‘were’. I might have to give her a few pointers with her grammar.”