Rumours on DS UKTV thread that Miranda Hart is being lined up by the BBC to host a new version of The Generation game.
If true then
a) It rules her out as Presenter of Strictly (she is a huge fan)
b) possible BBC1 Saturday line-up straight out of the Bill Cotton scheduling handbook.

Doctor Who
Generation Game
Strictly
Casualty
News
Match of the Day

Loving it !!!!

Please no! Would rather have Claudia!

I like Nick Knowles but Claudia is the only one I can see doing the job justice.

From what little I saw of this year's The Voice, Emma Willis seemed to be filling the Bruce role on that, and Cat Deeley presented So You Think You Can Dance UK single-handed out front. BBC2s stream of Craft Reality (which is clearly a big BBC priority currently) is also exclusively fronted by female hosts. I do think they'll obviously put women out front on their own when they can, but the whole vibe of Strictly is one of "old school entertainment" and it's hard to think of a female name who fits just due to history. Maybe give Miranda a few years of LE presenting (which these rumours of her doing a revamped Generation Game and her obvious love of the genre would play towards) and she'd fit?

I do think it's interesting that during the Arlene saga there was a LOT of complaining that the BBC would never consider an older woman as host, and yet now there's an opening I've not seen one serious public suggestion of a woman older than her mid-40s, unless you count a few half-hearted "why not?" punts for Angela Rippon. It rather suggests that people were complaining just for the sake of it.

And that means that there is another rider that would need to be added to my earlier post:

d) Any suitable female who meets all of the previous criteria must also be available for the run of the programme.

They need someone who is known and liked by a BBC 1 audience, who can tell a joke, is experienced doing live TV, on time, and knows a bit about dancing. Nick Knowles would only fit one of four requirements The problem is there isn't really anyone male or female who fits all the bill who might be available. Someone who has dpne musical theatre, who can do comedy, is about the best they can get. Claudia fails on massive turn off annoyance factor , time keeping, inability to tell a joke anyone will understand, and rambling. Zoe is far better at time keeping and actually knows a lot about dance - if they want to go to ITT presenters. She just speaks a bit too fast for some viewers who can't think as fast.. If they can only think of Claudia, they would do better to just save the money and let Tess do everything. She's pretty much been doing the important stuff for years anyway.

Has Fern Britton been mentioned anywhere?
She ticks a lot of boxes,
Live TV presenter
Older(ish) woman
Previous contestant
Long serving BBC presenter
Likable
She does not have the humor or quirkiness that is really needed but she would be a safe pair of hands

Interesting...

You've summed up Bruce's performance on this show for over a decade, very nicely.

She and Tess "speak fast" when told to by the director.

1. You won't get anyone who is liked by everyone.
2. Why do they need to tell a joke? It's about celebs learning to dance, not a comedy programme.
3. There are many who have had experience of live TV.
4. Why do they need to know about dancing? They're not doing the dancing, just introducing each pair and linking between them and the judges. They're also not there to add to the judges comment as Fforsyth did - the host isn't a judge so should leave all comments about the dancing to them..

Just because Fforsyth tried to make it the Bruce Forsyth Show, doesn't mean his replacement has to try and make it all about them - it isn't.

Claudia might annoy you, but she doesn't annoy everyone. She has great empathy with those she's talking to, a quick wit, definite humour and doesn't make it me, me, me; unlike the previous host. Personally I find her very likeable.

But they should be free to pass an opinion, or to simply provide some encouraging words after a few adverse comments from the judges (especially as their words have no bearing upon the scores).

It's difficult to replace someone like Brucie. Everyone is free to speculate without taking into consideration - does Claudia want to do live television?

Yes, she has filled in but she’s also on record saying she couldn’t do what Brucie and Tess do. It explains the caught in the headlights look and school girl camaraderie of Tess helping her through. If the job were offered to her it’s possible she may decide to do it but she may turn it down or for the reasons she herself has stated not have been asked at all Only time will tell.

Encouragement - yes. Opinion - no. That's saying the judges don't know what they're talking about, when it's the person disagreeing that doesn't.

That's like a driving instructor telling a driving examiner he's wrong if you fail and your instructor thought you would.

So no-one else is allowed an opinion then, apart from the four judges, even if that opinion (based upon some degree of knowledge) does not affect the scoring.

OK.

Seems more like not wishing to hear an opinion that differs rather than anything else.

But never mind.


Erm, not really.

That's a good point - any candidate for the job must want to do it, and must feel at home in that environment.

And without doubt, presenting a live show lasting over two hours over a 14-week period would be very different from hosting a recorded show where technical hitches and mistakes can be edited out of the final broadcast version.

I always took the "I could never do what Bruce and Tess do" bit as flattery/persona building. Maybe not Bruce, but she's done what Tess does multiple times, both on Strictly and as the host of other Saturday night reality shows.

It's definitely not said to show how much she revels in live television.

maybe without Bruce, SCD will start a gentle decline, and be wrapped up after a 3 or 4 years. I think Knowles would be a bad choice, but there aren't too many song and dance/vaudeville personalities around nowadays.

Bruce was always a consummate quiz show presenter - and had that rapport with contestants and audience.

So, if you are looking for that -then I think the only candidates would be Brian Conley (my original suggestion) - but also Chris Evans - who can do rapport without trying.

Chris Evans adds a lot to The One Show - but I also saw him effortlessly "take over" a Saturday Morning Kitchen from James Martin.

The Tess - Claudia combo worked perfectly well last year and viewing figures were up on the shows presented by Forsyth. The producers would be unwise to unnecessarily tamper with a winning formula just to shoehorn in another pap male.

The tone of Fforsyth's opinion I heard during the few bits I didn't mute was "Well if that what you think, but you're wrong - I know better" was one of the things that got on my nerves and why I muted him. So I don't ever want to hear anyone doing that again.

And he didn't have knowledge of BALLROOM dancing - he was a hoofer (tap dancer) and knew how to Salsa, but that's all.

That's my opinion.

Yes, everyone (including the SCD host) is allowed an opinion, especially when it has no material effect on things, be it on DS or on a TV programme.


Oddly enough, a similar thing can be (and is) said about three of the four SCD judges. Does that mean that their comments and marks are invalid?

No - they've been in dancing all their careers and I'm sure they genned up on the characteristics of each of the dances quite quickly as they already had considerable dance knowledge.

The host only had prior know;edge of tap dancing and Salsa and I can't imagine he spent months finding out the technicalities of all the likely dance, as he was only there as host.

He wouldn't have picked up more than the average viewer over the years either, and I'm sure you wouldn't want viewers who hadn't studied dancing giving their critique. Look how the results changed when viewers votes were added in.

I'm so heartened that you feel that you can summarise what knowledge Bruce had and what knowledge he "picked up" from the comfort of your armchair. It's almost as if you knew him personally.

Glad you feel heartened - made my day.

Not gonna happen.

Likewise.