Just thought I would throw my two pennorth in about his!

Come Dancing was absolutely required viewing back in the day. As another poster has already said, it was a knockout competition between the UK regions.

The competitors were amateurs who had already competed at events in their region in order to decide who went forward to represent their regions. There was a set criteria in place - you or your parents had to be a native of the region you wanted to represent. It was generally accepted that Wales was an 'easy' region to qualify for which led to lots of partnerships claiming Welsh ancestry!

Each round consisted of the two couples from opposing regions taking the lfoor at the same time. Each round was judged by a panel of three. It started with the panel being made up of dance-world names, but later programs included the 'celbrity judge' who often knew squat about dancing but who was currently appearing in pantomime and wanted thwe TV exposure!

The programs ran as follows:

Round 1 - Ballroom
Round 2 - Latin
Round 3 - Old Time (what is is called these days?)
Interval - Pro dem
Round 4 - Formation

A round was added during the 80's to include a section for disco dancing or 'freestyle' (whic led to a few eyebrow-raising entries!)

Donnie and Gaynor did seem to be the resident Pro dancers, but there were the occasional departures. Fairly sure that the Stopfords and the Hiltons took a turn or two as well as champions from other genres of dance.

I would like to see it's return in part, but would prefer to see the European competitions televised instead, Pro AND Amateur.

Thess, it's still Old Time to me!

I agree with the other posters, it is time for all good things to return!!

Do you remember the dresses. The old time ones were huge-like crinolines!

And they were a bugger to transport as well. My dressmaker made me several huge bags from roll end material, with a drawstring closure. The technique of getting the net skirts in was one to be mastered.

You had to turn the skirt inside out, grab hold of the waistband with one hand and the bag with the other and kind of flip and stuff in one motion. The goal was to end up with the skirt inside out and upside down in the bag!

THEN you had to stuff it in the boot of your car! We were stopped a few times on the way to a comp, by police who wanted to know what the big wobbly thing was in the back of the car!

Let's not even think about maintining your elegance when sitting at the actual comp. I stayed standing for the whole time!!

Life was so much easier when long dresses became fashionable again. Although fashions come and go, I don't think we'll ever see a return to that style again!

Cheers Becca - I wasn't sure if I was showing my age!!

As a child I was fascinated by those dresses and always wanted to wear one. I couldn't figure out how the ladies legs fitted through the "fluffy" skirt allowing them to dance. Saw a black and white photo of one of those dresses on a "trendy" card in a card shop. Happy memories

Let us see the return of thr talent!!

It seems there is a lot of support for Come Dancing to return to the BBC. I wonder if anyone from the Corporation reads this forum?

I wonder if we should write to the BBC, would that have any effect?

I remember when I was a little girl - it was on later than my bed time but as a treat I was allowed to stay up and watch it - I loved it

As for writing to the Beeb - then why not? They know that SCD is hugely popular - now is the time to do it! I say go for it

Good idea!!

Such a shame they biined it!

I would have though that half an hour of off peak TV time for 6-8 weeks a year wouldn't have killed them..... it was always on at 10 pm - usually on a Monday....

And I just LOVED the old time section....

I ALWAYS felt sorry for any ballroom or old time formation teams - they ALWAYS got walloped by the Latin teams - no matter HOW good they were!The Latin team always won (especially Peggy Spencers's Penge Formation team for Home Counties South, or the City of Manchester formation team for the North West.....)

There was one Old Time formation team (which always represented one of the regions...) which was made up of senior citizens - and they were a lways a joy to watch and very very good - but they were always up against a Latin team - who ALWAYS beat them.... such a shame - and VERY short sightedof the judges.

Like several on here, I would like to see some of the real competitions.

Years ago, when sat TV was on analogue, there was a German sports channel (DSF - Deutsche Sport Fernsehen) which regularly showed the German comps, but they ceased doing so about 10 years ago. That was where I first saw Paul Killick - I assumed he was German!!

At that time I went to public classes in Croydon run by Peggy and she used to try out the team on us as a form of practice for them. It was terrific, as is she - still teaching in a small way in Norfolk last I heard.
Last edited by albertd : 22-04-2007 at 11:26

I think it would be great and I bet the programme would top the ratings!!

Any news?

It seems all quiet on the Come Dancing front. Anyone contact the BBC?

Have just come across this post while searching for any possible video's or DVD's of the original Come Dancing.

Dancing on behalf of 'Home Counties South' at London's Lyceum was my five minutes of fame back around 73.

I remember it well, I was only a child and had a pretty blue and white one - took my mum HOURS to sew all the net on the underskirt and wearing it I looked just like a blue and white puffball with legs - absolutely LOVED it.

Our dance school used to travel to comps by coach and we had to have one twice the size really needed just to fit all the dresses in!

If DOI is to produce a DVD then it kind of negates the BBC's argument that they can't do an SCD dvd because of copyright issues - if ITV can get round the copyright issue for the music used in DOI then why can't the BBC to produce an SCD DVD?

They fascinated me and not in a good way

The best presenter was Rosemary Ford - and she could sing! She is married to Robert Lindsay of "My Family". I would definitely watch to see her. Angela Rippon was good too. As for Terry Wogan, I was disgusted with him. He tried to cover up his total ignorance of the subject by poking fun at it, making it look like an activity for idiots, a ballroom version of It's A Knockout. Bruce Forsythe does more or less the same thing with SCD.

Could Come Dancing be used like song for europe in choosing our couple for the eurovision dance contest?

Ive always thought Terry Wogan could replace Bruce should anything bad happen

Mybe Sir Terry could be a good idea if Brucie leaves