Long ago I did a lot of dancing, and over the years I have enjoyed watching the dancing faux-competition shows. But I gave up on DWTS a few years back as it became so saccharin and so forced that I just couldn’t stand it.

But I continued to watch the original, Strictly Come Dancing, the UK show that started all the partner dance competition shows. Last year, though, I gave up on it too as it became too American-i-fied.

Anyway, this year SCD is back, with only a scattered audience and all dancers and competitors in a bubble - the BBC rented a small hotel.

The big news this year, though, is the first same-sex couple. The BBC has been teasing it for years, but the usual subjects would protest loudly in public.

However, watching the roll-out last night, I think the first same-sex couple looked good together. The pro, Katya Jones, is very good at dancing and teaching, and the celeb is a retired women’s boxer.

And contrary to the old fuddy-duddies who prophesied that doing this will kill SCD, turns out the opening night did quite well in the ratings:

Strictly Come Dancing opener with first same-sex couple proves a hit

Strictly Come Dancing achieved its best opening ratings for three years with a show that featured its first celebrity same-sex couple after the Olympic champion boxer Nicola Adams and dancer Katya Jones were paired together.

The BBC One show attracted an average of 8.6 million viewers on Saturday evening and took a 42.2% audience share with a peak audience of 9 million viewers, a spokesman for the programme said.

[…]

American TV networks can only dream of ever getting a 42.2% share. I doubt a regular US show has done that in many decades.

Anyway, still don’t like the schlock and the saccharine squeakiness of it all. Yet this year one of the celebs is Bill Bailey, which I think will make the show more interesting, so as long as he’s on the show I’ll make an effort to catch it.