Lockdown has finally shown me the light on appeal of Strictly Come Dancing - Anthony Clavane

Where to begin? Ever since becoming a journalist many moons ago I have continually updated my own, personal “banned word” list.

The American university – I refuse to write “uni” as that is high on the list – has put out an appeal. “Is there a word or phrase that really bugs you?” it wonders. “A peeve, pique or provocation?”

Up until this pandemic there is no doubt what the most annoying, irritating, grating word in the English language was.

“Journey”, of course. It’s a no-brainer. It’s even more annoying, irritating and grating than “awesome”, “influencer” and, er, “no-brainer”.

It used to mean, back in the day, an act of travelling from one place to another. Now it is a metaphor for metamorphosis; for becoming a better person after going through a life-changing experience – more often than not, whilst on a TV reality show.

But for the past six weeks – to be exact, since Saturday October 17 – I have been on a bit of a journey myself with the word “journey”.

Up until that day, the launch show of the 18th series of Strictly Come Dancing, whenever I heard the j-word my eyes would roll, a loud groan would be emitted and my nostrils would flare. I would then be sent out of the living room in disgrace.

My Strictly-loving family nicknamed me The Grinch. For the uninitiated, this is a character from the 1957 children’s book How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss. I now realise the error of my ways. I have seen the light.

I fully understand how grumpily pointing out the j-word is not only annoying, irritating, grating and generally useless – but also clichéd, melodramatic and mawkish – can completely spoil a family’s enjoyment of one of the greatest pleasures of lockdown: watching Strictly on Saturday and Sunday nights.

If I took a sip of wine every time a celebrity uttered the j-word on the BBC’s hit ballroom show, I would soon be drunk as a fly. But who cares? The glittery, glitzy, heel-clicking extravaganza has been exactly what we have needed during these dark, wintry days of confinement.

Almost weekly the corporation is lambasted, usually by Conservative MPs and Tory-supporting newspapers, for its supposed anti-government bias, its supposedly-extravagant salaries and its supposed neglect of non-woke sensibilities.

Strictly has been singled out in particular for attack. This is because BBC bosses refused to delay the programme’s start for a prime ministerial briefing on coronavirus.

The Mail on Sunday also had a pop at the saintly duo Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman for, allegedly, receiving £350,000 apiece for their excellent presenting skills.

And its ground-breaking decision to feature a same-sex couple – the Leeds boxer Nicola Adams and dancer Katya Jones – triggered grumblings in the Twittersphere.

But, as a recent Guardian editorial pointed out, programmes like Strictly give “isolated people a collective experience to discuss things beyond an invisible threat in the very air”. They help

to “create a communal experience when we are isolated at home”.

And, as a new book reveals, 99 per cent of households use at least one BBC service at least once every week. The majority of the most-watched programmes of the last decade were broadcast on BBC One.

Indeed, the authors of The War Against the BBC Patrick Barwise and Peter York, argue that the Beeb is “the whole British nation in all its untidy variety and, at the same time, one of its glories”.

This is exactly how I feel about Tess, Claudia, Craig Revel Horwood, Bill Bailey et al. They are all part of a joyful spectacle which provides the kind of weekly escapism a Covid-battered country desperately needs right now.

Mind you, I’m not too sure about Shirley Ballas. Last Saturday, the judge told Eastenders actress Maisie Smith: “I love the way you used feminine sensing zones. That was beautiful.”

I beg your pardon? Feminine sensing zones? That’s another phrase for the banned list. I have already emailed it to Lake Superior State University.

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you'll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click here to subscribe.