YP Letters: Time for a few tweaks to restore Strictly's magic

SPECULATION about the new head judge on Strictly Come Dancing is rife after Len Goodman’s farewell last Saturday.

Your report hinting that Darcey Bussell might be taking over as head judge would spoil the programme for me.

Whilst she was a great prima ballerina, she has always looked uncomfortable on the judging panel. Her comments lack depth and it often seems as if she is there to say something ‘nice’.

Perhaps the BBC should take the opportunity to refresh the judging panel completely. To my mind, Bruno Tonioli has become too silly and erratic. The panto-like villain, Craig Revel Horwood, has become too hurtful and nasty in recent series. There have also been plenty of comments about bias and over-generous marking this year. This often happens when show business stars seem to be judged differently to sports celebrities.

The BBC often spoils a successful format by throwing everything into it – more glitter, more lighting tricks, more props, more special effects until the original idea is lost. The producers should be given some pruning shears to trim away the excess that is spoiling the joy of the dance challenge. Len’s leaving is the ideal time to do a bit of tweaking to get the original magic back into one of our favourite programmes.