When the nights start to draw in, you can rely on the major channels putting on a family show on a Saturday night.
While ITV has tried a number of different formats over the years, BBC1 has stuck with their tried and tested big budget show Strictly Come Dancing - a show which gets the whole nation talking during the countdown to Christmas.
So, it was only a matter of time before a show based on ballroom dancing would make it to the stage - and that is what has happened with Strictly Ballroom - The Musical. A show set in Australia in 1990 and revolves around the competitive world of glitz and glamour on the dance floor.
Kevin Clifton is one of the former stars of Strictly Come Dancing and is the lead in the musical, currently being staged at The Lowry in Salford; while judge Craig Revel Horwood directs and co-choreographs the show.
The show opens with a burst of colour as the ballroom dancers vie for their places on the stage.
Unfortunately, 10 minutes into the show on Monday night there was a technical hitch, which left the audience waiting for it to resume for around 15 minutes.
Thankfully this didn’t distract from the spectacle on stage.
ENERGETIC: Some of the cast of Strictly Ballroom.
The show follows Scott Hastings (played by Kevin Clifton) who defies his dance teacher mum and her business partner by wanting to dance his own way but loses a dance competition and his dance partner because of it.
A major competition is looming and Scott is adamant he wants to dance it his way and enlists a new partner, shy, awkward Fran, played sensitively by former Coronation Street star Faye Brookes - who has a fantastic singing voice.
The two meet many obstacles along the way to the dance competition, not least from Fran’s strict Spanish father (played brilliantly by Jose Agudo) and her family. But they soon come round when they show Scott how the Paso Doble should be danced - one of the highlights of this high energy show.
The main characters of Scott and Fran sparkle on stage - very reminiscent of the partnership between Johnny and Baby which I recently saw in Dirty Dancing at the Palace Theatre. They are ably supported by a hard-working cast, which unfortunately had five cast changes on the night I saw it.
But despite all that, the show is one to watch, if just to hear Kevin Clifton sing! Who knew he had such a good voice?
Strictly Ballroom - The Musical runs until Saturday (1 July).
