Strictly Come Dancing, Saturday 7pm, BBC One

Posted by Nicola Scholey

Just when we thought Strictly was getting a little predictable with the best dancers waltzing through to the next round - we were in for a shocker this week.

It was a night filled with drama. Firstly, Len threw his toys out of his pram when - like the rest of us - he'd clearly had enough of fellow judge Craig's comments and accused him of destroying contestants instead of giving them constructive criticism.

Next, I had to hide behind my hands as Ali and her dance partner Brian Fortuna took to the floor. It wasn't their dancing that made me cringe but Ali's admission that she'd injured her foot just a few hours before the show and it was clear she was in agony.

The usual suspects danced their way to the top of the leader board with Ricky Whittle proving he can do no wrong.

One of my personal highlights though was Ricky Groves' attempt to be sexy. Did he achieve his goal of being like 007? Well, he didn't do a bad job - but don't give up the day job Ricky.

However, the biggest shock of the night came when the results were read out with Ali Baston up against Zoe Lucker.

It's not the first time Zoe has been in the bottom two - but she was by no way the worst dancer.

As for the reason Ali landed in the bottom two? - well, maybe voters think she's safe or she's not connecting with the voting public - who knows?

But on the bright side Corrie actor Craig Kelly got his wish to dance in Blackpool as all the contestants head there to continue their journey next week.

So did Zoe and James deserve to go? And how the hell did Ali find herself in the dance-off? Have your say here.

Picture: BBC

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The Beeb packs up in Beijing

Posted by Matt Majendie

The Olympic Games are over for another four years and the BBC are finally packing up their kit after a fortnight of seemingly limitless coverage.

And it's left me feeling bereft. Instead of switching on at 7am this morning to hear the dulcet tones of the overly cheery morning crew of Adrian Chiles and Hazel Irvine to find out about our latest gold in sports we only care about every four years, I was met by the BBC Breakfast news team. No more flicking the red button to watch South Korea win archery gold or the famous Russian duo master their synchronised swimming routines - surely two of the more pointless Olympic sports.

The Games ended with a bang as Beijing officials let out a volley of fireworks before Boris Johnson - one wonders what China and the rest of the world made of him - took control of the Olympics. Sounds worrying doesn't it?

The closing ceremony was its usuall all-singing, all-dancing self littered with fireworks and seemingly pointless anecdotes from the BBC commentary crew, who perhaps could have done with the Eurovision ramblings of Terry Wogan to see them through.

The Beeb's had its winner and losers in Beijing. For every Michael Johnson, who made me understand the true intricacies of track and field, there was a Colin Jackson, who said nothing astute for the entire Olympic fortnight. And for every Sue Barker, who smiled her way through the Games with aplomb, there was a Hazel Irvine, who's surely for the chop following her inane ramblings.

As for commentating medals, the bronze goes to Hugh Porter in the velodrome, whose dulcet tones kept me calm in the cycling chaos and who even managed to quote Oscar Wilde after one of Chris Hoy's three golds. Johnson takes silver for his impressively impartial commentary on the athletics - not a virtue shared by his co-commentators - and the gold goes to Gary Herbert, the rowing co-commentator who got so carried away during the men's coxless fours actually lost his voice. Oh, and Adrian Chiles also gets an honourable mention, just missing out on a medal for his comic outbursts.

Press the red button now

Posted by Matt Majendie

The Olympic Games are well under way and, so far, we've been taken through all the ups and downs by the BBC's interactive coverage.

However, Britain suffered a new low at the Olympics yesterday and it had nothing to do with Team GB missing out on a medal. Instead, it involved BBC presenters John Inverdale and Hazel Irvine doing a round of impressions, all centred on an NBC anchorman at the Games who shares his name with a former Fast Show character.

Rugger off!

Posted by Stewart Turner

So, it seems the BBC’s been forced to issue a grovelling apology after viewers complained in droves about the wildly excessive amount of sport in the schedules last weekend.

From the moment Football Focus with Lawro and the gang kicked off at 12 noon, there was barely an hour’s worth of non-sporting telly on BBC1 right up until the end of Match of the Day just after 11.30pm – and most of those minutes were taken up by Anne Robinson.

Of course, it’s all down to Auntie Beeb forking out £160m for the rights to cover the Six Nations rugby tournament. If you’re spending that kind of cash on something – our cash, of course – you have to justify it by showing it off. I guess they think it’d be like buying a posh designer frock and using it as a nightdress. Or something.

Sports fans often bang on about how important it is that we get to see these big events on terrestrial TV. But this argument’s becoming increasingly poor, since there must be about three people left in the country who can only watch five TV channels these days. Why not just set up a BBC Sport channel and stick all the tedious ball-kicking over on there, 24/7?

In defence of its pandering to the rugger-loving minority, a BBC statement said: “The audience ratings alone justified our decision to show the three matches, with a combined total of 15 million tuning in.”

That’s as maybe, but when the remaining 45 million are sitting at home pouring bleach into their eyes, is it worth it?

Sources: BBC, The Guardian