Back when dancing with the stars meant Sinatra..
Anton And Giovanni’s Adventures In Spain
BBC1, Monday
Dancing With The Stars: The Final
RTÉ One, Sunday
Big Brother: The Final
UTV,/Virgin Media Two, Friday
WHO knew Tony Beak had a Spanish mother? Indeed, some of you may well be asking, who on Earth is Tony Beak? Well, that would be Anton Du Beke, the former professional dancer and now judge on the Strictly Come Dancing. His maternal origins have handily gifted the BBC a second travelogue with his fellow Strictly alumnus, Giovanni Pernice.
In last year’s Anton And Giovanni’s Adventures In Italy, the duo toured that country before ending up at a party with Gio’s family.
This time, they head to the Iberian penninsula for Anton and Giovanni’s Adventures in Spain, and we already have been forewarned they will end up in the bosom of Anton’s relatives. One presumes they had better consult Ancestry DNA if they plan a third series anytime soon.
As it happens, I have a slight issue with celebrity travelogues.
There are plenty of real travel journalists in the UK – Simon Calder, Simon Reeve, and so on – who make programmes that delve much deeper into the countries they visit, rather than sticking to big ticket popular destinations many of us already have visited.
Nothing quite so sophisticated from our boyos, needless to say. The first episode saw them in Andalusia, home of the Costa del Sol. Hands up, how many of you have been to Marbella and Puerto Banus? Check. Ronda? Check. Granada? Check.
These are not places to have adventures, they’re where you go on that full-day excursion when the sky clouds over and you’re tired of the all-you-can-eat buffet.
Somehow, though, and mostly thanks to really lovely filming, it all felt like rather jolly entertainment on a chilly night here at
home. I could live without some of the more obviously rehearsed banter, and without Anton and Gio’s visit to a traditional flamenco show, where naturally they ended up joining in. The only interesting thing about that visit was their meeting with a 72-year-old dancer, still going strong, who revealed
she twice had shared a stage with Frank Sinatra.
Nor do I much care for staged drama. Tickets for the Moorish Alhambra palace in Granada are limited daily, and the pair missed out – but, naturally, they managed to wangle a slot at 8.30am the next day, before the general public
were admitted, and had the place to themselves. Quel sopresa, as the Spanish say.
The funniest part was when the pair walked the Caminito del Rey, a terrifying wooden walkway suspended from the side of a gorge.
Three kilometres long, it reaches 300 metres above the ground in parts, and a safety helmet is necessary to protect against stone kicked over the ledge above by goats. Gio is terrified of heights, and his quivering jelly routine was especially funny to someone like me, who wouldn’t be dragged onto the Caminito for love or money.
All in all, though, there was a lot to enjoy, even if mostly in the images. I literally had arrived back from a few days in Catalunya in Spain the previous day, so it was rather nice to extend the holiday by a few more hours.
Dancing With The Stars came to an end on RTÉ One on Sunday night, and while it wasn’t the best series to date, there was good fun to be had. Davy Russell began it like a no-hoper in a bumper, but he jockeyed his way into the final weeks, and at one stage even looked like a favourite.
My own top tip to win would have been the other David, David Whelan of the pop band Wild Youth, but it was Paralympic athlete Jason Smyth who triumphed in the end.
His dance with professional partner Karen Byrne, who wore a blindfold for part of the routine to simulate what Jason goes through every day as an almost fully blind man, was nice little coup de théâtre, and the public did the rest, voting them into the top spot.
This year’s series was in doubt for a long time, and there will probably be some wrangling to get an eighth incarnation onto the schedule next year. I hope RTÉ finds the dosh, because it is one of Montrose’s few shows that has such cross-generational appeal, and it is made to look just as glossy as its BBC progenitor, Strictly Come Dancing, very likely for less money than that show spends on fake tan.
Celebrity Big Brother came to an end on Friday night, with our own Louis Walsh coming fourth to winner David Potts. However, Louis was clearly the saviour of the whole show.
It’s not really my bag anymore, and I certainly didn’t sit down and watch even one full episode, but clips on social media proved very entertaining, not least when Louis ignited social media feuds with Ronan Keating and with Jedward, who he, a little unfairly, referred to as ‘vile’.
I’ve met the lads a few times and while they have all the energy of cats chasing laser beams, they also have that feline tendency to be easily distracted, which must be frustrating professionally.
Nonetheless, it all led to something we never thought we’d see, namely John and Edward having a roast dinner served up by Gemma Collins.
If the BBC tires of Anton and Gio, there’s a trio I’d happily watch travelling anywhere.