Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Same-sex dancing’s still Strictly off limits
REV Richard Coles says it makes “no sense” that men can’t dance with men or women with women on Strictly Come Dancing.
But the BBC insists it has “no plans” to introduce same-sex dance partners on the prime-time hit.
Coles, who was one half of the 1980s band The Communards, is in a same-sex marriage – but has been paired to dance with Dianne Buswell in the new series of the BBC1 dance show, which kicked off on Saturday.
He told how he talked to show bosses about having same-sex couples taking part.
“We’ve had a discussion about it, actually, and I don’t know. It makes absolutely no sense that anybody resists the idea, in principle,” he said.
“It’s just a question of doing it. This year would be a good year to do it actually, with the 50th anniversary of the sexual offences act [that decriminalised sex between consenting men aged 21 or over].”
A huge peak audience of 9.5 million viewers tuned in for Strictly’s return, which included a tribute to the late Sir Bruce Forsyth. Tess Daly said of her former co-host on the show: “I remember watching his feet and he couldn’t keep them still.
“He was constantly tap dancing, doing a little jig. He brought efferves- cence and chemistry to an audience and they fed off that energy.”
The show beat old rival The X Factor on ITV, which peaked with 6.8 million tuning in.
Rev Coles was back in the pulpit for a Sunday service yesterday, and his congregation were “very excited” about him being on Strictly. He said: “They’ve all been practising holding up hymn board numbers.”
He even brought some showbiz sparkle into the church. He said: “I preached a rather passionate sermon and a piece of glitter fell out of my hair in the middle of it.”
His fellow gay contestant Susan Calman was criticised for not having a female professional dance partner.
But the comedian said: “People can criticise me all they want, but I’ve worked tirelessly for LGBT equality my whole life and right now I would like to dance.”
The BBC said: “Strictly has chosen the traditional format of mixed-sex couples and at the moment we have no plans to introduce samesex couples”
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