Strictly Blackpool week: 10 of the best routines from the Tower Ballroom

This year, the Strictly cast will be bringing Blackpool to Elstree Studios

Strictly Come Dancing may not be travelling to Blackpool this year, but the show’s cast and crew are determined to bring some of that Tower Ballroom magic to this week’s show.

Over the years Blackpool Week has become a highlight in the Strictly calendar and hosted some of the show’s most memorable and extravagant performances of all time.

With its huge, sprung-floor dance floor allowing for bigger sets and extra dancers, every Strictly contestant wants to make it to Blackpool week, with many of the pro dancers having even competed there over the years.

This year, travel restrictions mean that the cast of 2020 sadly won’t be able visit the Tower Ballroom, but the show still plans to recreate a “Blackpool Experience” for those at home.

In honour of the fan-favourite week, here are some of the best Strictly Blackpool performances of all time...

Ashley Roberts and Pasha Kovalev’s Jive (2018)

There are too many things to love about this impressive Jive to “Shake Ya Tail Feather” by Pussycat Doll Roberts, but performing a routine set in a Blackpool fish and chip shop is one of the best. The pair scored 40 points for this routine and we honestly get it, even if our hearts do drop every time the tablecloth is pulled from beneath the dancers mid-jump.

Kellie Bright and Kevin Clifton’s Quickstep (2015)

Putting it out there right now: there is not enough Dolly Parton on Strictly. However, this Quickstep inspired by Nine to Five (both the film and its theme song) will always be a favourite and even managed to throw in a couple of little country dancing nods to the queen herself. Yee-haw!

Matt Baker and Aliona Vilani’s Samba (2010)

If we’ve learnt one thing from listening to the Strictly judges for 16 years, it’s that the samba is hard for male celebrities. It may be 10 years old, but The One Show’s Matt Baker’s routine from Blackpool 2010 is still one of the best. Every move flows effortlessly and he somehow manages to pull a triple backflip in the last few seconds that an Olympic gymnast would be proud of.

Caroline Flack and Pasha Kovalev’s Jive (2014)

Flack’s time on Strictly is usually remembered for her Charleston and slower dances, but the late TV presenter’s Blackpool Jive is up there too. It’s a great concept, with Flack dressed in a Union Jack dress and Kovalev as a member of the Queen’s Guards, with Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” the soundtrack to their hijinks.

Charles Venn and Karen Clifton’s Samba (2018)

Venn and Clifton didn’t have the best start on Strictly, finding themselves in the middle of the leader board and in the bottom two three times. But things picked up around week eight, with the following week’s Blackpool performance to “La Bamba” being one of the most memorable. It saw Venn run around the dance floor in an open white shirt and sporting a kilowatt smile. Those hips, my god: the stuff of legend.

Danny Mac and Oti Mabuse’s Charleston (2016)

Another case of a great concept that seems tailor-made for Blackpool, we have this glitzy, art-deco inspired Charleston to “Puttin’ on the Ritz”. If you’re dancing in the Blackpool Tower Ballroom, you definitely want to be in a red coat and tails and doing a one-handed cartwheel within the first 15 seconds, right?

Simon Webbe and Kristina Rihanoff’s Argentine Tango (2014)

The Argentine Tango is one of the most notoriously difficult dances in the Strictly canon and this performance by Blue singer Simon Webbe is considered one of the greats. Every element is phenomenal, from the technical complexity of the routine to the jaw-dropping lifts. How Craig Revel Horwood ever marked this as an eight (don’t worry, everyone else gave it a 10) is honestly beyond comprehension.

Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice’s American Smooth (2015)

This simple American Smooth is one of those dances that is just – in Revel Horwood’s words – “gor-juss” to watch. From the outfits to the dry ice around Foote and Pernice’s feet, it feels like a fairytale – what’s not to love?

Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse’s Jive (2019)

Between Fletcher’s quiff wig and Mabuse’s stupidly high heels, this is another one of those Blackpool Jives that can’t go unmentioned. Dressed as very stylish criminals and dancing to “Jailhouse Rock”, the pair perform lightning-fast kicks and flicks, and Fletcher somehow manages to do a push-up that transitions into a mid-air star jump.

Susanna Reid and Kevin Clifton’s Paso Doble (2013)

As much as we love Strictly’s modern takes on the Paso Doble, we’ll always have a soft spot in our hearts for a more traditional, flamenco-inspired routine too. This one brings with it heaps of attitude and eyeliner (and that’s just Clifton) and the kind of scowl from Reid usually reserved for Piers Morgan’s 6am rants.

Strictly Come Dancing returns on Saturday 21 November at 7.15pm on BBC One