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Ice Rink On The Estate, TV review: Torvill and Dean take a twirl down memory lane

The Olympic ice dancers returned to Nottingham to train teenagers to skate

Thursday 09 April 2015 23:09 BST

Olympic ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (ITV)

Olympic ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were taking a melancholic twirl down memory lane in ITV's Ice Rink on the Estate. They had returned to their home town of Nottingham to "give something back" by training local teenagers to take part in a show on a pop-up ice rink.

The pair arrived at the local community centre with their gleaming Hollywood grins, expecting to see queues snaking round the block. Instead, they found a trickle of unenthused tearaways, shepherded there against their will by a youth worker. Still, with the link between ice dancing and inner-city regeneration still unproven, can you blame the teenagers for their scepticism?

The 10 most memorable moments in the history of the Winter Olympics

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1/10The 10 most memorable moments in the history of the Winter Olympics

The 10 most memorable moments in the history of the Winter Olympics

Torvill and Dean

On a Valentine's evening in 1984, 24 million tuned in to see the British couple, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean score maximum points and crowned the Olympic ice skating champions after scooping gold in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia for their slow, sensuous performace of Ravel's Bolero. So just a few more than Dancing on Ice's average audience then.

The 10 most memorable moments in the history of the Winter Olympics

Steven Bradbury

In true fabled tradition of the tortoise and the hare, Steven Bradbury could not believe his luck, and neither could anyone else, when he won the 1000m speed skating final at Salt Lake City 2002 in bizarre fashion. The Australian was well off the pace in the 1000m speed skating final in Salt Lake City 2002, until his fellow four competitors in front of him crashed into each other on the last bend, allowing Bradbury to sweep in and collect the spoils.

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The 10 most memorable moments in the history of the Winter Olympics

Team GB curling triumph at Salt Lake City

Sometimes, sport can turn the most unlikely of individuals into sporting heroes. This was never more true than in the curling event of Salt Lake City 2002, which saw housewife Rhona Martin lead her teams of curlers to Britain's first gold medal at a Winter Olympics for 18 years.

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The 10 most memorable moments in the history of the Winter Olympics

Lindsey Jacobellis

Didn't anyone tell Lindsey Jacobellis that showboating ends in tears? Evidently not. Or at least if you are going to show-off, make sure you get it right. After attempting a showy grab on the penultimate jump of the women's snowboard cross final in Turin 2006, when she was sitting pretty with a comfortable lead over of her nearest rival, the American got it all wrong, falling and as a result, finished second.

The 10 most memorable moments in the history of the Winter Olympics

Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan

Perhaps not one of the greatest, but definitely one of the craziest moments in Olympic history, was skater Tonya Harding enlisting her ex-husband to smash her main rival, and favourite to take gold, Nancy Kerrigan in the knee-cap with a metal baton. Ultimately, Harding's masterplan failed; Kerrigan recovered in time, competed and won silver, while Harding, still allowed to participate, finished eighth, testament to the fact that cheating gets you nowhere.

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The 10 most memorable moments in the history of the Winter Olympics

Hermann Maier

After a potential career-ending crash at the 1998 Winter Games in which the Austrian flew off the course and went through two barriers, downhill skier Herman Maier, also known as the 'Herminator', walked away from the accident, doing his best Arnie impression, and days later, was back winning gold in the giant slalom and super giant slalom. The recovery saw him become a hero and he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated soon after.

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The 10 most memorable moments in the history of the Winter Olympics

Jamaican bobsleigh team

The story of the Jamaican bobsleigh team at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics has passed down in to legend. Partly due to the movie they inspired, Cool Runnings, but also because against all odds they weren't that bad. Despite low expectations and even though they crashed and had to walk to the finish line, overall, it was a good effort and their explosive starts earned them a lot of fans.

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The 10 most memorable moments in the history of the Winter Olympics

Eddie the Eagle

Not all stories end in triumph. Just ask Eddie 'the Eagle' Edwards. He was the first competitor to represent Great Britain in the Olympic ski jump at Calgary 1988, and failed spectacularly. Despite being pretty rubbish, the eccentric displayed insatiable enthusiasm, and is now regarded as Britain's shining example of 'heroic failure'.

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The 10 most memorable moments in the history of the Winter Olympics

USA v USSR

During the Cold war, things got a little frosty when the USA's mainly amateur ice hockey team took on the favourites USSR. Remembered as much for the 4-3 result as it is the immortal words of commentator Al Michaels who asked: 'Do you believe in miracles?', the 'Miracle on Ice' at Lake Placid in 1980 allowed the USA to go on and win gold in the final against Finland.

The 10 most memorable moments in the history of the Winter Olympics

Figure skating judging scandal

The spoils were shared in a strange turn of events during the 2002 figure skating in which a judging scandal took centre stage. When Russian skaters Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were awarded gold, despite everyone else believing that the Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier had performed the better routine, allegations of corruption were rife. After protests from the Canadians, but also the Americans, the duos were eventually made joint winners.

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They had a lot to learn about sportsmanship, but Torvill and Dean were equally clueless about what makes teenagers tick. Dean's suggestion that they perform in front of "all their friends" had the youngsters quaking in their hired skates. "I've got to perform to classical music. On ice. In figure skates.To all my year. And they're gonna be in the stands shouting 'gay!'" said 14-year-old Oliver, glumly.

So far it's not looking promising, but never fear, viewers. We've seen enough episodes of The Choir and the like to know that plucky, underprivileged kids always make their celebrity mentors proud in the end.

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