Monday 18th February 2013
On Saturday
night the run-up to Comic Relief started in earnest, with the return of Let’s
Dance for Comic Relief, now in its fifth year of humiliating celebrities.
The number of iconic dances left to recreate has dwindled since Robert Webb’s
sublime Flashdance, but each series usually throws up a couple of hilarious and
surreal routines (Noel Fielding’s Wuthering Heights tribute springs to mind),
and this year should be no different. But can we agree at the outset: first
person to do Gangnam Style is disqualified?
Judging this week were Tameka Empson, Bradley
Walsh, and Mel Giedroyc deploying as many baking metaphors as she could muster.
First up were soap stars Natalie Cassidy, Dean Gaffney, Claire Sweeney and
Ricky Groves, dancing a routine from Hairspray. I was at Television Centre on
Friday and saw Claire and Natalie: Claire looked confident, Natalie was on the
phone. Only one of these approaches was carried over into the routine - a
competent performance which introduced the first man in a dress of the series
in record-breaking time. Bonus points for Gaffney who effectively walked out of
a car crash and straight into rehearsals, so should be congratulated simply for
being able to remember the choreography.
In the
absence of any particularly imaginative routine, comedienne Olivia Lee as Lady
Gaga provided the most memorable moment of the night, causing chaos in the
studio by incorporating George the dog into her performance. Mel Giedroyc tried
in vain to compare Olivia’s dancing to cake whilst Tameka Empson revealed
herself not only to be afraid of dogs, but also surprisingly gullible when it
came to Bradley Walsh’s impression of George attacking her.
As Justin
Timberlake makes his musical comeback, comedian Tim Vine made the topical
choice to dance in the manner of a JT who had spent his time away from music
indulging in very little dance practice. To his credit, Vine unleashed some
great “hat-ography” and was in time throughout (an achievement which says a lot
about the show’s standard of dance).
A trio of
unrecognisable comedians formed a Destiny’s Child tribute act which was
disturbing rather than hilarious - very good sports, but perhaps avoid
YouTubing this one. The final performance - Ricky Hatton as Robbie Williams –
was built around Hatton flying through the air. Unfortunately something went
wrong, meaning the routine consisted mainly of some skipping and then a
prolonged bit of filler with the judges playing air guitar before an empty
harness drifted forlornly across the stage. At least we were treated to seeing
Ricky in what Giedroyc called a “nappy of sequins”.
After a reminder that the array
of shambolic and occasionally traumatising routines we witnessed was all for a
terrifically good cause, Tim Vine sailed through to the final on the public
vote, and the judges sent the soap stars through. Neither of them screams
winner, but there’s still time for the series to produce a classic routine. If
nothing else, let’s just hope the costume budget for the men’s dresses and
catsuits is a bit bigger next week.
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