Keep dancing! Strictly’s last spin for Tess and Claudia

For the past 21 years, there has been only one ever-present on Strictly Come Dancing.

- Michael Hogan

It’s not the dancer turned judge Anton Du Beke, not the panel’s panto villain, Craig Revel Horwood, not even the trusty bandleader, Dave Arch.Strictly’s sole permanent fixture was Tess Daly. She took a few weeks of maternity leave in 2004 after giving birth to her eldest daughter, Phoebe, but since then the glitterball stalwart hasn’t missed a show, clocking up in excess of 500 episodes.

Now she and her co-host, Claudia Winkleman, have stepped down and it is truly the end of a TV era. Their sendoff was the Christmas special, in which both received gifts from the judges - aptly, a dance for Daly and a comedy skit for Winkleman - before a cathartic last dance. “It’s our final time,” said Daly. “So let’s make it count. Keep dancing!”

Daly helped establish Strictly as a primetime hit alongside Bruce Forsyth. In the early 2000s, bringing ballroom dancing back to the TV schedules was a considerable punt.

Daly was a key part of making the show a success. Her father, Vivian, a textile factory worker, died of emphysema a year before she landed the job. “My dad loved ballroom dancing,” she has said. “He got me into it when I was a kid. It’s wonderful to think I’ve done something that would have made him so proud.”

When Forsyth hung up his dancing shoes a decade later, Daly formed a trailblazing double act with Winkle-man - the first female presenting duo on Saturday night TV.

It is a testament to Daly’s skill that the show didn’t skip a beat during the transition. A lot of that was thanks to the women’s off-screen bond.