Brave Amy launches Strictly's big birthday

STRICTLY star Amy Dowden was hoisted aloft on her fellow professional dancers’ shoulders last night in celebration of her return to the BBC show, after battling cancer.

- David Stephenson

The Welsh professional, 34, was partnered in a joyful routine by Slovenian dancer Aljaz Skorjanec, 34, who is also back after taking a two-year break to become a father.

Their pulsating steps, kicking off the show’s 20th anniversary series at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, had the audience on their feet throughout.

Amy – who first joined the show’s roster of dancers in 2017 – bravely shared the story of how she overcame cancer in a recent BBC documentary, Strictly Amy: Cancer and Me.

Kicking off the launch, in which celebrities were paired with their pros, host Tess Daly said: “I have to pinch myself when I realise it’s been 20 years since starting work on this brilliant TV show I was lucky enough to be chosen to be a part of.

“None of us knew at the time if it would work, and none of us could’ve foreseen its stratospheric success.”