'Strictly has become this huge monster'

WHEN it comes to judging a good TV host, choreographer Dame Arlene Phillips is on point.

- BY JULIE ANN TRAINOR

As an original judge on Strictly Come Dancing, she spent four years alongside Len Goodman as the BBC show soared with Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly at the helm.

She was sensationally replaced on the judging panel in 2009 by singer and former Strictly winner Alesha Dixon, then 30.

The change provoked claims that the BBC was ageist.

The hit Saturday night show weathered this and many subsequent storms.

It faced fresh turmoil in October when hosts Tess, 56, and Claudia Winkleman, 54, said that series would be their last.

Tess had been urging the viewing public to “keep dancing” since 2004. Claudia had been at her side since 2010.

Dame Arlene, 82, who has worked with icons such as Diana Ross and Tina Turner, was not surprised by the duo’s decision to leave and believes Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham would be the perfect replacement.

Arlene says: “I think Hannah Waddingham would smash it.