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AMANDA PLATELL: The toxic truth about who's to blame for tarnishing Strictly for ever

Part of Strictly's magic was that it harked back to a more innocent and straightforward age, when women could enjoy having a strong man's arm around them.

Twenty years ago I burst into the meeting of senior newspaper executives and announced to a group of mostly middle-aged males that I had just seen a programme that would change Saturday night TV viewing for ever. ‘The choice on a Saturday night between Simon Cowell’s The X Factor attempting the lifelong destruction of a human being’s self-esteem – and that’s just his fellow judges – and the gentle world of the waltz and I’ll take Strictly any day.’ Oh for the days back in 2004 when a real novice Natasha Kaplinsky took to the dance floor with Brendan Cole and won the first series, transformed from a rather uptight newsreader – I’d even nicknamed her ‘Spangles’ – into an elegant swan.

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