And the gallant Sir Bruce rode to the rescue of the Lady Alesha

.....so expect a slew of tabloid stories along the lines of "Doddery former hoofer Bruce Forsythe (185) launched a swingeing attack at the genuine and justified outrage of BBC licence payers as uncovered in the Daily Murdoch"....

This could have been Bruce being sincere, or cringeworthy, depending on your point of view, but it could also have been part of the ongoing PR disaster that is the BBC's response to all this. This was the BBC as easily offended maiden Auntie - telling us naughty children that we will sit at the table until we eat our greens, and we will enjoy it, because Auntie always knows best.

Give her her due though, Alesha has significantly improved. I particularly liked her comments to Jo Wood about not letting her face give her mistakes away (how many times have I given just that advice!) which were relevant and came as a result of Alesha's direct experience. Such a shame that she did not hit the ground running last week.

First off, another beautiful Pro dance - Waltz and Tango, with some really lovely dresses. A tough act to follow.

Natalie and Vincent did themselves proud - not the best tango of the night, but a good first dance. She has ability and confidence, and seems to work her socks off. I hope she goes far.

Zoe and James executed a nice but quite safe routine. Zoe did well but seems to suffer from nerves. I loved her dress and she rocked the Grace Kelly look, but I think the floats on the dress masked the body contact, or lack of, between them. James seems so very hard to warm to...... The more I think of it, the more I am convinced that there is some serious miscasting this show. Laila and James would have made a fiery pair, and Zoe far better suited to Anton.

Craig and Flavia up next, and I am afraid I was underwhelmed, except by Flavia's dress. The singers murdered, buried and danced on the grave of the track that they were attempting to sing, and it did Craig no favours at all. It wasn't until the very end when Flavia incorporated some hand mudras into the choreo that I realised it was actually Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire. Perhaps the singers could stick to instrumentals in future. And I think, Craig Devil Borewood, you may have wanted to refer to Bollywood not Bhangra.

Diddy and Lil' Lil up next. Bless, he looked so petrified but managed to pull off a reasonably convincing routine, nicely choreographed by Lilia, until about the mid point when the standing spin threatened to unravel wildly out of control. I know I shouldn't, but I agreed with Alesha's comment that he was cute!

Next up - a threesome with Anton, Laila and the best dress of the series! I want that dress so badly! Nice tango, best choreographed of the night, unsurprisingly, and best music too. Slightly undermarked I thought compared to Zoe's waltz though. Laila will not go far in this competition. Her behaviour, in direct contrast to Zoe who seemed almost shaking with nerves, will not win votes. "I will have to wait till tomorow to whip your butt" made Denise Lewis look uncompetitive. Not a promising start.

The surprise of the night! A well danced, happy and relaxed waltz from my Tuffers (he is so getting my vote), and perfectly pitched by Katya. Tuffers has played this game well - by allowing himself to be portrayed as a bit lazy, a bit laissez-faire, he built up the impression of a hopeless duffer, and then last night we had the surprise unveiling. Bet he was a bit miffed when Shirley Ballas praised him, and remarked that he had potential and let slip that he had put in some extra hours of hard work!

Jo and Brendan. She wore a lovely dress and I am just about to start making my Christmas list (hint, hint).

Ricky and Natalie - best dance of the night, and a good recovery from a little slip. I am already a bit worried about them being seen as too good too soon. Just as the pre-show bookies' fave has never won Strictly, so the person at the top of the leaderboard in their first week has never won SCD. They need to have an off week or two, preferably around week 5 or 6, before the pack starts to thin too much and it leaves them vulnerable. Then we can have the "favourite falters, but makes trimphant return" storyline. But sod Alesha, it is going to be Ricky Whittle getting the "yoof" viewers in this season. Gorgeous, talented and cool - what more could you want.

And so to the judging panel. Well there were no wars between judges, no overly harsh comments, not even any ridiculous scores. Alesha has a new script writer, Bruno has got the balance between his Ritalin and caffeine sorted out, Len has banished Mr Hyde and as for Craig....well I think the producers must have attached electric shocking devices to his 1-3 paddles because he avoided them almost all night, only venturing one for Jo Wood - but it was nearly the end of the show, so he probably felt he could risk it.

In their critique of the group dance, the judges even singled out Lynda for praise, Joe for improvement and Rav as proof that they had got it right last week.

If only the panel would have behaved like this for the last 4 series, it could all have panned out so much better. Instead, somewhere during Series 3, the producers seemed to take a turn down the "pour humilation over a celeb" road, and lost the instructions on the map on how to get back.

Long may the mellowness continue! After all, the recent furore has totally masked the fact that this series has a much stronger cast than most series 6, the changes to the format are largely for the best, and there are already some very good dancers and some pleasant surprises on the show.

But I guess the proof of the pudding will be tonight. If it is not Jo and Richard in the dance off, the public have decided not to take the bait!