Strictly the Professionals, recap: Tales of sacrifice and speed-dating, but really, what would we do without Anton Du Beke?

After last week’s Strictly Come Dancing 2019 launch show, the newly paired pro-celebrity couples have disappeared into the training rooms for a fortnight. The BBC plugged the gap with this prime-time celebration of the professional troupe. Here are all the talking points from the pro dancers’ moment in the spotlight…

Anton stole the show - but is it his last series?

There have murmurings that pairing stalwart pro Anton du Beke with hotly tipped EastEnders actress Emma Barton hints that this is the 53-year-old’s swansong series, hence producers have given him his best shot at the glitterball trophy for years. Such rumours won’t have been quelled by this show, which spent a lot of its running time paying tribute to “Sir Anton”.

We saw how he’s been there since the start, partnering Lesley Garrett way back in 2004, and how his chest-baring shirts led head judge Len Goodman to bellow: “Get that Brillo pad off your chest!” Anton revealed that Lesley Joseph was the quickest learner of his 16 celeb partners and how he once consoled Mark Wright, who was tearful about being in another dance-off by telling him: “You danced brilliantly, I can’t help it if nobody likes you.” He said his ambition was to score his first ever perfect 10 - and Anton’s two-year-old son George sweetly proceeded to give him one.

Finally, three of Tony Beak’s celebrity partners, dubbed “Anton’s Angels”, arrived to join in the japery: series eight’s Ann Widdecombe, series nine’s Nancy Dell’Olio (“Understated as ever!” grinned Anton as she sashayed on glamorously) and series 15’s Ruth Langsford. “This feels like a meeting of my ex-wives,” quipped Anton.

Widdecombe recalled how she used to make him do his shirt back up and we rewound their gold-clad Blackpool samba, during which Anton threw the two-left-footed Tory politician across the famous sprung floor in a move he dubbed the “chuck and slide”.

Anton said that when Langsford fell on top of him at the climax of their paso doble: “It suddenly went dark and I thought I’d died.” Most hilariously, he revealed how Dell’Olio once refused to walk four steps forward during rehearsal, insisting: “I look fantastic here.” If it is adios Anton, he's given us a highly entertaining 15 years.

Delight to see Brucey and Len again

The two venerable patriarchs of Strictly - original host Bruce Forsyth and former head judge Len Goodman - both popped up in archive clips and it was sheer joy to see the much-missed duo again. Old showbiz stager Sir Bruce dispensed twinkly one-liners and duetted on “Me and My Shadow” with his protégé Anton.

We also heard Len’s sage words of advice to Kevin Clifton before his first show: “By whatever luck has befallen us, we happen to be living in this moment when millions of people want to watch ballroom dancing on TV. And for however long it lasts, we are the luckiest people in the world.” Hear, hear.

However, there were noticeably few glimpses of another ex-judge, Dame Darcey Bussell. Perhaps the prima ballerina’s departure is still too recent and raw.

Ed “Glitter” Balls salsa-ed back to Strictly

Prancing Labour politician Ed Balls was the cult hero of the 2016 series and returned here to take a twinkled-toed trip down memory lane. Balls recalled how tough his pro partner Katya Jones was on him, making him repeat the same steps 38 times until he got it right.

We relived the American Smooth when he nearly dropped Katya and, of course, their infamous Gangnam Style salsa - and heard how Katya’s then-husband Neil Jones told her to turn her head away when she was held between Balls’ thighs. About his floor-slide finale, Balls said: “I used to be Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer but here I was, diving through the legs of a 28-year-old professional dancer on national TV. I thought, ‘What’s happened to me?’”

The couple remain endearingly close, with Katya going round Balls and wife Yvette Cooper’s house for Sunday lunch. He even dogsits her beloved dog Crumble. Oppa Ed Balls style!

Welcome to the 'chemistry circle'

We received a fascinating insight into the match-making process between celebrities and professionals. At the first group rehearsal, they all form a “chemistry circle” and every pro dances with each celeb, so producers can see who clicks and looks good together. No pressure, then.

It was compared to “speed dating” and has never been seen on TV before. A juicy nugget of inside information.

Kevin Clifton won’t let go of glitterball easily

He might be the reigning champion and do an uncanny impression of head judge Shirley Ballas but Kev from Grimsby hasn’t had an easy Strictly journey. He revealed how he was rejected twice from joining the cast, while then-wife Karen Hauer was successful first time. An old snap suggested why, as emo Kev resembled "a Gothic scarecrow who thinks he’s in a rock band”.

Instead he had to settle for dancing in a morph suit as the “invisible partner” in a Strictly trailer, before getting retouched out of the footage. Aww. Eventually, of course, he joined the pro ranks and was a four-time runner-up before finally lifting the glitterball trophy. “For me, it’s not about the winning,” he fibbed, fooling nobody.  Kevin confessed that his aim is to win back-to-back titles, which has never been achieved. He’ll have his work cut out, having been partnered with 60-year-old Anneka Rice.

The pros truly are close pals

It was cheering to witness up close the genuine warmth and camaraderie among the pro troupe. We saw how Janette Manrara, Nadiya Bychkova and Luba Mushtuk went on a girls’ holiday together, while her fellow pros are going to be Amy Dowden’s bridesmaids at her upcoming wedding.  Meanwhile, Johannes Radebe is going to be best man at Graziano Di Prima’s nuptials.

Dedication’s what you need

This programme stressed how hard the pros worked to hone their craft and the sacrifices they made to get to the top of the choreography game. Many left home at a young age to train or moved abroad to turn pro.

We saw cute childhood photographs and home video clips, with highlights including cherubic AJ Pritchard dancing with his brother Curtis (who found fame himself on his summer’s Love Island) and young Kevin Clifton taking to the Blackpool Tower Ballroom floor with sister (and fellow Strictly champion) Joanne.

We heard on isolated mic audio how the pros often coach their celebrity partners during routines, ventriloquist-style through gritted teeth. AJ admitted how agonising it is to keep getting knocked out in the semi-finals, while three-time runner-up Giovanni Pernice joked that he was considering buying his own glitterball trophy on Amazon (other online retailers are available). Most amusingly, we saw how “Ginger Neil” Jones once applied fake tan in a misguided attempt to look “more Latino”. It didn’t work.

Enough build-up. Bring on the series

This was featherlight but fun treat for Strictly lovers. A little self-indulgent, admittedly, with slightly naff graphic inserts and a low-budget clip show feel as the interviewees perched on sofas. Any mention of the “Strictly curse” was airbrushed out of proceedings, so the BBC’s crown jewel didn’t look like a hotbed of marital betrayal.

However, the pros came across well and the memory-jogging highlights montages (wardrobe malfunctions! Minions! Jake Wood’s bottom going like a jackhammer!) entertained us all over again.

It was a highly watchable appetite-whetter for this year’s first live show, which airs at 7pm on Saturday 21st September on BBC One. See you back here to decide whether the 15 couples’ ballroom debuts were dance dis-ah-sters or fab-ew-lous.