Strictly Come Dancing is one of the most popular shows that viewers love to sit back and enjoy on a Saturday night.
But in recent years the BBC programme, which hit our screens in 2004, has been involved in some controversy.
The Strictly scandal started when actress Amanda Abbington, 51, made some allegations against her dancing partner Giovanni Pernice, 34, followed by another wave made by Zara McDermott, 28, against Graziano Di Prima, 30.
Dynasty legend Stephanie Beacham appeared on Strictly back in 2007 - but what does she think about last year’s bullying allegations?
Suffice to say she takes the stiff upper lip approach.
‘How else do you learn to dance? I taught dancers for a term or two. These were dancers who weren’t going to be good enough, so I gave them acting lessons because they were going to do panto and stuff like that.
Dynasty star Stephanie Beacham says there should be MORE bullying on Strictly to whip celebs into shape - as she reveal why her experience on the show was 'ghastly'
The 78-year-old took part in Strictly with her pro parnter Vincent Simone back in 2007
Actress Amanda Abbington made allegations about her former Strictly pro partner Giovanni Pernice after taking part in 2023
'But dance teachers can be punishing horrors.
'I didn’t have any bullying on Strictly, I think I should have had a bit more!
'You’ve got to have a competitive nature for Strictly, which I haven’t.
'It was the wrong thing. A ghastly business. I got on terribly badly.’
In a dance-off with Letitia Dean, she found herself rooting for the EastEnders star.
'It was the most humiliating thing, like doing a sixth audition for a part. It’s awful.
'So while we were waiting I said to Letitia under my breath, “Go for it, because I want out!”’
And out she duly went.
Stephanie also reflected on the global political landscape, quipping that Donald Trump could have been a character in Dynasty, the over-the-top 80s soap opera that glorified extreme wealth and power, in which she played glamorous, calculating Sable Colby.
‘He would have fitted in beautifully,’ she says. ‘I think Sable would have taken up many of his ideas – that’s if she didn’t give him some.’
Dynasty ran throughout the 80s, and Stephanie says it and its spin-off The Colbys, in which she also starred, reflected the times – the greed-is-good era of Wall Street and yuppies.
'It wasn’t just shoulder-pads, it was also a mental thing.
'Success was what you were meant to have then, and it was a flashy success.’
Does that make her think of Trump and his behaviour?
'That’s how what could have been a reasonable philosophy turned evil,’ she says.
'That era was actually poisonous, because it was philosophically evil in itself.
'But we didn’t know that then, so there was an innocence about searching for that much money and power and indulgence.’
Stephanie (right) pictured with Joan Collins (left) in 1988 on Dynasty
She agrees that Sable Colby was very good to her (‘I was enormously thrilled to be overpaid in the 80s!’) but her latest role is an altogether different proposition.
In the film Grey Matter she plays Peg, a granny from Suffolk living with Alzheimer’s whose troubled granddaughter becomes her carer, and it’s a distinctly low-budget affair compared to the prime-time American soap.
'It was stripped down,’ she says.
'But the most delightful thing about it for me was I said to myself, “Okay, this is a different game.
'We don’t want flashing looks with the eyes, we don’t want make-up, we don’t want high-heeled shoes and crossed legs, we don’t want anything that has so far paid for your children’s schooling.
'This was a lovely blank canvas, and I had experience.'
Her experience was with her beloved late father Alec, who had Alzheimer’s. As she describes his illness, her emotions overwhelm her.
‘It goes straight to the depths of personal experience.
'My father, the most delightful, witty… how do you describe a gentleman who’s almost Edwardian… descending into… sorry, I can’t even do it without…’
After a moment, she composes herself and goes on. ‘We got him into a home but he escaped from the first one, climbed over fences.
'He was a great walker, a man who loved to see the country, and I think he suddenly thought, “What am I doing in here, I can’t bear it!”
'We had several homes before we found the perfect one.’
Stephanie became frightened of her father because of the effect his condition had on him.
‘My darling Daddy became blind and deaf. You would touch his hand, and of course there was no point saying, “Hello, Daddy, it’s Stephanie!” because he couldn’t hear and he couldn’t see.
'So suddenly he felt a stranger touching him and he would lash out. The memory of seeing your wonderful father trying to eat jelly with the spoon upside-down so nothing reached his mouth was…’ she pauses.
‘Anyway, those things meant Grey Matter was something I really wanted to be involved with.’
The star, known for her designer outfits and immaculate appearance, chose a very different look for Peg.
‘I selected the most awful clothes in the whole wide world – though Peg didn’t think they were.
The lovely wardrobe mistress was putting out co-ordinated clothes for me every morning and I said, “No! No! I want the bits that look the worst!”
'And the same with everything else. I wasn’t going to wear make-up.’
Yet Grey Matter does have its lighter moments.
Peg has a pet snake and she enjoys tearing around the Suffolk coast on her mobility scooter with her granddaughter Chloe, played by talented newcomer Eloise Smyth.
Stephanie does yoga, Pilates and meditation, and clocks up plenty of steps every day – although she’s read that women can get by on fewer than previously thought
The film coincides with the debate about the assisted dying laws and 78-year-old Stephanie, who lives in the UK and Spain, has been following it closely.
'First of all, I’d say let’s have more social care and more hospice care. I’m sure there is a gentle place for assisted dying, but I think to go straight from “this is an inconvenient illness” to death is not right.
'Hospices are beautiful. In our film, Peg is able to go into one. There is still value in living there, as my father was able to do.
'Can someone in great pain be gently put into less pain and looked after?
'I’m not against assisted dying, there are cases for it, but I think we’re missing a lot of steps on the way.'
Has she given any thought to her own end, when that distant day comes?
'I’m giving quite a lot of thought to it,' she says.
'I remember when one of my daughters was very young she said, "You should have a sports car, Mummy, and you should drive it over a cliff!"
'A bit like the ending of Thelma And Louise. I don’t think longevity is worth it without health, that’s my only conclusion. I see no point in being 100 years old if every day is panic and pain.’
Stephanie does yoga, Pilates and meditation, and clocks up plenty of steps every day – although she’s read that women can get by on fewer than previously thought.
'We tend to be doing activities anyway. We’re not stomping off into the woods, because we’re already doing it tottering off to Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
'We move quite a lot, just making the bed and cleaning the bath and whatever else it might be.’
She could certainly take care of herself when it came to her leading men.
She appeared opposite Marlon Brando in British film The Nightcomers in 1971 and they became romantically involved.
What was their relationship like?
‘Oh, he just liked to talk. He phoned me up at three o’clock in the morning once and said, “Why is your name Beacham?”
'And I said, "You’ve got it entirely wrong, darling, it’s pronounced Bow-shom."
'The next day when he rang me I said, "Why did you phone me at three o’clock? It was a silly time to ring!" He said, "I wanted to see if you got cross."'
The Nightcomers was one of two films she made with director Michael Winner, whose reputation for curtness preceded him.
To prepare for a bombardment of four-letter words, she stood in front of a mirror and shouted one of the choicest ones at herself repeatedly.
'He had a very sweet tooth, so on the first day of filming I gave him a tin of golden syrup which had the slogan "Out of the strong came forth sweetness" and I said, "You can eat it but please read it first." And I must say he was pretty good after that.'
