Len Goodman’s Dance Band Days

As ‘Strictly’ spin-offs go, it could have been worse. It could have been Bruce Forsyth at the helm of this nostalgic documentary about the emergence of Dance Band music in 1920s Britain. Goodman’s a far better choice, not least because there are no terrible punchlines and he’s peachy keen on the genre.

Don’t know it? Think of the flashback scenes in ‘The Shining’ or anything from ‘Pennies from Heaven’ and you’ve got it – foxtrotting couples in dance halls and hotel ballrooms trying to dance away anxieties about another impending world war. Goodman’s doc doesn’t touch on such contemporary uses of the music, but he does talk to plenty of musicians and experts – not just about the music’s development from American jazz but also the political and cultural contexts in which it arose.

The way the BBC banned vocals in broadcasts so as to avoid any attempts at song plugging, for example, or the physical complexities of recording using just one live take. It makes for an entertaining look at the music behind the dances, with not a bad joke in sight. Sweet.