Shall we dance?

‘Blimey! How on earth did they think of that?’ is unlikely to be anyone’s response to Our Dancing Town (BBC2, Tuesday). A few years ago, The Great British Bake Off was adapted into The Great British Sewing Bee by the simple process of fitting another domestic activity to the same formula. Now — after what I imagine was a brain-storming session lasting approximately 30 seconds — the BBC has taken the idea, structure and tone of Gareth Malone’s singing programmes and applied them to a series about dance. Enthusiastic evangelist for the life-changing potential of his chosen art form? Lots of initial sceptics dolefully shaking their heads and insisting that it can’t be done? Triumphant outcome in which the ordinary folk amaze themselves by what they accomplish? Check, check and check.

In this case, the enthusiastic evangelist is Steve Elias, a cheerfully if unexpectedly tubby figure who’s appeared in many West End musicals — and whose mission here is to get the people of Yorkshire to celebrate their home towns through the medium of interpretive dance.