Let's Dance: Comedy duo are on top in round two!

Let's Dance: Comedy duo are on top in round two!
Let's Dance: Comedy duo are on top in round two!

Comedy pair Paddy McGuinness and Keith Lemon have won the second round of BBC1's charity show Let's Dance for Comic Relief. The duo scored themselves an automatic place in the final of the show - in which celebrities recreate famous dance routines from musicals and films - after winning the public over with their version of Dirty Dancing's I've Had The Time Of My Life. The routine featured Lemon - the alter ego of funnyman Leigh Francis - dressed as Jennifer Grey in a pink dress, while McGuinness took on the Patrick Swayze role. And judge Anton de Beke said he was left almost "speechless" by the performance. "I'm elated, excited and weirded out all at the same time," he told the pair. Guest judge Paul O'Grady was also wowed by the performance. "I'm going to give you a standing ovation," he said, getting to his feet. "I thought you were sensational." Comedienne Jo Brand also won a place in the final after being voted through by the judges - although she didn't seem too pleased about it. "I have to say, I'm not happy at all," said Brand, who donned blonde pigtails and a school uniform to recreate Britney Spears' Baby One More Time routine. She won the judges vote ahead of a group made up of Blue Peter presenters - including former hosts Mark Curry and Janet Ellis - who performed a routine inspired by Elvis' classic Jailhouse Rock. Others who took part in Saturday's show included DJ Neil Fox and Nancy Sorrell, dancing to Christina Aguilera's Candyman. Dragons Den panellists Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones and Duncan Bannatyne also put their best foot forward with a ballroom routine to Let's Face The Music and Dance, while members of the cast of Hollyoaks recreated a routine from the 80s film Footloose. Lemon,McGuinness and Brand join comedian Robert Webb and TV presenters Dick and Dom who won places in the final on last week's show. The final will take place on March 14, the night after the Comic Relief telethon.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.