WE are now just weeks away from the return of Strictly Come Dancing.

Every year for the past few years I have promised myself I wouldn't get too involved in it.

Probably in the hope my Saturday nights would instead be filled with a round of parties and wild nights out.

But since my youngest child is three those sort of nights out are few and far between.

And the shorter nights make staying in with a hot chocolate, popcorn and Tess and Claudia far more preferrable.

When she was younger our daughter would prance about - begging us to mark her efforts out of ten.

Now she, sadly, is not so interested so it is getting harder to find a reason to watch because I used to pretend it was because she wanted to watch it.

But it is just addictive.

From the minute they get paired with their partners, I'm in.

I love it all - the shows on a Saturday and even the accompanying magazine show hosted by Zoe Ball on BBC, It Takes Two.

This is worth it alone for the sparkly jumpers Zoe often sports. I hope she wears them when she is in Brighton.

What a waste to only wear them once.

She also does a much better job of demonstrating the dances than Claudia did when she had that job.

This, if you are not an afficionado of the show, is because Zoe was a contestant many series ago and actually made it to the final with her partner Ian Whaite.

She didn't forget him though and even got him a job alongside her in the It Takes Two Studio discussing everyone's performances.

But I feel I have been unfair to Claudia - one of our highest paid female television presenters no less.

Because she is reason alone to watch Strictly on a Saturday - even if you don;t really like the dancing.

I miss her doing the interveiwing upstairs in that little overcrowded platform.

She once told one of the dancer not to look directly at her because he was "too beautiful" and she made Lens Lens the success it was with her witty comments.

If it had been up to me I would have left her up there when she teamed up with Tess.

Tess is undoubtedly a safe pair of hands but she is not as funny - and it is sometimes a bit disappointing when she tries to be.

Leave it to Claudia with her too thick fringe, heavy eyeliner and child size clothes which still look a bit too big on her.

She even makes the terrible jokes given to her seem vaguely amusing.