WHEN I was a little girl my mum used to insist on watching the ice skating every year, much to my dad’s dismay, and I remember being enthralled by the tiny figures whipping wildly around the rink.

I was too young to have watched Torvill and Dean’s legendary Olympic-winning performance of Bolero in 1984, but I can still hear her waxing lyrical about how beautiful it was.

Step forward a couple of decades and I got to experience the 21st Century version of those special moments, again with my mum, at Torvill and Dean’s Dancing on Ice The Final Tour.

Emotions were definitely running high for the thousands of excited fans who had packed out the Arena and were literally bursting with glee to be there, but dismayed it would be the final curtain call for the show.

It was classy start with the dynamic duo Torvill and Dean gliding onto the ice and one-by-one partnering up with the star skaters surrounding them to the fitting sound of The Best is Yet to Come.

Here comes hunky Kyran Bracken, then tiny redheaded Bonnie Langford, shy Gareth Gates, confident Suzanne Shaw, smiley Hayley Tamaddon, sporting heroine Beth Tweddle, bumbling, stumbling Joe Pasquale and finally, of course, the pocket rocket Ray Quinn.

It was then time for the competition, and things were ramped up to the max with booming voiceovers and videos of their ’journeys’ designed to tug on all the heartstrings.

All danced well but Ray, who was crowned champion of champions in March, was just obviously better than the rest, earning perfect 10s from Robin Cousins and Karen Barber and a 9.5 from that mean old Nicky Slater. No bother as Ray still sailed to victory thanks to the text vote and was crowned winner of the night.

For me the best celebrity dance of the night actually came in the second half from Hayley’s How Long Will I Love You? routine with partner Dan Whiston, which was pure poetry.

The professional dancers also got to show off their, let’s admit it, far superior skills and this was the part of the evening I truly enjoyed.

Of course, the grand finale was, and had to be, Bolero, and it was quite moving watching Jane and Christopher explaining how as they perform they imagine themselves as two ill-fated lovers, climbing up a volcano to throw themselves in.

Emotional, teetering on the over-dramatic and full of skill. Just like the entire evening.

4/5

The Dancing on Ice Final Live Tour will be at Wembley Arena again from April 23 to April 24.