Do you ever forget the first time you see your Dad on a dance floor? I don’t think eleven-year-old Sophie will. She’s the daughter of Chris McCausland, who single handedly is saving the beleaguered BBC Show Strictly Come Dancing, now in its twentieth year. Chris is blind. But has been the wowing the judges and the public alike with his routines expertly choreographed by dance partner Diana Boswell. It’s truly remarkable to behold.

I remember similar feelings never forgotten, as a teenager. The occasion was a family dinner dance at a local hotel. My Dad was our superhero. A bit of a daredevil, with no fear of heights. He would leap across roof tops and scale any tree. He drove a motorbike. He built stuff. He could tame the most aggressive dog. There was nothing he couldn’t turn his hand to. Until we forced him onto the dance floor. His two-step shuffle with rigid arms, clenched fist and eyes down left us transfixed.

Family honour was saved by Mum. She, in contrast was light and rhythmical. It was as if she’d just stepped off the set of Saturday Night Fever. The final revelation of the night came when a thunderous It’s Raining Men by The Weather Girls, filled the air. Suddenly all the Welsh aunties put down their Bitter Lemons and stood up. Like an army of disinhibited nuns, they owned that floor. They particularly liked the ‘Halleluiah’, of course. (Not sure if they made chapel the next morning…)

In this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, the lovable Chris McCausland is defying dance expectations in similarly breath-taking ways. Chris sadly lost his sight between the ages of 16 and 22, due to the hereditary condition retinitis pigmentosa. He was unable to finish his degree course. Nevertheless, he’s gone on to have an impressive career in standup and acting, appearing on programmes including Have I got News for You.

To be honest, I’d stopped watching Strictly a few years ago but I’ve been lured back. Watching “this amazing man” as Diana Buswell describes him, evokes a roller coaster of emotions. Utter awe and respect often give way to a sob fest. Even, the Judges and his dance partner get overcome with emotion. His Couple’s Choice routine included a poignant total blackout sequence so we could briefly enter his dark world. When the studio lighting returned, he was spinning Diana around in a spectacular lift! “I don’t know how you are doing this,” said Judge Craig afterwards.

As students at the Royal National College for the Blind have said, he is smashing down negative stereotypes of what visually impaired people can achieved. “Often people think blind people can only tune piano’s” added one student wryly. So true.  “It’s not that disabled people need inspiring” Chris insists, “but the public need to understand they are way more resilient, creative and problem solving than other people need to be.”

For some in the disability community, such an extraordinary success story, places heavy expectations on them. This kind of ‘disability tourism’ has its cringe moments too. Despite Chris triumphing in the Passo last Saturday, many fans accused the BBC of ‘bad taste’, by making him compete in the group ‘Sambathon’  challenge. He came last of course.

Will Chris save Strictly for another season? Or have the bullying scandals and this year’s ‘Grope Compare’ awkwardness become too distracting Daarling. Maybe the format is simply too tired and trapped in self-parody, and it should be gently retired.

We All Shine On was the song Chris chose for his memorable Couple’s Choice dance.  “It’s about kindness; people being nice to each; that things can turn out better than you think” he said. Such sentiments could give us a lift in these gloomy times. And maybe it will  be the final catchphrase for the so called ‘Strictly Family’, if this does turn out to be end of the glitterball ‘journey’.