SINCE Dancing on Ice hit our television screens in 2006, ice rinks across the country have reported being busier than ever.

Having watched the live tour version of the show, it is easy to see why ice skating has become so popular.

After a spectacular opening performance by the professional skaters, former Olympic champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean received a standing ovation for their performance of Bolero.

Despite being too young to remember their gold medalwinning performance, at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, I found it easy to understand what made it so special.

Celebrity skaters on the tour boast three previous winners among their ranks – singers Ray Quinn and Suzanne Shaw, and retired rugby royalty Kyran Bracken, who performed a series of dazzling dances with gravity-defying lifts.

Members of the audience could be forgiven for wondering if these were the same people who could barely pull on a pair of skates at the start of their ice adventures.

Former EastEnders’ star Todd Carty, who became infamous for his frankly awful skating in the ITV show, produced another hilariously unsteady routine.

The couples were marked by the judges before the audience was given the opportunity to have its say.

Quinn and his partner, Maria Flippov, walked away with the title once again, after a Bolero dance-off against Bracken and his partner, Melanie Lambert.

A final highlight of the evening was a show-stopping dance, which included lifts you would not think possible, by professional skaters Lukasz Rozycki and Alexandra Schaumann.

The show was awe-inspiring and action-packed, with everyone going home happy.