Skating onto our screens

Although Chris moved to Colorado Springs in the US to live with his American figure skater wife Jill Trenary, and Jayne settled in West Sussex with her husband Phil Christensen - an event producer who used to run the Torvill & Dean shows - they still kept in touch, meeting up when they could.

"We made this decision to retire and we were ready to retire, it was the right time. But taking the step was a big leap," says Chris.

"There was this period of two weeks from the decision to our last performance, where we knew our skating career of 20-plus years was finishing. We'd seen each other every day for all that time and that was ending because I was moving to America. It was a big wrench.''

Now, for the first time in eight years, the couple who won the hearts of the nation back in 1984, when they took gold for their ice dancing routine at the Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo, are skating together again.

But this time the focus won't be on them. Instead of returning to their hugely successful ice dancing shows, or limbering up for another crack at the Olympics, they're trying their hands at something new - teaching a handful of celebrities how to ice dance.

In a twist on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing format, ITV has come up with Dancing On Ice, in which a group of well-known faces vie for the public vote as best ice dancer.

Jayne, 48, and Chris, 47, are revelling in working together again.

''We'd skated together for 20 odd years,'' says Jayne. ''We'd danced every day together and to not have that for almost a decade, then suddenly come back and do it again, performing demonstrations for the celebrities, it was all very familiar and comfortable.''

There was a time when Jayne and Chris were often mistaken for a couple. It happens rarely these days; both are married with children - Jayne has a three-year-old son Kieran while Chris has sons Jack, eight, and five-year-old Sam.

When you meet them they behave like brother and sister, talking over each other and casually bickering. But often throughout their careers people suspected a romantic connection, particularly after seeing them perform together.

''It was the same with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers,'' says Chris. ''People would see them on screen and naturally assume they must date each other because they looked so good together.''

The pair were put together in 1975 by Nottingham coach Janet Sawbridge after Jayne's former partner had moved away. At 14 she was getting too old to start single skating, but Chris was more than willing to pair up with her.

Skating took up every spare minute they had. While Jayne worked from nine to five as an insurance clerk, Chris was a policeman working shifts. If he finished at 10pm, she would head to the ice rink when most were thinking about going to bed.

It paid off. In 1984 they earned a place in history as the only couple ever to score nine sixes for artistic impression (the highest possible score) in ice dancing at the Winter Olympics.

Their routine to Ravel's Bolero in the now iconic purple and gold braid costumes is an unforgettable piece of television, not only for the amount of times it's been played.

''It was more than just a performance to us,'' says Chris. "Those years were all wrapped up in that one performance. By that time in our heads we both thought it was the most important thing in the world.''

Their success enabled them to turn professional and for the next ten years they toured the world with their ice shows. In 1994 they re-amateurised to compete in the Winter Olympics at Lillehammer, but only managed bronze.

They carried on professionally for another four years before their retirement. Now they're loving being at the forefront of bringing skating to the masses again.

''It'd be great if this show is a success,'' says Jayne. ''We'd love to create a following of people who want to watch skating, and it would bring skating back into people's lives again.''

*Dancing On Ice, ITV1, Saturday