Another year, another musician takes their bow on reality TV. Last year it was Limahl taking on Nadine Dorries in the jungle faux-liage, this year it’s the turn of Sophie Ellis-Bextor, dancing off against the likes of Vanessa Feltz and Dave Myers on Strictly Come Dancing.

In the late 1990s, at the tail-end of the britpop days, when interest was rapidly waning, a young Sophie fronted Theaudience, a gentle indie-pop group who managed one album and a handful of singles before being dumped by their label. Ellis-Bextor, of course, went on to sing the chart-topping “Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)”, but it wasn’t her first major success: before splitting, her band managed to win the prestigious (yet mostly unheard of) “Alternative Eurovision” contest with “A Pessimist is Never Disappointed”.