Strictly Come Dancing 2012, Hollywood Night, review Strictly Does Hollywood (BBC One) was, as expected, sparkly, entertaining and as camp as a waxed rugby player in a cocktail dress singing It's Raining Men. The costumes fluttered, the puns flowed. The only problem, in fact, with this third instalment in the endlessly photogenic celebrity dancing contest was the demonstrable lack of a comedy contestant. From John Sergeant "the dancing pig" to Ann Widdecombe "the appliance" to the solar system-sized ego of Nancy dell'Olio, most of the previous series have served up some winning competition of histrionics or ineptitude or both. Maybe some people tune in to this programme for abstruse dancing tips about strengthened cores and the importance of extending after your plié, but I get the impression most viewers want a combination of glamour and a quiet snigger at the expense of the famous and flat-footed. In this run, though, the weaker dancers are just that: weaker, rather than hilariously hobbled-looking. As Michael Vaughan's dance partner put it, the retired cricketer looked like "a Dad learning to dance," which is only mildly entertaining to watch, and all too easy to empathise with. His Cha Cha to Hot Stuff from the Full Monty was judged to be tepid, though he fared a little better than Sid Owen, the actor, who languished at the bottom of the leader board with 17 points after a "stompy, clompy" rendition of Here I go Again from the film Rock of Ages. Also on lacklustre form was Jerry Hall, despite the fact that she was dancing the quickstep to Mrs Robinson, a role she played in the stage version of The Graduate. At some point midway through the routine, though, she seemed to go from being poised to devour her partner Anton du Beke like he was a light hors d'oeuvre, to looking like she might just prefer to take a nap instead. Still, there was much to enjoy in the night's proceedings, and not just the fact that Victoria Pendleton held back the tears. Looking lovely, lithe and just a little uncomfortable, she turned in a creditable rumba and won some kind words from the judges, who perhaps sensed that publicly flagellating an emotionally fragile Olympic heroine was not the best approach. Darcey Bussell, in fact, barely said a harsh word to anyone, sticking to her judging modus operandi of dispensing snippets of technical advice while sounding like the headmistress of a girl's school in Lichtenstein. The top performers, meanwhile, served as a reminder of the gaping chasm that exists between natural dancers and the rest of us. Lisa Riley, the actress, was a joy to watch, bounding about to Hanky Panky from the film Dick Tracy, while the Olympic gymnast Louis Smith pulled off an impeccably understated smoulder of a Dirty Dancing routine and Kimberley Walsh, the singer, ricocheted her way through a quickstep to Get Happy. Deserving her place at the top of the leader board with a score of 32, Denise van Outen gave a curiously moving performance to a creative piece of choreography based on the film Toy Story. It was so good, in fact, that the judges managed to resist the urge to use a wooden-based pun, which tells you all you need to know about her prospects in the contest.