Bring back Arlene - Telegraph An opportunity has presented itself for Mark Thompson, the director-general of the BBC, to confound all the critics who have accused the corporation of ageism over the way it has dispensed with the services of its older women employees. The decision of Alesha Dixon to leave the judging panel of Strictly Come Dancing and join Simon Cowell on ITV's Britain's Got Talent has left a vacancy that can be filled by one person only: Arlene Phillips. The 68-year-old choreographer and former dancer was unceremoniously dumped in favour of the younger, but infinitely less knowledgeable, Miss Dixon. She suffered the same fate that has befallen other women presenters of a certain age, to the fury of many of the BBC's older viewers. Arlene should be reinstated for the next series - assuming, that is, she wants to go back, after the shameful way she was treated.