idea, it's from Keshet's Rising Star format. Rising Star was the hot idea in 2014, and sold around the world like hot cakes. Then other broadcasters got to make their versions, and unanimously found it to be a failure. Whatever made Rising Star a massive success on Israeli television didn't export anywhere else. ITV had the rights, and was going to make a series in 2015, but cancelled it and we got Stephen Mulhern's The Muppet Show instead.

Anyway. We mentioned "dance captains", the closest we get to a judging panel. At this stage, the three are advisors giving constructive criticism. The line-up is Oti Mabuse, a professional from Strictly Come Dancing. There's Matthew Morrison, from Glee and Broadway musicals. And there's Cheryl (previously Cheryl Tweedy, Cheryl Cole, CherylFernandez-Versini, The Other One From Girls Aloud), whose qualification is more singing than dancing.

The dancing experts and captains.

In the beginning, the auditions made for great television. We see the performers enter the building, and chill in a "reception" area. That's a novel idea, we've never seen anything like it before, and it provides a great hook. "Yes, we're Dancemania..." (and wipe to the filmed piece – if there's to be a filmed piece).

Welcome to the world of The Greatest Dancer.

But reception areas are slightly formal, slightly aloof from the rest of society. They're a liminal space, at the tendrils of Simon Cowell's control. Out on the street, he is nothing. In his studio, Cowell rules. Here at reception, those worlds meet, and the performers might be put a