Professionals on Ice brings the skating stars from ITV's Dancing on Ice to a skating rink near you.

(If Dancing on Ice has achieved nothing else, I think nearly everyone in the country must now know what a "headbanger" is!)

I was quite surprised to see that the size of the ice rink had been reduced as this immediately made it feel a little less spectacular than I expected.

The show began with a group dance by all the professionals, then each couple came on in turn to skate on their own.   Notwithstanding the beautiful costumes and the impressive skating (the aforesaid headbangers making several appearances), I found that I was becoming a little bit bored after about the third couple.    

There is no MC for the show so there is no-one there to be a link between the performers and the audience.   This makes the whole thing become a little flat as there is no introduction to each couple, other than a (presumably pre-recorded) voiceover which it was absolutely impossible to understand due to the acoustics of the rink. I could only pick out the occasional word so I have no idea who the skaters were or what was being said about them.    

Both halves of the show were interspersed with local skating talent who took to the ice to perform. This varied from solo skaters to larger groups. On the one hand, I think this is a nice gesture and it is undoubtedly very exciting for those who are invited to take part.   However, the show is called Professionals on Ice and this is what I was expecting to see.   The second half in particular was quite heavy with performances by the local skaters.   No disrespect to any of them but I didn't want to see so much of this, it was akin to watching a show by a local dance school and it isn't what I had hoped for from the evening.

There was one point in the show when Matt Evers (the Creative Director and also one of the performers) came out to introduce some local skaters but sadly his hand held microphone didn't work.   Instead of someone providing him with a back-up, he was left to flounder for quite a while before deciding to shout his speech to the audience.   I don't think I was the only one who couldn't tell a word he was saying. Not his fault obviously but what a shame that measures hadn't been put in place in case something like this happened.

After a rather underwhelming performance by the female professionals which opened the second half, things improved somewhat as the male professionals came out for their turn, dressed in various uniforms: Policeman, Fireman etc.   My interest perked up a little at this point. Well...who doesn't like a man in uniform?!

Quite impressive was the dance involving the female skater brandishing flaming torches.   This was dramatic and intense and I did begin to warm up a little...possibly this was psychological because of the flames or maybe I was hallucinating as a result of the overpowering paraffin fumes which unfortunately lasted for the rest of the show!

Some of the skating was excellent but all in all, the show as a whole was quite underwhelming with a somewhat amateurish feel to it. Sadly, for me, it didn't deliver the exciting spectacle that I was hoping for.   In fact...wait for it...I'm sorry to say that it left me cold.

Reviewed on:   27 October 2015

Reviewed by:   Nicky Lambert