A DISCO-DANCING diva from Bolton is to appear live on TV taking part in the final auditions for the BBC's new dance show.

Suzanne Gaskell, aged 21, and her dance partner Paul Culshaw, aged 20, beat thousands of others at the Manchester auditions in February and will feature in Strictly Dance Fever - The Auditions with host Graham Norton this Saturday.

"I'm so nervous, I've never done anything like this before," said Suzanne, who lives in Great Lever,

More than 80,000 people auditioned for the show - the oldest was an 89-year-old quickstepper - and they have been whittled down to just 30 couples.

Each week one couple will be eliminated by votes from the public and the panel of judges.

Ten will go through to the finals and the winning couple will land £50,000 in prize money.

The new show - a spin-off from Strictly Come Dancing - will be followed on Saturday by the first episode of the new Dr Who, starring Christopher Eccleston.

BBC bosses hope the two shows will prove a ratings hit.

At the auditions, Suzanne and Paul, who lives in Wigan, had to try and impress the show's dance instructors with a two-minute routine.

Suzanne said: "Everything was really relaxed. It had been a long day and we just did our routine and forgot the cameras were there."

She even got the chance to meet Graham Norton.

"I was speechless," she said. "I thought I'd never wash my hand again after we shook hands.

"When he saw me doing the splits, he looked impressed. He was really friendly and laid back."

The bubbly Bolton girl has been disco dancing since she was five.

She said: "My mum sent me for lessons to try and tire me out because I had so much energy. But it didn't work, I'm more hyper than ever."

Suzanne is studying dance and theatre at Salford University and she hopes exposure on national television will open doors for her.

While no-one else in the family dances, Suzanne's mother reckons she passed on her sense of rhythm to her daughter.

Strictly Dance Fever -The Auditions is this Saturday on BBC1 at 6pm.