SEQUINNED frocks, silver shoes and Brylcreemed men in tail coats -- all synonymous with ballroom dancing. Now, the show that brought the ballroom into the living room is back. With Come Dancing returning to our TV screens, Karen Stephen asks, will it encourage all ages to take to the floor?

THE sequinned frocks will soon be waltzing around our living rooms again as Come Dancing returns to our television screens.

The ballroom dancing competition -- famous for its fixed smiles and remarkably rigid hairdos -- is set for a come-back, with Bruce Forsyth mooted as the show's presenter.

Not only is it back, but on prime time, too -- Saturday night, if you please.

Come Dancing was first shown in 1949, the brainchild of Eric Morley who also devised Miss World, and in its heyday in the late '60s and '70s the programme attracted 10 million viewers who would tune in to watch amateurs dance rhumbas, tangoes and military two-steps from venues like the Blackpool Tower Ballroom.

But will the return of the programme encourage a younger generation to take up ballroom dancing?

Marie Sandham who, together with husband, Michael, runs Sandham's Dance Studio on Peel Street, in Farnworth, says: "I sincerely hope so. Come Dancing has a special place in our hearts because we appeared on the programme many times when Terry Wogan and Angela Rippon were the presenters."

The pair were members of the North-west team that won the Come Dancing final in 1983.

"We were regulars on the programme in the late '70s and early '80s," says Marie, "and the show used to pull in a lot of viewers.

"I think its popularity waned when they tinkered with the format -- they introduced disco dancing and, to be honest, that's not what Come Dancing was about.

"It was about traditional ballroom and Latin American dancing and women wearing beautiful costumes."

According to the Dance Council, half a million people go ballroom dancing every week.

They range from older couples waltzing at tea dances to growing numbers of young people learning to salsa at Latin American classes. The latter making a big impact following the chart success of Ricky Martin, although its fitness benefits are unquestionable.

"Dancing, especially Latin American, requires remarkable fitness and stamina," says Marie. "Everyone can benefit from it, in both mind and body."

Despite little TV coverage, support for ballroom dancing has, according to Marie, always remained strong.

Blackpool Tower Ballroom still pulls in the dancers every day and night of the week, many travelling from all over the country to dance there.

The venue even featured in an episode of Coronation Street when Vera Duckworth won a ballroom dancing competition held in the Tower.

Yet Marie says that, while ballroom dancing is still the mainstay of the older generation, it is popular with young people too.

"Our students vary greatly in age," she says, "but I think younger people find it more difficult to come and dance together.

"They usually have young children and babysitting can be a problem, that's why we tend to get older dancers here on a more regular basis."

The new series of Come Dancing has been commissioned for BBC1 on Saturday night prime-time in the next six months and it is understood that a string of celebrities have been lined up to join in with the dancing.

Hosts over the years have included Terry Wogan, Angela Rippon, Judith Chalmers and Frank Bough. Dancers could leave viewers speechless -- not just with their dancing prowess but their increasingly skimpy and flamboyant costumes.

"Ah yes, the costumes," laughs Marie.

"We did used to wear some rather revealing costumes. I used to make my own -- I would start with a body stocking, sew on the material and then add sequins and rhinestones.

"Even though they looked glamorous, the outfits still needed to be flexible to move with the energetic dance steps."

So, with Come Dancing making a comeback, will it make celebrities out of the dancers?

When the programme was taken off the air in 1995 viewers had dropped to 2.8 million. But controller of BBC1, Lorraine Heggessey feels the time is right for a revival.

And in our celebrity-mad world, who knows, we might become obsessed with the Posh and Becks of Come Dancing.

As long as they can sew on all the sequins themselves, that is.