Entertainment

Len Goodman in seventh heaven as host of new BBC game show Partners In Rhyme

Len will be reunited with some familiar faces.
Len will be reunited with some familiar faces. Len will be reunited with some familiar faces.

Len Goodman has a new Saturday night TV job and it is set to reunite him with some of his Strictly Come Dancing co-stars.

The former Strictly head judge retired from the series last year, but will be back on screen with some familiar faces as the host of BBC family game show Partners In Rhyme.

Pairs of celebrities will compete in the programme, which features comedy rounds based on rhyming clues.

Len Goodman and Anton Du Beke
Len Goodman and Anton Du Beke
Len and Anton will be back together (Joel Ryan/PA)

So far, Strictly alumni signed up include professional dancers Oti Mabuse and Anton Du Beke, 2016 winner Ore Oduba and former contestants ex-cricketer Phil Tufnell and astrologer Russell Grant.

Other competitors will include actress Nina Wadia, comedian Hal Cruttenden and choir master Gareth Malone.

Len said: “I am really looking forward to welcoming some familiar faces like Oti and Ore to the Partners In Rhyme studio and I am also excited to be making some new friends like Gareth Malone, Nina Wadia and Hal Cruttenden.

Ore Oduba
Ore Oduba
Ore Oduba is one of the contestants (Ian West/PA)

“Who will be poetry in motion and who will cower at the couplets?

“Let the rhyming commence!”

The series will feature six 30-minute episodes, which begin filming in Glasgow this weekend and will air on BBC One later in the summer.