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Sarah Hadland became emotional when she revealed the song she would be dancing to on week four of Strictly Come Dancing.
The Miranda star, 53, who wowed audiences with her Viennese Waltz tribute to Maggie Smith last week, performed a Foxtrot to Billie Eilish’s hit track “Birds of a Feather” on Saturday (12 October).
Hadland teared up in rehearsals as she explained the personal inspiration behind the song choice to her professional dance partner Vito Coppola.
Sat in the dance studio, Hadland showed Coppola a painting of two birds she and her daughter had made together.
“[This dance] it’s about my family and me and my little one ,” she said.
“This song is special to us because we sing it together,” Hadland added of her and her daughter’s love of the Eilish anthem.
“It would be really lovely to show how I feel in the dance.”
For her Foxtrot, Hadland was awarded six points by Craig Revel Horwood and seven points each by Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke.
Hadland was criticised for “trotting” rather than “gliding” during her performance by the Strictly Come Dancing judges.
However, Horwood, Mabuse, Ballas and Du Beke admitted they were being harsh on the actor because they knew she could do better.
Her score of 27 was five marks lower than what she achieved in Movie Week and viewers were concerned the star had been given the Strictly “death slot” by being scheduled to perform second on the show.
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Hadland was second on the Strictly leaderboard following Movie Week and was beaten to first place by Tasha Ghouri by only one point.
One fan wrote on X/Twitter: “What a beautiful Foxtrot from Sarah. You can tell this song really meant a lot to her and it showed in her performance. Beautiful footwork, very elegant and lyrical. She is really good at engaging the audience.”
Meanwhile, another viewer added: “Amazing dance from Sarah, gorgeous I’d give an eight!”
Elsewhere on the programme, week four of the BBC dancing competition saw the long-anticipated return of DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles after he was forced to pull out of Movie Week due to a leg injury.
“This time last week I thought I was out so I’m over the moon,” the broadcaster told host Claudia Winkleman of his return.
