BBC - Strictly Come Dancing 2009 - Lynda Bellingham & Darren Bennett: Video and bios of the Strictly contestants

Lynda and Darren

Lynda's progress

Week 4: Foxtrot 24 / 40. Lynda and Darren were then in the dance-off with Craig Kelly and Flavia Cacace. Len Goodman had the deciding vote and selected Lynda and Darren to leave the competition.
Week 3: Paso Doble 25 / 40
Week 1 - Show 2: Cha Cha - 23 / 40
Week 1 - Show 1: Tango - 21 / 40

Asked how she felt about leaving Strictly, Lynda replied "Darren’s been absolutely fantastic. Craig was the best man on the night."

View our weekly scoreboards gallery to see where Lynda was placed.

Join our Message Board to talk about Lynda's progress.

Watch clips

Week 4: Judges' comments

High point

"‘If that was a coffee it would be a latte – smooth and creamy"

Low point

"It wasn’t a foxtrot – it was a foxwalk’ "

Lynda Bellingham

Warm, open, quick-witted and fun, Lynda Bellingham is a critically acclaimed and much treasured British actress.

Despite turning 60 last year, she has become a hit with younger audiences who enjoy her straight-talking, no-nonsense, opinion-giving appearances on ITV’s playful daytime hit Loose Women. Strictly judges beware: Lynda can bite back!

I will try very, very hard not to cry if those judges are nasty to me!

Lynda Bellingham

A keen performer from a young age, Lynda's big break came in 1972 when she landed a role in the ITV soap General Hospital.

Between the years of 1983 and 1999, Lynda appeared as the ‘Oxo Mum’ in the famous series of TV commercials for the brand of cooking stock. There were 42 different commercials in the series, which was one of the longest running campaigns in advertising history.

In 1988 Lynda began one of her most famous roles: Helen Herriot in the rural drama All Creatures Great And Small. She has also appeared in At Home with the Braithwaites, Second Thoughts, Doctor Who, The Bill and Holby City.

Lynda is also a professional stage performer, with many critically acclaimed productions to her name. Most recently she has been treading the boards (and stripping off on a nightly basis!) as Chris Harper, the lead role in Calendar Girls.

Darren Bennett

Darren is 32 and 5’7”. His professional dance partner is his wife, Lilia Kopylova. They have been dancing together for 12 years and turned professional in 2003. His speciality is Latin American.

He danced with his previous partner for fourteen years (and she had been his only partner before Lilia), but she decided to give up dancing, which left Darren looking for someone to pair with.

As Professional Latin American dancers, Darren and Lilia train many of the top Junior, Youth and Amateur couples in the UK, including the British Junior champions and No1 Youth couple in the UK. They joined Strictly Come Dancing in Series 2.