The Rivalry

Lydia is uncertain about her future when she auditions for a show. Holly's Mother Suzi, returns and covers some of Lydia's dance classes, which causes problems for Holly and creates a rivalry between Suzi and Lydia, leaving Leroy caught in the middle.

Meanwhile the students act as advisers to the faculty for the upcoming teacher's show, where the teachers compete against each other. Morloch who has no confidence enlists Chris to advise him.

When I first watched this episode I felt a little confused by Lydia's storyline. For me I think they could have built Lydia's dissatisfaction with her life over a number of episodes so to give more impact to how she is feeling here, instead of the storyline coming out of nowhere. I mean they mention she's thinking of leaving the school but this is really down played and doesn't seem worth doing. Dealt with differently that could have had a major impact on the episode with Lydia not sure which path to take.

I think part of the problem for me is that Lydia is normally so determined, self assured and confident and always seemed to be in control of her life. Until it comes up here I hadn't considered that she hadn't actually been working professionally. We see her auditioning for a role in season one and I'd always assumed that even though we hadn't seen very much more of that, it had still been going on in the background. Later in season 5 in the epiosde "Self Defence" we see lydia in a movie. When asked about it, she states she made it a couple of summers before, so thta contadicts the events in this episode.

It's weird because I feel that we don't really get a resolution to the story. Did Lydia get the part? The people said they were interested in her but she obviously doesn't leave the school and I don't recall that we hear that she's in a show. It's a good episode but for me there is something missing. I do like that Lydia gets another song to sing at the end.

The fun part of this episode is definitely the kids advising the teachers ready for the teachers show. Morloch is hilarious with his lack of confidence and thinking all the other teachers are better than him. Having him pass out at the end so he misses the show completely is great.

I really love Sherwood's narration of the poem and it's so touching for Lydia's predicament and the way she performs it is really nice.

Holly's Mother is back and seems much more critical than last time. I've never really understood the relationship between the two of them and I'm not particularly keen on her Mother.

I thought it totally laughable that Lydia needed someone to cover her class and Holly's Mother was there and she was like "You've never taught dance have you Suzi?" The next minute having never done it before and presumably having no teaching qualifications or skills she's taking classes or rather it seems she's showing off to the classes. I'm sure the board of Ed wouldn't just employ anybody to cover the classes. Besides wasn't she a singer when she appeared last season?

I do think this episode would be a good one to start planting the seeds of Holly's anorexia. A little comment that she didn't want any of the popcorn her Mother made or something where her Mother states Holly has hardly eaten anything.

I do love "Take Me to Your Heart Again" that Holly sings and that's her first opportunity to sing this season so it's a shame that it wasn't a full song. They could have cut some of the instrumental part in the middle of "That's Dancin" to accommodate it. I do like "That's Dancin" and it gives the boys a chance to perform together.

The dance off between Lydia and Suzi is pretty good although to me Debbie definitely seems to be a far better dancer but maybe I'm just being biased.

I like the part at near the beginning where Leroy is chastising Lydia for being late as it's a nice reversal of their roles.

I noticed dancer Derrick Brice was assistant choreographer on this episode.

Original  air date in U.S.A 15th December 1984

Original  air date  in U.K. 29th April 1985,  Repeated on The Children's Channel  Broadcast Autumn 1992

Original air date in Italy 31st August 1986

Original  air date in France 30th January 1996