A married couple have turned their dining room into a makeshift dance studio so they can cram in as much practice as they can before stepping out on stage in this year’s Dancing Strictly competition.

Every week, Tony Hall and Fiona Del-Gatto have been put through their paces by professional instructors at Studio 45 in Kentish Town before going home to hone their fancy footwork.

Fiona, 41, from Brookmans Park, said: “It’s been more difficult than we’d anticipated but we’ve put in the hard work. Our dining room table has been permanently removed to give us space to rehearse.”

Tony, 41, from Brookmans Park, said: “Our seven-year-old daughter Amelie is our best critic. She watches us rehearse telling us ‘feet up, arms out, more bounce’.”

Amelie will be cheering her parents on when they take to the stage to perform a lively jive to T-Rex’s We Love to Boogie at the Millfield Theatre in Edmonton this Saturday.

All money raised by the contest will go to North London Hospice which supports people with life-limiting illnesses.

Fiona said: “We know we’re no Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, but it’s two minutes of our life and we’ll give it our best to help the hospice and the people it supports in the last days of their lives.

“I’ll put my sequins and my make-up on and we’ll just go for it and have a good time.”

The parents-of-two have already raised £364 towards their £1,000 target for the hospice. To help them reach their goal visit www.justgiving.com/tonyandfiona