Vanessa Feltz has joined the ever growing list of celebrities lining up to blast the BBC for their recent sacking of Strictly Come Dancing’s Arlene Phillips.

Phillips is being replaced by Alesha Dixon and Darcey Russell on the show, a move which Feltz finds despicable.

Writing in her column for the Daily Express, Feltz commented: “Somewhere it is written that when a woman reaches a certain age she must be bundled out of sight and stuck far away where no one is in danger of traumatising themselves by looking at her haggard visage.

“It happened years ago to accomplished travel presenter Anne Greg. It happened to Anna Ford and Moira Stewart. Now Strictly’s Arlene Phillips has been judged ‘past her view-by date’ and put out to pasture.”

She added: “At 66, Arlene is experienced, knowledgeable, a seasoned professional and a valuable part of Strictly Come Dancing. Her successor Alesha Dixon is easy on the eye and an effervescent dancer but can’t come close to Arlene’s expertise. Alesha should have been an ‘also’, not an ‘instead of’.”