Danny Mac wows the Strictly Come Dancing judges to land a perfect score after hinting at family heartache

DANNY Mac wowed the judges on tonight's Strictly Come Dancing and received a perfect score of 40 thanks to his "show stopping" Charleston Fred Astaire's Putting On The Ritz.

The former Hollyoaks actor put on an incredible performance with his partner Oti Mabuse to receive the first perfect score of the series after hinting at family heartache last weekend.

The judges weren't overwhelmed by their routine with Strictly's Mr Nasty Craig Revel Horwood telling them it was "fabulous".

Head Judge Len Goodman said: "It was so full on and it was so tight. What I love is dances right on the edge where anything can happen or go wrong and you held it, it was absolutely fantastic."

Bruno Tonioli agreed saying: "That was table topping show stopper. It was all pure, good dancing."

He might be the resident Mr Mean but Craig was very impressed and summed it up by saying: "One word, three syllables darling, FAB-U-LOUS.";

Danny was overwhelmed by the score saying: "I can’t even put into words how this feels. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

His perfect performance comes after Danny - who received a 38 last Saturday -revealed he had had a tough week before paying tribute to his dad.

Asked by host Zoe Ball on Strictly spin-off It Takes Two how he managed to maintain such intensity throughout the routine, Danny replied: "I threw a lot of focus into that routine, the most we’ve ever had I think.

"It was the most I felt focused and concentrated on the dance because… as people may have seen I had a bit of a tough week that week, personally, so the dance was my escape from that.

"So I threw everything into it. Oti was amazing all week with me.

"We just got on with the work and the dance for me was really helpful and so I was just so focused and in it, it felt like that’s all I was  thinking about because that’s all I could let myself think about."

Offering a reassuring smile, Zoe added: "You dedicated the song to your dad, send him lots of love and to your family as well."

Elsewhere on the show, Louise Redknapp impressed with a Game of Thrones inspired paso doble, which Darcey labelled as "dynamic and strong"

Craig told Louise's dance partner Kevin Clifton: "Kevin, you always do brilliant pasos and this didn’t disappoint. Full of drama."

Claudia Fragapane opened the show with a fantastic jive to 'Hey Mickey'.

Head judge Len Goodman told her: "It did blow my mind. Little miss dynamite out there. It was quick, it was sharp. I thought it was a super dynamic routine and a super job."

Whilst Craig added: "It’s a terrible shame because that routine could have been a 10 but that mistake ... However, I really and truly loved it."

Ed Balls may have ended up bottom of the leaderboard but his jive to 'Great Balls of Fire' had high energy.

Len praised the politician, telling him: "You’re getting better. You came down there [on the piano] and made Blackpool rock."

Whilst Bruno said: "You are strangely addictive and to my surprise, most of it looked like a jive."

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