AS SOMEONE who was born in the 1970s and raised in the ’80s in a working class household, I still recall the glorious evenings of family television watching.

We had one telly, located in prime position in the living room, and so we would end up collected there together every night and at weekends (it was where the open fire was, and was also therefore the warmest room of the house).

As a result, I was educated in Dad’s Army and war movies by my dad, in classic musicals and costume dramas by my mum, and I revelled in the times when we enjoyed watching things together – we all loved ’Allo ’Allo and The Paul Daniels Magic Show.

My affection for old programmes like Just Good Friends, Duty Free and Only When I Laugh definitely stems from all the times I was drawing or reading in the room where my parents were watching them.

Cagney and Lacey, for as long as I live, will be one of the things that reminds me of my mother.

This TV situation did mean that, as a teenager, I suffered through afternoons and school holidays of endless children’s programmes. We had a video by then, which my brother, who is nine years younger than me, was allowed to monopolise.

My dad insisted that wee bro was allowed to watch Thomas the Tank Engine practically on a loop.

Even today, the theme tune of the Ringo Starr-narrated version is enough to give me nightmares.

But we kids were not allowed in the room on a Sunday afternoon. Having made the family a roast dinner, Dad would retire to the sofa there to conk out for a while in supposed peace, usually with loud motor racing or other sport on in the background.

All these lovely memories of family goggleboxing – and the current Channel Four programme of a similar name shows how much fun communal TV-watching can be – have come back to me now that the other half, the four-year-old and myself adore one programme in common. We all love the BBC’s flagship Saturday show Strictly Come Dancing and gather together to watch it.

My husband and I have always been Strictly fans, but the fun has increased tenfold now that the littlest person in the house is involved.

When the theme music starts, she’ll start singing along while perched between her dad and me, and, as the show progresses, she’ll jump up and take to the floor along with the performers.

She’s always been number-obsessed and, as a result, gets very excited about the scoring, especially when someone gets a magic 10 out of 10.

I love the fact that we can laugh together and get so much enjoyment from Strictly, a programme I appreciate because it provides entertainment with no spin or hidden agenda.

Its famous participants surely only benefit from the wider exposure, even when they are utterly useless on the dancefloor!