BBC presenter Deborah James launches glitzy campaign to get on Strictly Come Dancing

A BBC presenter who has bowel cancer has kicked off her campaign to get on this year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Deborah James, who uses the handle bowelbabe online, presents You, Me & The Big C on BBC Radio 5 live and works tirelessly to raise awareness of bowel cancer.

And the Strictly superfan has her eyes firmly on a spot on the most glamorous show on the small screen, appealing directly to the show’s producers on her Instagram and with the help of tube station staff at North Greenwich.

James, who learned yesterday that her condition is stable, dressed in a blue sparkly Latin dress as she visited a board in the station dedicated to her and getting her on Strictly.

After signing it and having a dance, James told her Instagram followers: “I totally appreciate it’s a long shot but I kind of thought ‘why not roll with it and see what happens?’.

“So if Strictly producers are listening, I’ve got the moves…well, I can just pretend. I can learn, I’m a really hard worker and now I’ve got a stable scan I’m going to dance!”

James also encouraged listeners to get down to the board and share their selfies with it, with its own hashtags, admitting she was “blown away by it”.

Sharing a clip of the board on her own page, James wrote: “STABLE! Every Cancer patient knows that sigh of relief, the permission to breathe again, the new window of hope that starts. Never under estimate the power of one word.

"Yes I still have a challenge, yes I still have Cancer, but let’s continue to dance through the rain!

“Obviously after the news, I got my dancing dress on and went to meet the wonderful N1 and E1 of @allontheboard who have created this amazing poem for a #bowelbabeforstrictly bid! It’s now up at North Greenwich station and I’ve even signed it! So please go visit when you are passing - and share the fun!”

Last September, James’s co-presenter Rachael Bland died aged 40 after a breast cancer battle. In a tweet shortly before her death, Bland told listeners that James and Lauren Mahon would keep the podcast going.

Strictly declined to comment on speculation when contacted.