Dancing On Ice: Brendan Cole scores first 10 for all-male performance

Dancing On Ice star Brendan Cole scored the first 10 of the series from his old Strictly Come Dancing colleague Dame Arlene Phillips appearing as guest judge.

The Strictly professional dancer was skating to Beggin' from Jersey Boys for Musicals Week with stand-in male partner Brendyn Hatfield as his usual partner Vanessa Bauer had to pull out of rehearsals because she had tested positive for COVID-19.

The judges told Cole, 45, that skating with Hatfield had highlighted just how good at skating he has become since training began as the two men performed a mirror image performance on the ice.

Read more: Dancing On Ice: Bez achieves dream with Meat Loaf tribute

Guest judge Dame Arlene told him: "Jersey Boys is all about accuracy - that choreography has to be identical. I thought I was seeing double when they were dancing together. They hit perfection tonight."

Ashley Banjo, who scored the couple a 9/10 agreed: "This gives a direct comparison and shows how good you are. I did spot the wobbles but that 10 is coming."

Judge Oti Mabuse commented that while she had "loved" their "smooth" performance she did feel it "plateaued" as she had been waiting for a big highlight at the end.

Christopher Dean said: "I felt it just moved beautifully, you two were right on point with each other. Well done."

And Jayne Torvill praised: "Brendan this is your kind of music and style, you made the skating look simple, this kind of thing really suits you."

Bauer, who is now out of self-isolation, was in the crowd to cheer Cole on.

He said afterwards: "First of all I'd like to say thank you to Vanessa for getting me to this stage and thanks to this man for stepping in."

Musicals Week saw Bez achieve his dream of performing a skating tribute to rock star Meat Loaf.

The Happy Mondays percussionist - real name Mark Berry - entered the arena on a motorbike and managed to stay on his feet as he descended onto the ice and skated to the late singer's hit Bat out of Hell.

Bez's professional skating partner Angela Egan revealed he had told her when they first met for training four months ago that he wanted to get through to musicals weeks in the ITV show, so he could perform to the Meat Loaf hit.

The 57-year-old musician said: "Dreams do come true. It's a brilliant musical, I recommend going to watch it. He's just died recently, so it's a brilliant tribute. This one's for Meat Loaf."

Actor and singer Meat Loaf - real name Michael Lee Aday - died in January aged 74.

But the judges were not so impressed with Bez's homage to the I'd Do Anything For Love singer.

Read more: Brendan Cole shows off terrifying headbanger with stand-in 'Dancing On Ice' partner

Musicals week also saw Olympic BMX rider Kye Whyte perform to Consider Yourself from Oliver! and Coronation Street star Sally Dynevor skate to My Favourite Things from The Sound of Music.

Last year's Dancing On Ice suffered a record number of celebrity drop-outs, with five celebrities forced to leave the cast over injury and testing positive for COVID, and a number of the pro skaters also injured.

Watch: Bez suffer dramatic fall in Dancing On Ice training