Strictly come North!

It was fantastic to see Strictly Come Dancing back in its spiritual home this weekend: the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool. You saw Coronation Street's Craig voted out in his hometown. But what you didn't see were our apparently fit and health-conscious pro-dancers sneaking into Harry Ramsden's fish and chip shop.

Still, there has always been something decidedly naughty about the British seaside...

More than 1,000 people crammed into the ballroom - three or four times the number that fit in Studio One in West London. Excitement was high with lots of "oohs" and "aahs" as people spied for the first time how we had recreated Strictly's regular studio feel. It was a rare chance to sample a peak-time Saturday favourite in their own backyard. That's what was so special - the BBC came to them.

I know everyone involved in the show and the lucky ones who managed to get a ticket had a great time and received the warmest of welcomes from their hosts. But Strictly in Blackpool was not just about the two hours of prime time TV.

Before the live show - courtesy of BBC Learning - dancers of all ages and abilities had the chance to show their moves at the Tower in front of some of the stars of the show. Here is a taster of what they got up to:

I just love that. It's the BBC at its best, isn't it? Giving our audiences the chance to be part of their favourite shows and offering them a unique experience. And being able to touch, see and be part of some of our great content is something we are doing more and more of in the North.

My view is that it means a whole lot more the further you get from West London, where film crews and big shows are two-a-penny.

A couple of weekends ago, Radio 5 Live spent three days broadcasting in Hull (from an inflatable igloo!) and were visited by 45,000 people.

Meanwhile, along the M62 in Liverpool, BBC Children's hosted a weekend based around the hugely successful Sarah Jane Adventures featuring exclusive screenings and the chance to meet stars and to film your own version of the opening sequence. Some of the 8,000 kids and parents who came along had travelled all the way from Southampton and Edinburgh. No news yet on whether any time travellers attended.

When you add into this the huge amount of 'routine' outreach work that the BBC undertakes in the North of England all year round, you realise we have quite a story to tell. Today, for instance, a community theatre project kicks off in Whitehaven, Cumbria, in aid of Children in Need, while our ongoing work from Breathing Places to BBC Blast continues to go from strength to strength. Add the bigger events, like Sports Personality of the Year in Sheffield in December - the sports world's equivalent of Strictly - and a pattern begins to emerge: a plan for how we start to build a BBC that is more effective at innovating with, inspiring and surprising our audiences every which way we can.

As the Director of BBC North, I see the big adventure we are undertaking to relocate major departments including Sport, Children's and 5 Live to Salford in 2011 as just the start of this. If we want to be effective from Liverpool to Newcastle, Crewe to Carlisle, then we have to do so much more. Working outside our comfort zones will become the norm.

Northern audiences may be pleased, but our ambition is greater than just moving great services to the North. We want to build on these foundations so that it can become a hotbed for more drama, comedy and, of course, Saturday night entertainment.

We have to get on our bikes and more often take our content to where licence fee payers least expect to see it. John Godber, writer and founding father of Hull Truck Theatre, told me: "It should be like throwing a rock in a pool. The ripples have to go out from Salford and touch all the communities of the North."

That's quite a challenge. But, then again, we have sown a few seeds in the last few weeks - from Blackpool to Merseyside. Now we have to capitalise on the genuine excitement the audience feels when we bring our content closer to their neighbourhoods.

Roadshows and marketing events are not the only answer. The willingness to live, work and entertain a bit closer to where audiences live is core to our mission. Certainly we have to try harder in northern England, where approval for the BBC has always been several points behind the UK average.

But by planting our feet in the North we are rewiring the BBC, from content collaboration to careers. After all, 50 per cent of all our content will be produced outside London by 2016.

An 81-year-old lady who queued from nine in the morning in the pouring rain to see Strictly Come Dancing in Blackpool and another with double false eyelashes and a feather boa dress are proof that, if we make the effort, the audiences will throw us a great big party.