Whitchurch dancer AJ Pritchard and his partner Lauren Steadman have found their feet and are through to the Strictly Come Dancing semi-finals.

After a tough couple of weeks with the pair finding themselves bottom of the leaderboard, dancer AJ and paralympian Lauren wowed the judges with their American Smooth during musicals week.

The pair took a trip to visit Lauren's great grandmother Doreen Walker to get some inspiration for their dance to 'I'm in love with a wonderful guy' from the musical South Pacific.

Lauren's great grandmother told of how she met her husband during the Second World War, and warned AJ and Lauren that they 'better be good' on the live shows.

AJ said: "I'm so proud of Lauren for making it this far. Hopefully we can be confident and deliver an amazing dance."

The pair performed first, and went down a storm, with judges singing their praises following their performance.

Head judge Shirley Ballas said: "To go from bottom of the leaderboard to turning up the heat on the first number – you were absolutely outstanding.

"You were centered beautifully and you've started closing your feet and pointing your toes, you showed you listened."

Bruno Tonioli said the pair 'danced like a dream', adding: "You were at ease, you were expressive – welcome back to the big league."

Craig Revell-Horwood told Lauren that ballroom is her strength and called the performance "gorgeous".

Lauren told Strictly: "'Jolly' was our word of the week, I've loved every moment of this dance."

AJ added: "It was her best performance by far."

The pair scored 35, their highest score this series, and flew through to the semi-finals next week.