You might expect Arlene Phillips to sweep in on a broom stick, wearing a black cape and a pointy hat, judging by the infamous barbed comments she makes on BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing.

But Arlene Phillips is no fool. She hasn’t been in the business for nigh on 40 years for nothing. She knows what sells and plays her Simon Cowell baddie/judge role to perfection.

And the nation is hooked, SCD viewing figures go up every year, and Arlene has been in on the action right from the beginning and is loving every minute of it. “Even 30-plus women are cancelling their plans to stay in to watch SCD on a Saturday night, I hear,” she laughs.

“But SCD has just grown and grown and it gets more and more exciting and we, the judges, fall in love with it more and more with every series.”

So what's the secret formula?

“I think it’s because the celebrities are chosen from every walk of life. It’s their story as well and you see them growing as people along the way.

“It’s a human drama that unfolds right in front of your eyes.”

Don’t be fooled because, regardless of her Queen of Mean persona, she still gets hordes of fan mail.

“A lot of it is from young girls who have watched SCD and want to get into dance. And I will reply to anyone who wants to get into dance,” she says fiercely.

“But I always say that they need to keep their education going and find a way to fit dance around that – never to abandon it for dance.”

Arlene is as passionate about everything she does, whether it’s judging SCD, her new TV dance series Britannia High or choreographing the stage version of Flashdance – The Musical, which is the big Christmas show at Oxford’s New Theatre this year.

She is also quick to point out that this is nothing compared to her schedule with Hot Gossip in the 1970s.

The younger generation of viewers may not know the Arlene of old, writhing about in hot pants with Kenny Everett in outfits that had Mary Whitehouse in a frenzy, or singing the group’s one hit wonder I Fell In Love With A Starship Trooper.

But it’s always been about dance, since Arlene was three years old. Losing her mother to cancer aged 15, she channelled all her energy into making it in the dog-eats-dog world of dance.

She may not have succeeded as a classical ballerina but any dance musical or TV show worth its salt goes straight to Arlene for some of her choreographic magic.

So how does she keep her repertoire up-to-date? After all Arlene is knocking on 65 now.

“I have two daughters,” she tells me, “one is 29 and very into what’s in and fashion, and the other is 18 and makes me watch specific things on TV and clips of this and that and listen to new music.”

She says she “really, really wanted” to do Flashdance on seeing the script: “I had so many images in my mind of how Flashdance should be on stage, and I know the film so well, but there is also a lot of new music and musical numbers because I wanted to take Flashdance to a whole new generation.

“I have three PA’s running my life for me and sleep with a notepad by my bed so I can wake up in the middle of the night and scribble down ideas, but the last SCD is on December 22 and then I’m off for two long weeks with my family somewhere quiet.”

So come on then, answer the million dollar question.

Who’s going to win this year’s SCD?

“Well last year, Aleisha started pulling away from the rest of the pack quite early on. But this year I think we are in for a surprise.”

In other words, watch this space.