Strictly Come Dancing judge Len Goodman found making a series on dance through the ages was far from the glitz, glamour and spangles he is used to on the award-winning entertainment show.

Historian Lucy Worsley, who has teamed up with Goodman for the series to be aired in the autumn on BBC4, has already dubbed the new show as History Come Dancing.

It comes complete with period costumes but the only problem was that some of it was filmed on some of the hottest days of the year. The grand finale includes dances from three different centuries - the minuet, the Charleston and the polka.

Worsley told The Sunday Telegraph's Seven magazine: "Fortunately our minuet ball earlier this week took place in the beautiful surroundings of Syon Park, west London.

"Unfortunately it took place on a blazing hot day. Every so often we had to stop for Len to take off his wig to air his head, and our fans proved themselves to be not just pieces of elegant 18th-century frippery but a very effective means of cooling ladies down."

Far from it being all about the glamour, Worsley states that wearing a tall wig and hooped dress were "most unpleasant in great heat" and that Georgian beauty aids were also "a little hard to stomach".

Patches or beauty spots to try and mask smallpox scars, false eyebrows made of mouse-skin and cheek discs held in the mouth to seem like you had just had a facelift were some of the gems.

Worsley also admits that her dance master Darren Royston "kindly made discreet signals" when she went blank on the next moves.