Strictly's Sarah Hadland says Miranda gave 'alternative' view of women in 'TV's world of models'

Sarah Hadland was once known as the level-headed and ambitious Stevie Sutton on Miranda and she has admitted the success of the show had surprised her.

The actress, 53, is currently starring on the 20th anniversary series of with as her professional partner. During last week's instalment of the competition, managed to avoid the first elimination of the season as was booted out of the programme with his own partner , triggering .

But before she launched herself in the run to the coveted Glitterball, Sarah starred as Stevie on the series , alongside , who portrayed the eponymous protagonist. The programme was first released on BBC Two and ran from 2009 to 2015.

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were played out in two specials, with the series' last episode airing on News Year's Day in 2015. And while the experience left the show's cast and crew devastated, Sarah recognised they would always be "the Miranda family." But waving goodbye to her on-screen alter ego was nothing short of difficult.

Speaking to after the show's last scenes had been filmed, Sarah remembered the end of Miranda, adding that her and her co-star Miranda "were very sad" to wave goodbye to both of their characters, particularly as they had become role models for teen girls.

"We were very sad at the end of the actual filming because that relationship between Stevie and Miranda is really unique and special – it was always her goal to find a relationship that reflected everything that was good in a female friendship", she first said. "From the letters and messages we get, I know for teenage girls in particular, those two characters are role models."

In another breath, she then added: "We’ve given them an alternative to all the perfect women that they see on television, who look perfect and do everything perfectly. If you don’t look like a model and you haven’t got all the men crawling at your feet you’re a disaster. We sort of show that we get everything wrong but we have a brilliant laugh."

However, Miranda's success off-screen came as a surprised, as she admitted: "I never in a million years thought teenage girls would even like it. I thought, ‘This isn’t cool. Surely they’re not going to watch two sort-of adult women behaving like a pair of idiots and getting pushed off stools.’ But they love it. I have to say I write back to every letter I get, and the letters you get are really touching."

This week will see Strictly Come Dancing contestants facing a gruelling Movie Week. Sarah and her partner Vito will be performing a Viennese Waltz to Hedwig’s theme from the franchise - will she dodge elimination?

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