Strictly Amanda Abbington calls Giovanni Pernice 'like little brother' amid feud rumours

During the show's first live episode on Saturday, Amanda Abbington of Strictly fame once more brushed aside rumours of a feud with her professional partner, Giovanni Pernice, as they graced the dance floor.

The actress, 49, described the dancer, 33, as being like 'a little brother' in the pre-recorded VT saying she 'already loves him', before going on to admit she hadn't picked things up 'as quickly as she wanted to' during rehearsals.

The first live show saw all 15 couples perform for the first time with Nigel Harmon and Katya Jones on top of the leaderboard with 32 points and Les Dennis and his partner Nancy Xu at the bottom with a disappointing 16.

Earlier on Saturday, Amanda shared a video to Instagram where she rubbished the rumours of clashes with Giovanni in a foul-mouthed rant.

It follows claims she was 'left shaken' by his 'militant and aggressive' training style with tensions escalating between the pair.

But Amanda hit back saying she was 'ignoring the bulls***' as she insisted things are all good between her and Giovanni.

The duo then took to the floor as they performed an elegant Viennese waltz to to Pointless by Lewis Capaldi, which earned a respectable 29 points from the judges.

Shirley said: 'Your fluidity, your sensitivity, your beautiful styling, you have this beautiful chemistry, I loved it.'

Anton advised Amanda to relax a little, saying: 'It was all great, emotionally exquisite. I want you to breath, if there was another 30 seconds to go I think you may have passed out.'