Strictly's Amanda Abbington once again batted away reports of a feud with pro partner Giovanni Pernice as they took the dance floor for the show's first live episode on Saturday.

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

The first live show saw all 15 couples start their Strictly journey and perform for the first time with Nigel Harmon and Katya Jones 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 Sherlock star 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.