Mum's Joy as daughter, 17, struts her stuff

“The amount of times we’ve watched this!” she laughs, as she reaches the relevant part of the recording and there is daughter Ashley, strutting her stuff on the BBC’s newest talent show, DanceX.

Suddenly Joy and her youngest daughter Chante, nine, are agog as Ashley’s powerful voice fills the living room of the Firth Park family home.

“I’m amazed,” admits Joy, aged 48. “I’ve no idea where that voice has come from. Ashley has always sung at home and done karaoke with her friends as well as making up little dance routines with Chante, but she’s had no formal singing or dance training. I can’t believe it.

“Last Saturday she had food poisoning and felt really ill but they dosed her up with all the relevant medicines and the show went on with a great performance from Ashley. I was particularly proud of her that night.

“Ashley is also loving all the things that go with being on the show - the costumes, hair and make-up. It’s so glamorous. The first week she was on, I didn’t recognise her!”

At 17, Ashley is the youngest contestant in the BBC One Saturday night show which is searching for fresh talent to form a new dancing and singing group.

Performers are split into two teams, headed by dance experts Arlene Phillips and Bruno Tonioli, and their fate is in the hands of viewers, who vote for their favourite group. Ashley is in Arlene’s group.

Each week, the judge from the least popular group faces the dilemma of having to choose one of their own performers to leave the series.

For the seven-week duration of the show, all contestants live together in a house in London and the eventual winning line-up will go on tour with R 'n' B star Rihanna.

After a low-key start, Ashley is now wowing judges with her commanding vocals and athletic dance routines, no doubt helped by her earlier experiences as a gymnastics champion. Between the ages of eight and 14, Ashley won more than 30 medals for gymnastics, first with a team at Ponds Forge, then with Steel City Gymnastics club.

But her honed physique led to bullying by other girls at school and she gave up the sport.

“People used to tease me for having a manly body,” Ashley told the DanceX website. “When you're a girl of that age you can't help caring about what everybody else thinks about you, so in the end I quit gymnastics.”

Mum Joy, of Horndean Road, went on: “When Ashley was younger, she thought she was ugly and had no confidence at all. She could be really shy. Now it’s fantastic to see her doing so well - she’s reached another level with her singing, dancing and confidence.

“She’s been helped by the coaching that’s given as part of the show but she’s also been really encouraged by other bully victims who’ve emailed the BBC saying what an inspiration Ashley is to them.”

Lucie Wainwright, one of Ashley’s former teachers at Yewlands School, wrote on the Dance X website: “As Ashley's PE teacher, it's fantastic to see her incredible talent put to use. She’s a very talented young lady, who I remember scaring me quite regularly at trampolining club as she performed front and back somersaults!”

n DanceX is screened tonight at 6.40pm on BBC One followed by Dance Xtra on BBC Three.