Heather Mills takes to the dance floor

If, like me, you have a sordid fascination with tedious reality TV, you should know that the new season of the American version of Dancing with the Stars will include Heather Mills as one of the contestants battling for the award of best celebrity ballroom dancer. Best known as Paul McCartney's estranged wife (is the divorce final yet?), Mills is also a UN Goodwill Ambassador and an international spokesperson for the banning of landmines. Her left leg was amputated below the knee after being hit by a police motorcycle in 1993, and if you've seen Dancing with the Stars in the past, it's clear that the rigorous competition will be affected by whatever accommodations she needs to make to perform what are, in ballroom competition circles, some very precisely regimented moves.

Like her famous husband, Mills is British. And Britain TV's portrayal of the many variations of physical difference and disability appears much more frequent and sophisticated than American TV. I think it's pretty fantastic that someone with a well-known mobility impairment has been cast on an American show where the competition focuses on beautiful movement. At the very least, the conversation around her ability to compete, dance beautifully, and perform required steps that may be much more difficult with a prosthetic leg will be interesting to follow. The season begins March 19 on ABC.