Ally Pally is a TV phenomenon but darts doesn't get me dancing

By Mark Webster for the Daily Mail Updated: 03:37 EDT, 3 January 2012

'Stand up if you love the darts, stand up if you love the darts', they sang.

The Smurfs, the Popes, Tim Vine, Lee Mack not to mention Mr and Mrs Mike Tindall and more; all packed into a cavernous hall, providing the chorus to the drama that was going on, on stage.

Well, if I'm brutally honest with you, I am still sitting down. Obviously, because I'm typing this and bending over the keyboard is no good for me old back, but also because I don't actually love it.

Showbiz: Ally Pally was a sea of signs and lasers for the start of the final

Even given the fact that I happen to share the name of one of the greats of the game and am not a complete stranger to an oche, I can't honestly say I am like a moth to its flaming arrows.

In saying that, it seems I have happened across a good 'un to try and capture my imagination with because there was barely a man gathered at the Alexandra Palace on Monday night who wasn't saying that this World Darts Championships on Sky Sports wasn't as good as it got.

Glamour game: Andy Hamilton and the walk-on girls drew the crowds in

'Best tournament ever,' said Rod Harrington, sitting alongside host Dave Clarke and former players Wayne Mardle and Eric Bristow.

'Best I've ever seen,' Mardle was to say while the Crafty Cockney had the air of a man who felt he'd worn the crown during dart's actual golden age, but still happily admitted that every day had brought something special.

There had been two solid weeks of this atop the hill in north London, and in another marvellous piece of positioning, the organisers ensured that the man who won it on January 2 would therefore be champ for the whole of 2012 bar a single day.

The champion: Adrian Lewis making his way to the oche for the big match

Of course, for those two solid weeks, the darts have been amongst the hottest ticket in town but it is as a telly event that this game has surely helped capture the public imagination.

The crowd that bobs and roars behind the throwers like a beery last night at the proms certainly helps shove the atmosphere out through the box.

But the close-ups, the slow mo's, the brilliant reading of the players' eyes and body movements to ensure we never miss where a dart will land is the precision that makes it such a compelling piece of TV production.

Mind you, the final itself between reigning champion Jackpot Adie Lewis and Andy 'The Hammer' Hamilton would have a lot to do to outdo semi-final night, with two matches that went all the way to the wire and an amazing 20-minute sabbatical as 'breeze stopped play'.

This took everyone by surprise and got right under the crowd's collective collar.

As mild panic set in amongst the organisers and close-ups on air vents provided no conclusive evidence, Clarke went for a bit of pop science and suggested that perhaps it was caused by body heat.

You could see his point, what with the room being crammed full of fans, of course.

So, moving (very) swiftly on to the final then, and it started with a sense of occasion that suggested it was going to be something special.

Hamilton was escorted through the crowd first and smashed his giant hammer Thor-like into the stage – assuming that the Norse God Of Thunder also had a blow up one, that is – while Lewis arrived with not much more than a very nervous smile and some relatively heavy booing (a by-product of his histrionics during 'Breezegate', it would seem) ringing in his ears.

Royal seal of approval: Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall enjoyed the action

However, from there on in it wasn't exactly what you'd describe as a classic, to be honest – the main drama coming in Hamilton's dogged determination not to get totalled and in Lewis regaining his title - which really did bring another major element of TV darts coverage into sharp focus; the commentary.

It was the genius of Sid Waddell's prose that set a whole new standard for the play-by-play commentator and it is now Rod Studd as the main man, with the aforementioned Mardle his sidekick, who carried his mantle for the final.

As a team, they seem to split the work pretty much down the middle, and both have evocative voices and tons of knowledge. But they also have a lot of talking to do. A. Lot.

Which means that you the viewer can occasionally find yourself rubbing up against some thoughts that have been laid on rather thickly with a trowel.

Until next year: Lewis and Hamilton share a hug at the end of the match

Early on in the affair, for example, Wayne suggested '(he) pulled the choke out there. Do you remember when cars had chokes, Rod? Incredible.'

To which Rod replied: 'Perhaps there's not much petrol left in the tank?'

Then as the final continued to chug along like a diesel engine on a winter's morning (see what they've done now!) Rod mused: 'I have never been to the Lord Mayor's Show nor any of the events that follow it, but is this going to be like one of those events that people describe as being after the Lord Mayor's Show?'.

Possibly, Rod. Or as Wayne put it referring to Lewis' chances of regaining the title 'definitely more likely'.

But I'm throwing 2's and 3's there (you know, cheap shots) because both men play a crucial part in making this event what it is – a genuine TV phenomenon.

Like I said at the top, I can't stand up and say I love it, but I know full well I also can't and shouldn't ignore it.