Strictly Come Dancing

Strictly Come Dancing is a popular British television show, shown on BBC1 based on ballroom dancing.

Format

The programme is effectively a spin-off of the long-running show Come Dancing, with the title alluding to the 1992 film Strictly Ballroom. The format of Come Dancing has been changed in that one half of each couple is a professional ballroom dancer, and the other is a celebrity. The celebrities are trained by their partner in preparation for a performance each Saturday, dancing one 'standard' and one 'latin' dance each week. They are assessed by the panel of judges, who control 50% of the votes, and then by viewers who can vote by phone (with profits going to Comic Relief in the Spring series, and Children In Need in the Autumn series) to control the remaining 50% of votes, with the lowest-scoring couple each week being eliminated.

The first series began on May 15 2004 and was broadcast live on BBC1 on Saturday evenings, with Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly presenting. The judging panel consisted of Bruno Tonioli, Arlene Phillips, Len Goodman and Craig Revel Horwood, and the final was won by newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky and her partner Brendan Cole.

A second series started in October 2004 and featured celebrities Quentin Willson, Aled Jones, Julian Clary, Roger Black, Diarmuid Gavin, Carol Vorderman, Sarah Manners, Esther Rantzen, Denise Lewis and Jill Halfpenny. Bruce Forsyth again hosted, with Natasha Kaplinsky standing in temporarily for Tess Daly until the latter returned from maternity leave. The final was won by Jill Halfpenny and her partner Darren Bennett.

A Christmas special, the 'Christmas Champion of Champions', was broadcast on the 22nd December 2004; this was to have featured the top three couples from both series. However, neither Christopher Parker nor Julian Clary were able to appear. The line up was as follows:

Jill Halfpenny and Darren Bennett were voted as the winners.

A further christmas special, Strictly Ice Dancing, was broadcast on 26th December, 2004; this saw celebrities paired with professional skaters. Among the celebrities taking part in this were David Seaman, Carol Smillie, Scarlett Johnson and Jessica Taylor. This was won by David Seaman and his partner Zoia Birmingham.

A companion fanzine programme called Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two ran on BBC Two every weekday during Strictly Come Dancing's second series, hosted by Claudia Winkleman.

A third series is scheduled to start in September 2005.

Couples of series one (May – July 2004), in order of elimination

Couples of series two (October – December 2004), in order of elimination

Couples of Christmas Champion of Champions (December 2004), in order of elimination

Couples of Strictly Ice Dancing (December 2004), in order of elimination

See also

• Strictly Dance Fever

External Links

• BBC Official Site: Strictly Come Dancing
• UK Gameshows Page: Strictly Come Dancing