Strictly Come Dancing (commonly referred to as Strictly) is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of judges. The title of the show is an amalgamation of 1992 film Strictly Ballroom and long-running TV series Come Dancing. The format has been exported to 60 other countries under the title Dancing with the Stars, licensed by BBC Worldwide, and led to a modern dance-themed spin-off Strictly Dance Fever. The Guinness World Records named Strictly as the world's most successful reality television format in 2010.
The series was presented by Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly from its inception; Claudia Winkleman joined Daly as a lead presenter from the 2014 series, having hosted results shows in place of Forsyth since 2010. Forsyth continued to host special episodes with Daly until November 2015. Daly and Winkleman left the series in 2025, with the presenting line-up for 2026 announced on 19 May 2026 as Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe, and Johannes Radebe.
The series has been broadcast live on BBC One since 15 May 2004, airing on Saturday evenings. From series 2 onwards, the show has been broadcast in the run up to Christmas. Results shows were originally broadcast live on Saturdays, and are currently pre-recorded and aired on Sunday evenings. With its high viewing figures, Strictly Come Dancing has become a significant programme for dancing on British television. Eighteen stand-alone Christmas specials and nineteen charity specials have also been produced.
Development Producer Richard Hopkins, who had produced the first British series of Big Brother, unsuccessfully pitched the idea of a modern Come Dancing to the BBC under the title of Pro-Celebrity Dancing in 2003. Later, entertainment executive Fenia Vardanis also suggested reviving Come Dancing, so Jane Lush, the then head of BBC Entertainment, put Hopkins and Vardanis together to develop the show.
Hopkins then called in Karen Smith, who had previously produced Comic Relief Does Fame Academy for BBC One and The Games for Channel 4, to help lead the development of the show and launch the series. Smith was the show-running Executive Producer of the first three series, and of sister show It Takes Two. She then became Creative Director of BBC Entertainment whilst still overseeing series 4 and 5.
Hopkins later took the format to America himself when the BBC dismissed the idea of selling it abroad, as they felt it was too British, establishing the format internationally as Dancing with the Stars.
The title is an amalgamation of the titles of the 1992 Australian film Strictly Ballroom and Come Dancing.
Format The show is broadcast live on BBC One on Saturday evenings, with a results show originally following later on Saturday, also broadcast live. For series five, six and eight onwards, the results show is pre-recorded on Saturday and broadcast on Sunday evenings. The final results continued to be shown live on Saturdays, and were combined with the main show from series 14.
From series 1 to 11, Sir Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly presented the pro-celebrity ballroom dancing competition. From series 8 to 11, Forsyth only presented the main show and was replaced for the results show by Claudia Winkleman, at which point Daly assumed Forsyth's role as main presenter and Winkleman assumed Daly's role as co-presenter. Winkleman joined Daly as full-time co-presenter for series 12 following Forsyth's departure after the 2013 series. Forsyth continued to present special editions of the show until 2015.
Through telephone voting, viewers vote for who they would like to be in the next round, the results of the poll being combined with the ranking of the judges. For example, with ten contestants left, the judges' favourite would receive ten points, second favourite nine points, and so on, and similarly with the viewers' rankings. The bottom ranked couple gets one point. In the event of tied scoring from the judges by two or more contestants, the couple immediately below them gets one point below them, until the bottom ranked couple on the leaderboard who ends up getting at least 2 points instead of one. The profits from the telephone lines were donated to Sport Relief in series 1, and to Children in Need from series 2 until series 8.
The judging panel initially consisted of Bruno Tonioli, Arlene Phillips, Len Goodman and Craig Revel Horwood. Alesha Dixon replaced Phillips from series 7 to 9, after which she left the programme to judge Britain's Got Talent which led to retired ballerina Dame Darcey Bussell to replace her. Goodman left the show after the 2016 series and was replaced by Shirley Ballas who was appointed as Head Judge following a selection process which attracted many candidates. Ballas was new to the show when she joined in 2017. Bussell remained as judge until 2018 and was replaced by Motsi Mabuse in 2019.
Up until 2020, Tonioli commuted weekly between Hollywood and London to judge both the American and British versions of the show simultaneously. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, he could not appear on both the British and American shows. No replacement was named for the 2020 series. Pro dancer Anton Du Beke took his place from the 2021 series, and since then is now a full-time judge, having replaced Tonioli on the panel. The current judging panel consists of Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton Du Beke, making Horwood the only judge to remain with the programme since its inception and only missing one episode in the show's history. Each judge gives the performance a mark out of ten, giving an overall total out of forty. The voice-over announcer since its inception has been Alan Dedicoat.
The singers on the show are Tommy Blaize, Hayley Sanderson, Lance Ellington, Andrea Grant and formerly British dance music vocalist Tara McDonald. The music director is Dave Arch who is often seen on camera. Tommy Blaize has been part of Strictly since its beginning. Arch joined in the fourth series and Hayley Sanderson in the fifth. The original musical director from series 1 to 3 was Laurie Holloway. In the seventeenth series, the singers were joined by Mitchel Emms.
The show was broadcast from a specially constructed set at BBC Television Centre, primarily in the largest studio, TC1 until its closure in 2013, with the show moving to Elstree Studios' George Lucas Stage 2 from 2013 onwards. In the first two series, shows were also filmed at the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool, where the original Come Dancing series was filmed in the 1970s.
In the second series, two shows were filmed at the Tower Ballroom, show five and the Grand Final, which was broadcast live on 11 December 2004. In 2005, the BBC announced that they would not be returning to the venue for the third series because of "logistical problems". In October 2008, Craig Revel Horwood called for the series to return to the Tower Ballroom, saying, "The atmosphere was electric. It's huge and has so much history. The Tower Ballroom puts a lot of pressure on the professionals and the celebrities to perform to the best of their potential. What a wonderful place to go live to 12 million people. We have got to get the BBC to bring Strictly Come Dancing back to Blackpool."
For series 7, the show returned to the Tower Ballroom, where Blackpool-born Craig Kelly was eliminated. The episode was aired live on 7 November 2009. Strictly Come Dancing returned to Blackpool for the 2010Strictly Come Dancing – live blog! The Guardian, 20 November 2010 and 2011 series.Strictly Come Dancing returns this Autumn with shows from Wembley and Blackpool BBC Press Office, 30 July 2011 After series 10, when Strictly Come Dancing did not go to Blackpool, they announced that they would return for series 11. [Strictly Come Dancing announces that they will return to Blackpool Tower Ballroom for Series 11]
Cast Presenters and judges Colour key
Cast member Series 123456789101112131415161718192021222324 2004 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Hosts Bruce Forsyth ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Tess Daly ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Claudia Winkleman ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Emma Willis ● Josh Widdicombe ● Johannes Radebe ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Justin Lee Collins ● Zoe Ball ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Ore Oduba ● ● Scott Mills ● ● Amy Elizabeth ● Joe Sugg ● ● ● ● ● ● Kim Winston ● ● ● ● ● Rylan Clark ● ● ● ● Janette Manrara ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Fleur East ● ● ● ● Ellie Taylor ● ● Tyler West ● ● Abi Clarke ● Guest Hosts Natasha Kaplinsky ● ● Ronnie Corbett ● Gethin Jones ● ● ● Judges Craig Revel Horwood ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Arlene Phillips ● ● ● ● ● ● Len Goodman ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Bruno Tonioli ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Alesha Dixon ● ● ● ● Darcey Bussell ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Shirley Ballas ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Motsi Mabuse ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Anton Du Beke ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Guest Judges Jennifer Grey ● Donny Osmond ● Alfonso Ribeiro ● ● Cynthia Erivo ● ● Notes
Professional dancers
Each series, celebrities are paired with professional dance partners who instruct them in the various dance styles, design their choreography, and perform with them each week in the competition. For the eighth series, the show introduced the Strictly Showdancers, a dance troupe which consisted of professional dancers who performed on the show but were not paired with celebrity partners. This did not return in subsequent series.
Color key
Professional dancer Series 12004 22004 32005 42006 52007 62008 72009 82010 92011 102012 112013 122014 132015 142016 152017 162018 172019 182020 192021 202022 212023 222024 232025 242026 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Many of the dancers from the show have formed both professional and personal partnerships. Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova are married, as are James and Ola Jordan. Aljaž Škorjanec and Janette Manrara, who became engaged after joining the show in 2013, were married in 2017. Matthew and Nicole Cutler are divorced, but remain professional partners. Karen Hauer and Kevin Clifton were engaged when Clifton entered the show in 2013 and were married prior to the 2015 series, before divorcing in 2018. Neil and Katya Jones entered the show as a married couple before separating in 2019.
Anton Du Beke and Erin Boag have danced as a professional couple since 1997. Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace are former Argentine tango world champions as a duo and have done multiple tours together. Brendan Cole and Camilla Dallerup danced together for many years, including a stint on the original series of Come Dancing. Following their split in 2004, Cole and Katya Virshilas formed a professional partnership before splitting in November 2009.