Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, shown on BBC One based on ballroom dancing. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with allusions to the film Strictly Ballroom.

The show has run for three series on BBC One from 2003 to 2005 so far. A fourth series is due to air from October to November 2006.

The format has been exported to other countries (see Dancing with the Stars). The finals of the third series in December 2005 attracted an audience of over 10 million viewers.^[1]

Format

The show pairs a number of celebrities with professional ballroom dancers who each week compete against each other in a competition to impress a panel of judges and the viewing public in order to survive potential elimination. Through a telephone poll, viewers vote who should stay and who should go, the results of the poll being combined with the ranking of the panel of judges. (The profits from the telephone lines were donated to Sports Relief in series 1, and to Children in Need in series 2 and 3, and will be the charity for series 4).

The show is broadcast live on BBC One on Saturday evenings, presented by Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly. (For some of the second series, Natasha Kaplinsky stood in temporarily for Tess Daly while the latter took maternity leave). The judging panel consists of Bruno Tonioli, Arlene Phillips, Len Goodman and Craig Revel Horwood. The judges mark each performance out of a total of forty. Only on two occasions has a perfect forty out of forty been awarded:

• Jill Halfpenny and Darren Bennett; Jive; 11/12/2004 (Series 2 Final)
• Darren Gough and Lilia Kopylova; Quickstep; 24/12/2005 (Second Christmas Special)

The first series began on May 15 2004, and was won by newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky and her partner Brendan Cole. The second series started in October 2004 and was won by Jill Halfpenny and her partner Darren Bennett. The third series started on 15 October 2005, and saw the first male celebrity winner, Darren Gough and his partner Lilia Kopylova. The final edition of series 3 was broadcast live on 17 December, 2005 and a fourth series will run from October to December 2006.

A companion fanzine programme (running each weekday, with updates on the dancers) accompanies the main show. During the first series, Strictly Come Dancing on Three ran on BBC3, hosted by Justin Lee Collins. During the second and third series Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two ran on BBC2, hosted by Claudia Winkleman.

A Christmas special, the "Christmas Champion of Champions", was broadcast on 22 December 2004, featuring top couples from both of the first two series (with the exception Christopher Parker and Julian Clary, who were not able to appear). The show was won by Jill Halfpenny and Darren Bennett. A further Christmas special, Strictly Ice Dancing, was broadcast on 26 December 2004; with Carol Smillie, Jessica Taylor, Scarlett Johnson, Marcus Patric, David Seaman, and Rowland Rivron paired with professional skaters. This was won by David Seaman (who was a late replacement for Paul Gascoigne) and his partner Zoia Birmingham. A further one-off special, Strictly African Dancing, was broadcast on BBC One on 9 July 2005 as part of the BBC's Africa Lives season. It featured six celebrities of African descent performing traditional African dances with a professional troupe. The contestants were Tunde Baiyewu, Tupele Dorgu, Robbie Earle, Antonia Okonma, Louis Emerick, and Tessa Sanderson. The programme was presented by Natasha Kaplinsky and Martin Offiah, and the winner was Robbie Earle.

Dances

The following dances are performed in Strictly Come Dancing:

Ballroom

• Waltz
• Quickstep
• Ballroom Tango
• Foxtrot
• Viennese Waltz

Latin American

• Cha Cha Cha
• Rumba
• Jive
• Paso Doble
• Samba

There have been a number of new dances added in series three, some as group dances. These are Argentine Tango, Cuban Salsa and the American Smooth.

Series 1

15 May to 3 July 2004, in order of elimination

Series 2

23 October to 11 December 2004, in order of elimination

Series 3

15 October to 17 December 2005, in order of elimination

Series 4

October to December 2006, the 14 partnerships are:

Casualty star Georgina Bouzova is a late replacement for Gabby Logan, who was barred from taking part by ITV to save her for rival series Dancing On Ice [1]

Special Shows

"Christmas Champion of Champions"

22 December 2004, in order of judges' placing

"Strictly Ice Dancing"

26 December 2004, in order of elimination

"Strictly African Dancing"

9 July 2005, in order of elimination:

• Tunde Baiyewu
• Louis Emerick
• Tupele Dorgu
• Tessa Sanderson
• Antonia Okonma
• Robbie Earle

2005 Christmas Special

The Christmas special in 2005 featured the top four couples (Gough/Kopylova, Jackson/Boag, Ball/Waite, Martin/Dallerup) from the 2005 series competing against two competitors from the US version, Dancing with the Stars, who danced with two professionals from the British series. The two competitors from the US series were Rachel Hunter, who was teamed with Brendan Cole, and Evander Holyfield, who danced with Karen Hardy. Season 2 winner Jill Halfpenny was scheduled to appear with her partner Darren Bennett, but pulled out due to a break down in fee negotiations.

24 December 2005, in order of elimination

As well as winning the 2005 series, Darren Gough and Lilia Kopylova won this Christmas Special, after receiving the full 40 marks from the judges.

Salaries

In April 2006, the salaries of the presenters and judges were leaked to the press. Bruce Forsyth was paid £415,000 for each series, Tess Daly received £100,000 and each of the judges £13,750.^[2] The BBC later revealed that they had been leaked by temporary agency worker, Sam Walton, working as an assistant in their business affairs team.^[3]