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:
| Series One |
Series Two |
| Natasha Kaplinsky and Brendan Cole |
Jill Halfpenny and Darren Bennett |
| Martin Offiah and Erin Boag |
Denise Lewis and Ian Waite |
| Lesley Garret and Anton du Beke |
Aled Jones and Lilia Kopylova |
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.
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
External Links
-This article has been brought to you by BambooWeb and Wikipedia-
