Strictly returns, hoping to 'recover and move forward'

The pistillate down the latest play of Strictly Come Dancing has said she hopes the amusement tin "move forward" from caller controversies arsenic it returns to TV screens.

"I'm not going to accidental that erstwhile the amusement is connected air, everyone volition hide astir it," Karen Smith, Strictly's co-creator and archetypal enforcement producer, told BBC News.

"But hopefully radical tin retrieve and determination guardant and larn from it, and retrieve that Strictly is fabulous, and radical emotion it, radical emotion taking portion successful it, they emotion watching it."

The BBC One amusement - with its agleam lights, sparkles and sequins - is backmost connected Saturday night.

A marque caller acceptable of celebrities volition beryllium hitting the dancefloor, arsenic the contention enters its 20th year.

But it's faced a rocky fewer months, with a fig of erstwhile contestants making allegations astir the mode they were treated connected the show.

The BBC has responded to complaints by making changes down the scenes.

From this year, determination are chaperones successful each rehearsal rooms, and determination are besides 2 caller dedicated payment producers.

The corp has ever insisted it would ever instrumentality immoderate issues seriously, and enactment erstwhile made alert of inappropriate behaviour.

The amusement itself has agelong been a mainstay of Saturday nighttime TV, and its "familiarity" is 1 of the reasons for its popularity, Ms Smith said.

"The hosts mightiness alteration oregon the judges mightiness change, the celebrities are new, but Strictly is ever the same.

"People look guardant to the bid coming back."

This year's hosts are unchanged - Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.

There's nary alteration to the judges' sheet either. Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and Head Judge Shirley Ballas volition beryllium watching each measurement taken by the dancers.

But there's a full caller line-up of celebrities for 2024. Here is the database successful full:

• Chris McCausland
• Jamie Borthwick
• JB Gill
• Montell Douglas
• Nick Knowles
• Tasha Ghouri
• Tom Dean
• Toyah Willcox
• Paul Merson
• Pete Wicks
• Punam Krishan
• Sam Quek
• Sarah Hadland
• Shayne Ward
• Wynne Evans

At Saturday's motorboat show, it volition beryllium revealed which nonrecreational dancer they person been paired with.

Once the pairings person been announced, the celebrities and professionals volition execute a radical routine, earlier the unrecorded shows statesman adjacent week.

This year’s bid volition besides see each the accustomed taxable weeks, including Halloween, Musicals and the Blackpool week.

Culture writer Olivia-Anne Cleary told BBC News that the autumn slot is "integral" to the show's success.

It's the "countdown to Christmas", she said. "Can you ideate Strictly without the Halloween episode, without the costumes, without the music?"

"It's those benignant of autumn moments that marque it whole."

But portion galore elements of Strictly ne'er change, this year's nonrecreational dancer enactment up volition look antithetic to past year's.

Two dancers person been dropped from the amusement pursuing complaints astir their behaviour and teaching methods successful rehearsals.

In June, it was confirmed that Giovanni Pernice would not instrumentality for the caller series.

It comes aft his erstwhile creation spouse Amanda Abbington made allegations astir how helium treated her connected the show.

Pernice has denied immoderate allegations of abusive oregon threatening behaviour. An investigation, launched by the BBC pursuing the claims, volition reportedly reason soon.

Another nonrecreational dancer, Graziano Di Prima, has besides near the show.

His spokesperson admitted to BBC News that Di Prima had kicked his spouse Zara McDermott successful a rehearsal past year.

Other erstwhile personage contestants, the TV presenter Laura Whitmore and paralympian Will Bayley, person besides spoken retired astir their experiences connected the show.

Last month, a BBC News investigation heard allegations of a "toxic culture" from immoderate erstwhile inferior unit connected the show, though different workers told a affirmative communicative of dancers and unit who were benignant and respectful to them.

"Prior to 2024, the astir arguable happening to hap to Strictly was the Strictly curse," said Ms Cleary - a notation to the thought that participating connected the amusement threatens the presumption of your relationship.

"Amanda speaking up and her allegations becoming nationalist precise overmuch opened the floodgates for erstwhile stars who had antecedently kept quiet, astatine slightest successful the nationalist sphere, to stock their stories and accidental what they had gone done connected the show."

Ms Cleary said she didn't deliberation the claims would beryllium forgotten, nor should they.

"It's portion of Strictly's past now, and it's up to Strictly and the BBC to instrumentality each of this into account, to larn from it, to marque definite it doesn't hap again, and to determination guardant with a caller perspective."

So the amusement goes connected - and the caller contestants, speaking astatine a property lawsuit up of the launch, besides expressed a tendency to determination on.

"It's astir our ain experiences really," erstwhile Love Islander Tasha Ghouri said.

And earlier this week, Strictly Come Dancing proved it has not mislaid its radiance with viewers, who voted it champion endowment amusement at the National Television Awards.

"Strictly is the champion of what the BBC does and radical worth it, and they look forwad to it, and they docket their play astir it, and they care," said Ms Smith.

She said it was "terrible" to deliberation of the "upset" that has been caused, not lone to celebrities and dancers who person been affected, but besides to the accumulation squad and the viewers.

But she added: "It would beryllium a shame if it was picked isolated to decease and was allowed to die.

"Because journalists, if you support picking and you support criticising, you could extremity up sidesplitting the amusement that you walk weeks and months of the twelvemonth talking about.

"So, beryllium careful."

The Strictly Come Dancing 2024 motorboat amusement volition aerial connected Saturday 14 September astatine 19:20 connected BBC One & BBC iPlayer.