Strictly returns, hoping to 'recover and move forward'

The woman behind the latest season of Strictly Come Dancing has said she hopes the show can "move forward" from recent controversies as it returns to TV screens.

"I'm not going to say that once the show is on air, everyone will forget about it," Karen Smith, Strictly's co-creator and first executive producer, told BBC News.

"But hopefully people can recover and move forward and learn from it, and remember that Strictly is fabulous, and people love it, people love taking part in it, they love watching it."

The BBC One show - with its bright lights, sparkles and sequins - is back on Saturday night.

A brand new set of celebrities will be hitting the dancefloor, as the contest enters its 20th year.

But it's faced a rocky few months, with a number of former contestants making allegations about the way they were treated on the show.

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

From this year, there are chaperones in all rehearsal rooms, and there are also two new dedicated welfare producers.

The corporation has always insisted it would always take any issues seriously, and act when made aware of inappropriate behaviour.

The show itself has long been a mainstay of Saturday night TV, and its "familiarity" is one of the reasons for its popularity, Ms Smith said.

"The hosts might change or the judges might change, the celebrities are new, but Strictly is always the same.

"People look forward to the series coming back."

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

There's no change to the judges' panel either. Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and Head Judge Shirley Ballas will be watching every step taken by the dancers.

But there's a whole new line-up of celebrities for 2024. Here is the list in 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 launch show, it will be revealed which professional dancer they have been paired with.

Once the pairings have been announced, the celebrities and professionals will perform a group routine, before the live shows begin next week.

This year’s series will also include all the usual theme weeks, including Halloween, Musicals and the Blackpool week.

Culture journalist 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 imagine Strictly without the Halloween episode, without the costumes, without the music?"

"It's those kind of autumn moments that make it whole."

But while many elements of Strictly never change, this year's professional dancer line up will look different to last year's.

Two dancers have been dropped from the show following complaints about their behaviour and teaching methods in rehearsals.

In June, it was confirmed that Giovanni Pernice would not return for the new series.

It comes after his former dance partner Amanda Abbington made allegations about how he treated her on the show.

Pernice has denied any allegations of abusive or threatening behaviour. An investigation, launched by the BBC following the claims, will reportedly conclude soon.

Another professional dancer, Graziano Di Prima, has also left the show.

His spokesman admitted to BBC News that Di Prima had kicked his partner Zara McDermott in a rehearsal last year.

Other former celebrity contestants, the TV presenter Laura Whitmore and paralympian Will Bayley, have also spoken out about their experiences on the show.

Last month, a BBC News investigation heard allegations of a "toxic culture" from some former junior staff on the show, although other workers told a positive story of dancers and crew who were kind and respectful to them.

"Prior to 2024, the most controversial thing to happen to Strictly was the Strictly curse," said Ms Cleary - a reference to the idea that participating on the show threatens the status of your relationship.

"Amanda speaking up and her allegations becoming public very much opened the floodgates for former stars who had previously kept quiet, at least in the public sphere, to share their stories and say what they had gone through on the show."

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

"It's part of Strictly's history now, and it's up to Strictly and the BBC to take all of this into account, to learn from it, to make sure it doesn't happen again, and to move forward with a fresh perspective."

So the show goes on - and the new contestants, speaking at a press event ahead of the launch, also expressed a desire to move on.

"It's about our own experiences really," former Love Islander Tasha Ghouri said.

And earlier this week, Strictly Come Dancing proved it has not lost its shine with viewers, who voted it best talent show at the National Television Awards.

"Strictly is the best of what the BBC does and people value it, and they look forwad to it, and they schedule their weekend around it, and they care," said Ms Smith.

She said it was "terrible" to think of the "upset" that has been caused, not only to celebrities and dancers who have been affected, but also to the production team and the viewers.

But she added: "It would be a shame if it was picked apart to death and was allowed to die.

"Because journalists, if you keep picking and you keep criticising, you could end up killing the show that you spend weeks and months of the year talking about.

"So, be careful."

The Strictly Come Dancing 2024 launch show will air on Saturday 14 September at 19:20 on BBC One & BBC iPlayer.