History Series / StrictlyComeDancing

Now (2022) on its 20th series, ''Strictly Come Dancing'' is a Celebrity TalentShow in which 15 celebrities are paired up with professional dancers, the latter of whom have to teach the former how to dance. They dance each week and one couple is voted off each week via a combination of judges' scores and public voting until the the final, which is decided by audience vote alone. The final is intended to have 4 couples (3 in earlier series) but sometimes there are less if someone has dropped out.

** Neil Jones started out as an extra dancer and choreographer during the 2014 and 2015 series, before he and his wife Katya were officially ascended to pro status in 2016.
** Downplayed with Luba Mushtuk, who was a recurring extra dancer since 2016 and was promoted to titular pro in 2018, but without getting a celebrity partner.

%% ** one young, good-looking male amongst the celebrity contestants every year.

* OnlyKnownByInitials: Pro dancer AJ Pritchard (full name Alex Joseph Pritchard) but he goes by AJ, at least within the show.

* SensualSlavs: A lot of the female dancers hail from former Soviet bloc countries; notably Kristina Rihanoff (Russian), Ola Jordan (Polish), Lilia Kopylova (Russian), Aliona Vilani (Russian-Kazakh), Nadiya Bychkova (Ukrainian), Jowita Przystał (Polish) and Luba Mushtuk (Russian).

* SensualSlavs: A lot of the female dancers hail from former Soviet bloc countries; notably Kristina Rihanoff (Russian), Ola Jordan (Polish), Lilia Kopylova (Russian), Aliona Vilani (Russian-Kazakh), Nadiya Bychkova (Ukrainian) and Luba Mushtuk (Russian).

* InMemoriam:
** During the 2017 launch show, there was a dance sequence dedicated to Bruce Forsyth, who had died weeks before.
** During the "[=BBC=] Centenary" Sunday episode, the group dance ended with a picture of Queen Elizabeth II being briefly displayed in the ballroom. The Queen had died just nine days before the original scheduled airdate of that series' launch show, which was postponed out of respect. Coincidentally, it was on Remembrance Sunday, the [=UK's=] day of commemoration of the World Wars, and the image was of her in her [=WWII=] gear.

** Tom Fletcher of Music/McFly's routine during Movie Week in the 2021 series was based on ''Film/BackToTheFuture''; his band is named after the protagonist.

** The 2021 series had Tilly Ramsay, who was about 20 at the time. She was paired with newcomer pro Nikita, one of the younger dancers if not the youngest (AJ had left by then and while fellow new pro Cameron is younger, he has yet to be partnered).

* Series 2 (autumn 2004): Jill Halfpenny, beating Denise Lewis and Julian Clary

* PeopleFallOffChairs: Bruno has fallen out of his chair so often it has become a RunningGag. It's got to the point where he and Craig have both lampshaded it several times. When Craig impersonated Bruno in his absence, he ‘‘deliberately’’ fell out of his chair.

** The 2021 series had Tilly Ramsay, who was about 20 at the time. She was paired with newcomer pro Nikita, one of the younger dancers if not the youngest (AJ was no longer being partnered by then and while fellow new Pro Cameron is younger, he has yet to be partnered).

** This also happens to the pros when their partners are eliminated, as their appearances for the rest of the series are reduced to special performances during the results show (and sometimes at the beginning of the main show), and the occasional shot of them in the audience or standing behind Claudia in later episodes when there are fewer contestants. Taken even further with those who made it far in the competition one year, only for their next partner to leave early on in the following year. For example, Kai and Giovanni made it to the final in 2021 (though in the latter's case, his partner had to miss the final because of an injury) while in 2022, their new partners were eliminated in week 2 and 3 respectively.

** This also happens to the pros when their partners are eliminated, as their appearances for the rest of the series are reduced to special performances during the results show (and sometimes at the beginning of the main show), and the occasional shot of them in the audience or standing behind Claudia in later episodes when there are fewer contestants. Taken even further with those who made it far in the competition one year, only for their next partner to leave early on in the following year. For example, Kai and Giovanni made it to the final in 2021 (though in the latter's case, his partner had to miss the final because of an injury) while in 2022, their new parters were eliminated in week 2 and 3 respectively.

** The 2021 series had Tilly Ramsay, who was about 20 at the time. She was paired with newcomer pro Nikita, one of the younger dancers if not the youngest (AJ was no longer being partnered by then).

* ChristmasEpisode: As the BBC's only really successful light-entertainment show from the New Tens, this rapidly became a staple of the Christmas schedules. Initially this took the format of inviting back past contestants alongside the top three from the most recent series in a standalone competition; in 2010 it was changed to feature new celebrities who didn't have time to do the full series, before reverting to an 'All-Stars' format between 2014 and 2019, before switching back to the 2010-13 style in 2021 (the COVID-19 pandemic caused 2020's special to be a GreatestHits-style show).

** Since their debut in 2016, neither Neil Jones nor Chloe Hewitt have partnered a celebrity on the main show. This has also been true of 2018 additions Luba Mushtuk and Johannes Radebe. Neil has only eventually got a partner in the 2019 season, three years later, and didn't have one in the following series. Luba and Johannes, though, are very downplayed, as both only sit out 2018, getting partners in 2019 (though Luba and James Cracknell were first eliminated).
** This also happens to the pros when their partners are eliminated, as their appearances for the rest of the series are reduced to special performances during the results show (and sometimes at the beginning of the main show), and the occasional shot of them in the audience or standing behind Claudia in later episodes when there are fewer contestants. Taken even further with those who made it far in the competition one year, only for their next partner to leave early on in the following year.

** From the 2020 series onwards, the lineups have included at least one pairing where both the contestant and the professional are the same gender (Nicola Adams and Katya Jones in 2020, John Whaite and Johannes Radebe in 2021 and Jayde Adams and Karen Hauer in 2022).

** The 2022 series had one week where the couples danced to songs from various BBC shows as part of the 100th anniversary celebration, which included Helen Skelton dancing to the ''Blue Peter'' theme song, and James Bye dancing to the extended version of the ''Series/EastEnders'' theme song.

** From the 2020 series onwards, the lineups have included at least one pairing where both the contestant and the professional are the same gender.

* ChristmasEpisode: As the BBC's only really successful light-entertainment show from the New Tens, this rapidly became a staple of the Christmas schedules. Initially this took the format of inviting back past contestants alongside the top three from the most recent series in a standalone competition; in 2010 it was changed to feature new celebrities who didn't have time to do the full series, before reverting to an 'All-Stars' format between 2014 and 2019, before switching back to the 2010-13 style in 2021 (the Covid-19 pandemic caused 2020's special to be a GreatestHits-style show).

** Bruno had to miss his spot on the judging panel in 2020 due to travel restrictions as a result of the ongoing pandemic. They simply reduced the number of judges to three, although Bruno did show up via videolink on occasion, including during the final. He left the show altogether in 2021, his place being taken by Anton.

** For the 2018 series, a 'second'' hunky Italian pro appears in one Graziano de Prima, who's a dead ringer for Jon Snow of ''Series/GameOfThrones''.

* NonGameplayElimination: Several contestants have had to pull out after suffering illness, injury or bereavement (e.g. Robert Webb and Tony Adams). John Sergeant is the only competitor to leave of his own volition (as he feared he might end up winning the series).

%% * PimpedOutDress: This is fairly common in ballroom dancing.

* Series 18 (2020): Creator/BillBailey, beating HRVY, Jamie Laing and Maisie Smith

* TheBabyOfTheBunch: Among the pros, AJ, and to a lesser extent Chloe when she was still on. It's also common for particularly young, young-looking or youth-appealing celebrities to get this treatment as well, such as Tina O'Brien, Georgia May Foote, Claudia Fragapane, Joe Sugg, and most recently Saffron Barker, accentuated by being paired with AJ.

** Let Anton tell you

** Since their debut in 2016, neither Neil Jones nor Chloe Hewitt have partnered a celebrity on the main show. This has also been true of 2018 additions Luba Mushtuk and Johannes Radebe. Neil has only eventually got a partner in the 2019 season, three years later. Luba and Johannes, though, are very downplayed, as both only sit out 2018, getting partners in 2019 (though Luba and James Cracknell were first eliminated).
** This also happens to the pros when their partners are eliminated, as their appearances for the rest of the series are reduced to special performances during the results show (and sometimes at the beginning of the main show), and the occasional shot of them in the audience. Taken even further with those who made it far in the competition one year, only for their next partner to leave early on in the following year.
** Bruno had to miss his spot on the judging panel in 2020 due to travel restrictions as a result of the ongoing pandemic. They simply reduced the number of judges to three, although Bruno did show up via videolink on occasion, including during the final.

* LargeHam: Bruno was ''very'' flamboyant in episodes he appeared in, and had a habit of ChewingTheScenery and climbing up on the judges table.

* LongRunnerCastTurnover: The professional lineup; by 2018, Anton was the only original pro dancer left, with the others having appeared in anything between one to eight series (out of sixteen). And became a judge after that, meaning that there are no professional dancers from the first series still competing in the show.

* NonGameplayElimination: Several contestants have had to pull out after suffering injury or bereavement (e.g. Rob Webb and Tony Adams). John Sergeant is the only competitor to leave of his own volition (as he feared he might end up winning the series).

* LongRunnerCastTurnover: The professional lineup; by 2018, Anton was the only original pro dancer left, with the others having appeared in anything between one to eight series (out of sixteen).

* ShowStopper: A really entertaining performance will warrant a standing ovation from the audience.

* NonGameplayElimination: Several contestants have had to pull out after suffering injury or bereavement. John Sergeant is the only competitor to leave of his own volition (as he feared he might end up winning the series).

** Tony Adams left the series in 2022 after suffering an injury during the Week 8 Saturday show.

* {{Padding}}:
** Brucie could do filler like nobody's business.
** The VT's played before each routine can count as this. While they are introduced as being about the contestant's training, they often feature the professional dancer meeting the contestant's friends and / or family, the professional visiting the contestant's work or the two hanging out somewhere.
** The results show also includes a lot of this in the form of opening routines and guest performances, among other things.

* {{Filler}}: Brucie could do filler like nobody's business. The VT's played before each routine can count as this. While they are introduced as being about the contestant's training, they often feature the professional dancer meeting the contestant's friends and / or family, the professional visiting the contestant's work or the two hanging out somewhere.
** The results show also includes a lot of this in the form of opening routines and guest performances, among other things.

Originally hosted by Creator/BruceForsyth and Tess Daly until the 2014 series, Brucie's role has been taken over[[note]]He was originally intended to remain as the host of the Christmas special and any charity editions, but ill health prevented this from happening[[/note]] by previous Sunday show host Claudia Winkleman, the first both-female presenting duo in a British Saturday evening show.[[note]]In the second series Tess was replaced by first series champion Natasha Kaplinsky for the first half due to pregnancy, and in November 2014 Claudia was replaced with Zoe Ball, host of companion show ''It Takes Two'', for three weeks for family reasons.[[/note]]