Strictly’s here!
The fake tan, glitter and thousands upon thousands of sequins are good to go as a brand-new spectacular series of Strictly Come Dancing is ready for lift off!
Series 16 dances off early September when the famous faces will be partnered with Strictly pros. Following Brendan Cole and Chloe Hewitt’s departure, this year sees three new professionals join the line-up including Latin champ, Graziano Di Prima, a former dancer from Strictly South Africa, Johannes Radebe, and four-time Italian Dance Championship winner Luba Mushtuk. Meanwhile Neil Jones, who has been a choreographer on the show for a few years and is the husband of last year’s professional winner Katya, will also be taking to the floor with one of the celebs. We’ll also get a first look at everyone’s dancing skills as the newly-formed cast of Strictly 2018 show off their best moves in the first group dance.
This year’s contestants include This Morning’s Dr Ranj Singh,
BBC presenter Kate Silverton, Red Dwarf’s Danny John-Jules and TV presenter Katie Piper. They’ll have to impress the judges, who are all back from last year. We’re betting on lots of extravagant hilarity from Bruno again, elegance and poise from Darcey, plenty of pointers on technique from Shirley Ballas and the usual choice words from Craig!
Presenters and friends Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly will once again be at the helm, encouraging the contestants to shine.
■ The Strictly launch show is on BBC1, Saturday, September 8. The series proper starts a few weeks later.
■ Strictly 2017 contestant Susan Calman, chats about the Strictly magic and her new book all about kindness on p14.