Strictly Done Dancing? Show crisis as stars won’t take part

STRICTLY Come Dancing fans could be disappointed this year as the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to wreck the hit BBC show’s filming schedules.

Corporation bosses fear the next series of Strictly may have to be postponed until next year.

The Scottish Mail on Sunday can reveal BBC executives have held several crisis meetings over how they will attract a high standard of celebrity contestants, given that social distancing rules look set to remain for months.

It is also likely the show could go ahead without its studio audience and contestants may even be quarantined in a house together for its duration.

There are fears the show’s professional dancers, such as Anton Du Beke, who has threeyear-old twins, and Nadiya Bychkova, who also has children, will not to take part.

One source said: ‘This is a logistical nightmare. The hope is that the scheduling will remain the same, but people have been warned that postponing until early next year is a possibility. The main priority is that everyone is kept safe.’ Strictly bosses have looked overseas to see how other countries have managed to air their shows during the crisis.

For the Australian version, some couples were asked to dance on the roof of a building and filmed by unmanned cameras to make sure some of the more vulnerable stars were not exposed to the virus.

A BBC spokesman said: ‘We will review all productions on a case-by-case basis and will continue to follow the latest advice from the Foreign Office, World Health Organisation and Public Health England.’