Strictly Come Dancing bosses hope people 'move forward' after BBC show complaints

Strictly Come Dancing: 2024 series teased in BBC trailer

Strictly Come Dancing bosses have high hopes for the BBC show as it makes a return tonight - despite being shrouded in controversy.

The woman behind the latest season has said that she hopes people can "recover and move forward" as another line up of famous faces take to the dancefloor.

Karen Smith, Strictly's co-creator and first executive producer, told BBC News: "I'm not going to say that once the show is on air, everyone will forget about it, but hopefully people can recover and move forward and learn from it, and remember that Strictly is fabulous.

"People love it, people love taking part in it, they love watching it." She added that, despite the recent controversy, "familiarity" is one of the reasons for the BBC show's 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."

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As the show has been preparing for its 20th year, it has faced a huge amount of backlash from previous contestants.

A number of former celebrity participants have made allegations about the way they were treated by professional dancers on the show, with the BBC being forced to open investigations into the matters.

In June, it was confirmed that Giovanni Pernice would not return for the new series, after his former dance partner Amanda Abbington made allegations about how he treated her on the show.

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Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman will be back at the BBC show's helm (Image: Getty) window.topArticlesScript="https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/js/dist/article-top-articles20240911.min.js"

In a statement following the claims, the Italian dancer denied the allegations and said he looks forward to "clearing his name".

Graziano Di Prima has also left the show after it was reported that the professional dancer had kicked his partner, Zara McDermott, in a rehearsal last year.

The BBC has responded to complaints by making changes behind the scenes, after saying it would always take any issues seriously, and act when made aware of inappropriate behaviour. From this year, there are chaperones in all rehearsal rooms, and there are also two new dedicated welfare producers.

Strictly Come Dancing bosses hope people 'move forward' after BBC show complaints

Strictly Come Dancing bosses hope people 'move forward' after BBC show complaints

Strictly Come Dancing bosses hope people 'move forward' after BBC show complaints

Strictly Come Dancing bosses hope people 'move forward' after BBC show complaints

Strictly Come Dancing bosses hope people 'move forward' after BBC show complaints