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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Scott Bryan

‘I tried to break my ankle to get out of it’: an oral history of Strictly Come Dancing

Karen Smith Bruce Forsyth Louis Smith Guy Levy Katya Jones Natasha Kaplinsky BBC One Anton Du Beke Brendan Cole Giovanni Pernice
Illustration of shoes dancing on a shiny dancefloor
Illustration: Lisa Sheehan/The Guardian

On Saturday 15 May 2004, a reinvention of the long-running ballroom-dancing competition Come Dancing, but with celebrities dancing with professionals, debuted on BBC One. It would go on to become one of the most successful television formats in the world, sold to more than 75 countries from Argentina to India.

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