Strictly Come Dancing 2023 is well underway. We’re onto week three now and it’s movie week: where each couple is tasked with encapsulating an iconic film in 90 seconds.
The BBC’s flagship dance competition kicked off its 21st series on Saturday 23 September, with another starry set of celebrities perfecting their moves on the famous dancefloor, including TV presenter Angela Rippon, soap star Bobby Brazier and comedian Eddie Kadi, who are all vying for the glitterball trophy.
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are presenting the series, while the judging panel of Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke and head judge Shirley Ballas all return.
Over the course of episodes one and two, Rippon – who, at 78, is the oldest contestant in Strictly history – emerged as a potential frontrunner, as well as Brazier, and actors Ellie Leach, Layton Williams and Amanda Abbington.
However, on week three TV presenter Angela Scanlon and her partner Carlos Gu took the top spot on the leaderboard with their energetic Charleston to “Who’s Got the Pain?” from Damn Yankees, as danced by Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdo. Meanwhile, Kadi and his partner Karen Hauer came second place with their freestyle number performing a street-dance routine inspired by the movie Men in Black to a song of the same name.
In other standout performances, former Tennis champion Annabel Croft embodied Audrey Hepburn as she performed a waltz to “Moon River” from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, while Brazier and partner Dianne Buswell performed a sultry samba to “Young Hearts Run Free” from Romeo and Juliet.
Rippon channelled her inner Julie Andrews in her graceful quickstep to “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music, which was a crowd pleaser of the night (although partner Kai Widdrington’s knee socks seemed to distract Du Beke).
Angela Rippon performing “Do-Re-Mi” from ‘The Sound of Music’ in ‘Movie Week’— (BBC/Guy Levy)
Professional dancer Amy Dowden, who has been absent from this season due to her ongoing breast cancer treatment, made a surprise appearance and delighted Strictly fans as she announced the terms and conditions for public voting and shared an update on her chemotherapy treatment.
You can read about the contestants on Strictly 2023 here, and catch up on everything that happened on week three here.
Here are the rankings and points totals, across the three weeks so far, as it stands:
Layton and Nikita: 29 + 36 + 28 = 93
Ellie and Vito: 29 + 31 + 33 = 93
Amanda and Giovanni: 29 + 32 + 30 = 91
Bobby and Dianne: 29 + 29 + 32 = 90
Angela and Carlos: 23 + 29 + 35 = 87
Angela and Kai: 28 + 31 + 26 = 85
Nigel and Katya: 32 + 27 + 25 = 84
Annabel and Johannes: 28 + 22 + 30 = 80
Eddie and Karen: 22 + 21 + 34 = 77
Krishnan and Lauren: 22 + 20 + 30 = 72
Adam and Luba: 19 + 23 + 26 = 68
Zara and Graziano: 19 + 23 + 25 = 67
Jody and Jowita: 21 + 16 + 20 = 57
Nikita and Gorka: 18 + 18 + 21 = 57
Strictly Come Dancing’s live shows air on Saturday nights on BBC One.
