As claims mount, is Strictly facing its last waltz?

As every Strictly fan knows, timing is everything. With the 22nd series of the ratings smash on the way in the autumn, it probably seemed the right moment to send out invitations to the launch show. “Who will the new celebrities be paired with and can they dance?” asked the email that dropped on Thursday.

“All will be revealed at the launch of Strictly Come Dancing 2024!” Places in the Strictly audience are the light entertainment equivalent of Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. So why did this invitation arrive like a brick through the window? This is meant to be Strictly’s big year, when it celebrates two decades at the top of the shiny-floor show league. Instead, allegations of bullying, the departure of professional dancers, and the possibility of more claims to come, threaten to shatter the show’s image.

This week, the Reverend Richard Coles, a former contestant, said few people involved in Strictly could be surprised by the allegations. He told Times Radio: “I remember somebody who worked on the show for years telling me: ‘Strictly is a wonderful show with a dark heart.’” Dame Esther Rantzen, who appeared in the second series, said the show had become “a sacred cow”.

Too big to fail, too hot to drop, too lucrative to abandon, what is to be done about Strictly? READ MORE The lunch that led Sturgeon to say yes to TV job Round two of Joanna Cherry v Nicola Sturgeon Strictly featured several times in the storylines of WIA, the BBC comedy about the BBC. O.