''Come Dancing'' is a British ballroom dancing competition show made by the

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

(BBC), which aired on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

at various intervals from 1950 to 1998. Unlike its subsequent follow-up show, ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

'', contestants were neither celebrities nor professionals. The show was created by Eric Morley, the founder of

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Mi ...

, in 1949, and began by broadcasting from regional

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called ''balls''. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially histori ...

studios owned by

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

, with professional dancers Syd Perkin and Edna Duffield on hand to offer teaching. Its original format was based on a knock-out process of teams from various regions around the UK, such as

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

or the South West. In 1953, the format changed to become a competition, with dancers representing the home nations (

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

), with later series seeing regions of the United Kingdom going head to head for its coveted trophy.

Broadcast

In 1950, ''Come Dancing'' joined ''Television Dancing Club'', and the two programmes ran on alternate weeks until 1964, when the latter finished. At its peak, in the late 1960s and 1970s, it attracted audiences of ten million. The last regular series was aired in 1995 (with no series in 1982 or 1987); this was followed by ''International Come Dancing'' specials in 1996 and 1998. The final episode, a 50th anniversary special, was presented by Rosemarie Ford and broadcast on

from the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

in London on 29 December 1998. In 2023,

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

began repeating episodes of the show from the 1970s. The entire 1979 run was repeated by BBC Four in January and February alongside an episode from 1977 and the Grand Final from 1974. On 12 October 2024, the channel repeated the 1990 Grand Final, as part of an 80th birthday celebration night for former ''Come Dancing'' presenter Angela Rippon, which also features future Strictly head judge Len Goodman as part of the judging panel.

Presenters

The first presenter in 1950 was

Peter Dimmock Peter Harold Moss Dimmock (6 December 1920 – 20 November 2015) was a British sports broadcaster, television producer and television executive for the BBC. He began his career as a racing correspondent for the PA Media, Press Association bef ...

, and was assisted by Leslie Mitchell as its master of ceremonies. Many subsequent presenters over the years included Sylvia Peters, Peter West (1957 to 1972), McDonald Hobley, Charles Nove,

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

Brian Johnston Brian Alexander Johnston (24 June 1912 – 5 January 1994), nicknamed Johnners, was a British cricket commentator, author, and television presenter. He was most prominently associated with the BBC during a career which lasted from 1946 until h ...

, Peter Marshall,

Angela Rippon Angela May Rippon (born 12 October 1944) is an English broadcaster, former newsreader, writer and journalist. Rippon presented radio and television news programmes in South West England before moving to BBC One's ''BBC Nine O'Clock News, Nine ...

, Frank Bough,

Michael Aspel Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television presenter and newsreader. He hosted programmes such as '' Crackerjack!'', '' Ask Aspel'', ''Aspel & Company'', '' Give Us a Clue'', '' This Is Your Life'', '' Strange ...

, David Jacobs, Judith Chalmers, Pete Murray and Rosemarie Ford. Commentators included Ray Moore, Bruce Hammal, and Charles Nove.

Revival

Inspired by the resurgence in ballroom dancing in the UK following the 1992 Australian film ''

Strictly Ballroom ''Strictly Ballroom'' is a 1992 Australian romantic comedy film directed and co-written by Baz Luhrmann in his feature directorial debut. The film is the first in his '' Red Curtain Trilogy'' of theatre-motif-related films; it was followed by 1 ...

'', a relaunched celebrity version entitled ''

'' (affectionately known simply as ''Strictly'') debuted on

in 2004, and became a major success with Saturday evening audiences. ''Strictly'' paired a professional dancer together with a celebrity partner, and was originally hosted by

Bruce Forsyth Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was an English entertainer and television presenter whose career spanned more than 75 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the Associated Te ...

and

Tess Daly Helen Elizabeth "Tess" Daly (born 29 March 1969) is an English television presenter and former model. Since 2004, she has co-presented the BBC One dancing competition show '' Strictly Come Dancing''. Early life Helen Elizabeth Daly was born o ...

, assisted by

Claudia Winkleman Claudia Anne Irena Winkleman (born 15 January 1972) is an English broadcaster and writer. She has been nominated three times for the British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance for co-presenting the BBC One dancing compet ...

. In later years, Claudia Winkleman was promoted to full-time host in 2014 after Forsyth's departure. The title is an amalgamation of the titles of ''Come Dancing'' and the film ''Strictly Ballroom''. The format of the newer show has become an international success, having been successfully exported to many other countries as ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'' or similar names in local languages.

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control 1950 British television series debuts 1950s British television series 1960s British television series 1970s British television series 1980s British television series 1990s British television series BBC One original programming Ballroom dance Dance competition television shows Television series by BBC Studios British English-language television shows 1998 British television series endings