The new series - the changes

Strictly Come Dancing 6 was mired with rancour, and ill feeling between judges and public. It was a shame that just as SCD5 was winning awards at the National Television Awards, so SCD6 was gaining viewers and column inches for all the wrong reasons.

So Series 7 is upon us, and the production team appear to have pulled out all the stops to address the problems.

Gone is the much reviled Sunday night results show. This made its first appearance in Series 5 and seemed to have been conceived as a cheap(ish) way to extend the Strictly brand and to fill another prime time weekend slot. The reality was that the show often suffered from over padding, and was often scheduled too late for real family viewing. The overnight wait for results was hated by diehard fans, many of whom yearned for the tension of a live Saturday night results show. I have to admit to being in two minds over this. I resented the Sunday show initially, but when I discovered the place for spoiler threads on the internet, I found that I could have the best of both worlds. I could satisfy my burning curiosity by around 10:30 on a Saturday night, and could have my seven day a week Strictly fix by tuning in on a Sunday night to watch the pro dances, tuning out before the dance off if I knew that it was going to be an emotionally charged episode. Part of me will miss those Saturday evening Digital Spy vigils.

Whether the BBC’s decision to go directly up against the X Factor will prove to be a wise one, time will tell, although initial feedback is not looking good. Still, it would be surprising if the ratings figures of the last two years could be maintained, or bettered, so here is the ready-made reason for any slump.

This series still has 16 couples, which I feel is too many (12 or 14 seemed to work so much better). At least we have lost the bore-fest of the “boy only”/”girl only” weeks, which made the beginning of the last series seem so very drawn out. It was frustratingly pointless to sit through two weeks of men only, with entertainment and decent dancing in short supply last year, whilst the far more talented ladies lost two of their number to slightly premature exits. With even Tess Daly opining at the end of programme 4, “join us next week when the real competition starts”, it seems that everyone had a sense of marking time through the first month of the series.

An interesting new twist is to schedule the first and second episodes over the Friday and Saturday (although this assumes a level of loyalty from fans that may not yet have been fully earned back), and to have all couples dance both a ballroom and a Latin dance before the first and second elimination. I always feel so sorry for the first couple to be unceremoniously booted out, after a mere 90 seconds to prove their worth, so this change ticks the boxes for me. There will be no hiding behind the stronger discipline, be it ballroom or Latin, so a shock start to the season may be in store!

I will miss the preview show that has been aired in previous years (although as the “preview” show seems to have been part preview, part review of the series before, there may be good reason to draw a veil over aspects of Series 6). I have always enjoyed “the getting to know the partnerships” angle of those first VTs, and feel that the three new pros and their partners are going to be at a disadvantage for the start of this series.

The best change from my point of view is the tweaking of the scoring system. Something needed to be done after last year’s semi final debacle, when the tie at the top of the leader board meant that any votes cast for Tom and Camilla were wasted votes. But there had been occasions (over all series) when a tie near the top of the leader board meant a couple scoring only marginally less had found themselves in that tricky mid table position, neither good enough to win immunity with the judges’ votes, nor bad enough to garner the public sympathy vote, so doomed to the dance off before their time. The new points system seems set to iron out that snag and be fairer all round.

The new time slot is a winner with me as well. I do like to start my Strictly evening with a glass of wine, and it seems somehow much more satisfying if I can time the easing out of the cork to match that first exuberant “Oh” of the theme tune. A Strictly start anytime after 7 means that those first few sips are a well deserved treat. A six o’ clock start does a Strictly lush signify!