Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two

Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two

Also known as	Strictly: It Takes Two
Developed by	BBC
Presented by	Claudia Winkleman (2004–10) Zoë Ball (2011–)
Opening theme	Dan McGrath Josh Phillips
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	10
No. of episodes	505 (as of 2 November 2012)^[1]
Production
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 mins 60 mins (series finales)
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Two
Picture format	16:9 (HDTV)
Original run	25 October 2004 – present
Chronology
Preceded by	Strictly Come Dancing: On Three
Related shows	Strictly Come Dancing
External links
Website

Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two, or simply Strictly: It Takes Two, is a British television programme, the companion show to the popular BBC One programme Strictly Come Dancing. It is broadcast on weeknights during the run of the main show on BBC Two at 6:30pm. Claudia Winkleman was the first presenter of the series; however due to her pregnancy in 2011 she had to leave and since then former Strictly finalist Zoë Ball has presented it.^[2]

Before 2010, BBC Two Scotland did not broadcast the show on Thursdays, when locally produced Gaelic language programming aired in the slot instead, though during the 2008 and 2009 series the Thursday night show was carried as an alternative digital stream via BBC Red Button.

It Takes Two started to broadcast during the second series of the main show, replacing the companion show to the first series, Strictly Come Dancing: On Three, which had been broadcast on the digital channel BBC Three.

The programme features interviews and training footage of the couples competing in the main Saturday night show, opinions from the judges on the previous Saturday show and the training footage for the next, and interviews with celebrities who have been watching the show. Head judge Len Goodman had a weekly spot with Claudia Winkleman entitled "Len's Masterclass", in which he demonstrated the dances to be performed on the following Saturday - this has been discontinued since Zoë Ball took over the presenter role.

Also, Craig Revel Horwood had a spot on Wednesday called "The Midweek Report" where he looked at the latest training footage and commented on the performances of the couples so far, although Ian Waite took over that slot since Ball became the host in 2011, and it is called "Waite's Wednesday Warm-Up". Revel Horwood moved to the Monday position and has a section called "Craig's Revel-ations". Karen Hardy, a former professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing reviews the previous week's choreography on Tuesdays in "Karen's Choreography Corner". On Thursday, there is normally a chat with the show's head dress designer Vicky Gill.^[3] On Friday, there is the Friday Panel, three or more celebrity fans reviewing the music of each of the dance teams for Saturday.

Russell Grant had also appeared on the 2012 series of Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two as 'Stat Man', with a guide to the numbers of winners of Strictly.^[4] Hilary Alexander used to appear until 2010 as a fashion commentator.

In 2013, a new feature was shown, where dancer Natalie Lowe was set a challenge to teach a normal couple, known only as Gordon and Mel from Southampton, how to dance ahead of their wedding. In 2014, Robin Windsor was set a challenge to teach the teachers of a school to dance for a performance for the school.

Ratings

The show averages between two and three million viewers each evening and is regularly the most watched show of the day on BBC Two. Although this is somewhat less than the main series' average of ten million viewers the early slot and broadcast channel means viewing figures near ten million are unrealistic.