BBC bosses tone down raunchy Strictly dances

BBC bosses have reportedly told the Strictly Come Dancing professional dancers to tone down their raunchy routines so they are suitable for the family audience.

The Sun reports that BBC bosses have told the show to tone down the dance routines fearing they are too raunchy and sexy for the Saturday evening tea-time audiences. Strictly Come Dancing has a history of raunchy dance routines between the celebrities and their professional dancers but the BBC has intervened before to tone them down for fear of a public backlash.

“Strictly has made a name for itself with its raunchy costumes and sexy routines.  But bosses felt things had gone too far this year and stepped in before the show aired to get some of the moves clipped.  They were concerned viewers might be shocked at some of the more sexy moves planned for the first two live shows. Dancers could get away with more on Friday’s show because it aired after the 9pm watershed.  But Saturday’s went out at 6pm when a lot more families were watching. Going forward, that will be the time it normally airs, so you have to be careful about these things.” – An “insider” in The Sun

This year’s line-up of celebrities includes The One Show’s Alex Jones, McFly’s Harry Judd, Edwina Currie, Russell Grant and former soap actors Jason Donovan, Anita Dobson and Holly Valance. It has also been praised as one of the strongest Strictly Come Dancing line-ups of recent years. The series is already performing well in the ratings with its Friday evening show pulling in 8 million at 9pm while the Saturday evening edition had 7.5 million viewers at 6pm.