Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Strictly Come Dancing to return – but with shorter series

Strictly Come Dancing (BBC/PA)
Strictly Come Dancing (BBC/PA)

Strictly Come Dancing will return to television later this year, but with a shorter series than usual, the BBC has confirmed.

The show would usually be due to return at the end of September but its launch is expected to be slightly delayed because of coronavirus precautions.

The corporation previously confirmed that the professional dancers are poised to start rehearsing remotely at the end of July and could be isolated along with key production members to enable group numbers to still go ahead.

A statement said: “The Strictly Come Dancing team are doing everything they can to bring the nation plenty of Strictly magic later this year.

“To ensure we deliver the high standards audiences know and love, and in light of the ongoing considerations around Covid-19, this year’s series of Strictly will have a slightly shorter run than usual.

“The safety of our cast and crew is of the utmost importance to us and further updates will be made in due course.”

The line-up of professionals will remain unchanged in 2020, following the departure of Kevin Clifton.

Strictly winners
Last year’s winners Kelvin Fletcher and Oti Mabuse (Guy Levy/BBC)

The professional dancer quit the show in March, saying “the time has come to move on and focus on other areas of my life and career”.

BBC One bosses have not added any new dancers to the roster.

Male dancers Aljaz Skorjanec, Anton Du Beke, Giovanni Pernice, Gorka Marquez, Graziano Di Prima, Johannes Radebe and Neil Jones will all return.

Du Beke, who is the show’s longest-serving professional, will celebrate his 18th series of Strictly.

And female professionals Amy Dowden, Dianne Buswell, Janette Manrara, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Luba Mushtuk, Nancy Xu, Nadiya Bychkova and Oti Mabuse will also feature.

Strictly judges
Judges Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Bruno Tonioli are all expected to return (Guy Levy/BBC)

Latin specialist Xu, who was not given a celebrity partner in 2019, will make her second appearance under the Glitterball.

Judges Shirley Ballas, Motsi Mabuse, Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli are also expected to return.

Mabuse, who also appears on Let’s Dance, the German version of Strictly, has said quarantining dancers together was a technique that worked well there.

Meanwhile, Revel Horwood, who is also a judge on Australia’s version of the show, Dancing With The Stars, said they went ahead with the show without a studio audience and quarantined dancers performed live from a hotel roof top.