Strictly Come Dancing: the launch show – live

The ballroom extravaganza is back – and for the first time ever, the hosts are generating more excitement than the contestants. How will the new presenting trio fare?

Remember, there’s no voting tonight. And when it does return for next week’s opening live show, you will only be able to vote online. The phone vote was scrapped last series. The ceaseless march of time continues. The robots are coming.

Bring on the shortest show until November. With a lean, mean running time of 110 minutes, tonight’s episode is the snappiest we’ll get for a few weeks, until the 15-strong field is whittled down. Next Saturday’s opening live show will clock in at a whopping 150 minutes, for example.