Strictly Come Dancing 2017 start date, time, line up, judges and everything else you need to know about the dancing show

Another crop of celebrity contestants have donned their dancing shoes and sequinned costumes ready to take to the stage for this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Here’s everything you need to know about the 2017 series of the show:

What’s the format?

Each week the celebrities will perform a dance with their professional partner.

Some weeks are themed, the show usually has a movie night and a Halloween special, for example.

The couples are then awarded marks out of 10 from the panel of judges which are used to place them on a leader board.

Once all the celebrities have danced, lines are opened for the public to vote for their favourite couple.

The votes are added to the scores from the judges, with the two couples receiving the lowest scores ending up in the bottom two.

The low-scoring couples will then perform their dance once more for the judges who will each vote to save whoever they felt performed best.

In the event of a tie, the head judge casts the deciding vote to determine which couple stays in the competition.

Will a contestant leave in week one?

Producers are being kind to the celebrity contestants by giving them a week to get acquainted with the show before they face the public vote.

This means there won’t be a results show until week two of the competition with the judges scores from the first show carrying over to the next week.

Who are the couples?

The Strictly couples consist of the celebrity contestants and their professional dancer partners. This year’s celebrity line up boasts the likes of X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, comedian Susan Calman, The Saturdays singer Mollie King and ex-JLS band member Aston Merrygold.

See below for the full list of contestants and their partners.

Strictly Come Dancing 2017 couples

Aston Merrygold and Janette Manrara

Brian Conley and Amy Dowden

Davood Ghadami and Nadiya Bychkova

Joe McFadden and Katya Jones

Jonnie Peacock and Oti Mabuse

Reverend Richard Coles & Dianne Buswell

Simon Rimmer and Karen Clifton

Alexandra Burke and Gorka Marquez

Charlotte Hawkins and Brendan Cole

Chizzy Akudolu and Pasha Kovalev

Debbie McGee and Giovanni Pernice

Gemma Atkinson and Aljaž Škorjanec

Mollie King and AJ Pritchard

Ruth Langsford and Anton Du Beke

Susan Calman and Kevin Clifton

Who are the judges?

The judging panel consists of ex-ballet star Darcey Bussell, choreographer and stalwart of the panto circuit Craig Revel-Horwood (who is the show’s token baddie) and dancer and choreographer Bruno Tonioli.

This year they’ll be joined by former champion Latin dancer Shirley Ballas, who replaces Len Goodman as head judge.

Who are the presenters?

As ever Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman will host the main show, with Zoe Ball fronting sister programme It Takes Two on weekdays.

When’s it on?

The new series of Strictly Come Dancing is on Saturday, September 23 at 6.25pm on BBC One, with It Takes Two airing weekdays at 6.30 on BBC Two.