Strictly Come Dancing to begin revealing contestants on The One Show

Strictly Come Dancing is set to start revealing its class of 2023 on The One Show on Friday.

The BBC will welcome a new batch of famous faces to the 21st series of its flagship show this autumn, with the first personality expected to announce their involvement in style on the green sofa on Friday evening.

The dancing competition show tweeted on Friday: “It’s time to start revealing our #Strictly class of 2023. Tonight @BBCTheOneShow 7pm.”

Among the names being speculated to join this year’s Strictly roster is 37-year-old England cricketer Stuart Broad, after announcing his retirement from cricket last week.

English ballroom dancer Shirley Ballas, who has been dubbed the Queen of Latin, will be head judge again as Australian-born choreographer Craig Revel Horwood, South African dancer Motsi Mabuse, and ballroom and Latin dancer Anton Du Beke also return to the judging panel.

Tess Daly, who has presented the BBC One show since its first series in 2004, and Claudia Winkleman, who took over from Sir Bruce Forsyth as the main co-host in 2014, are also set to return.

Dave Arch and his band will once again provide the soundtrack to Strictly on Saturday and Sunday nights as competitors again head to the prestigious Tower Ballroom in Blackpool.

In April, the BBC announced that current reigning champion Jowita Przystal, who last year lifted the glitterball trophy with wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin, is returning to the show along with 2022’s runner-ups Gorka Marquez, Carlos Gu and Vito Coppola.

Dianne Buswell, Nadiya Bychkova, Graziano Di Prima, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Neil Jones and Nikita Kuzmin were also confirmed to be among the professionals in the line-up.

Those taking to the dancefloor also include Luba Mushtuk, Giovanni Pernice, Johannes Radebe, Kai Widdrington, Nancy Xu, Lauren Oakley and Michelle Tsiakkas.

Meanwhile, South African professional dancer Cameron Lombard, who joined the show in 2021, will not be part of the line-up for Strictly Come Dancing 2023 as he pursues “exciting future projects”.

It comes as former Strictly professionals Janette Manrara and Aljaz Skorjanec welcomed their first child together, who they named Lyra Rose Skorjanec, after finding out about the pregnancy just before starting IVF treatment.

The couple starred alongside each other on Strictly Come Dancing for many years before Manrara stepped down in 2021 to become a co-host of the spin-off show It Takes Two.

In April, the BBC revealed that Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two presenter Rylan Clark would step down from the spin-off after four years, with singer and former Strictly contestant Fleur East taking his place alongside Manrara.

Meanwhile, Strictly star Amy Dowden will not feature as a professional dancer this year as she undergoes chemotherapy treatment after announcing in May that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and revealing she had undergone a mastectomy in June.

Doctors later found another type of cancer in the Caerphilly-born dancer, which she described as a “massive blow” as it meant she would not be able to compete in Strictly this year.

The announcement also comes days after an episode of Kate Garraway’s Life Stories aired on ITV which saw judge Du Beke reveal he had spent three days in hospital after he was stabbed in the stomach and the leg by his father in a childhood incident.

The last series of Strictly saw Yassin and Przystal lift the glitterball trophy, after beating other celebrity couples East and Coppola, Molly Rainford and Gu, and Helen Skelton and Marquez in a public vote during the live show.

In 2021, Strictly’s first deaf contestant Rose Ayling-Ellis won with partner Pernice following their acclaimed silent dance, following comedian Bill Bailey who became the oldest celebrity to win in 2020 with Oti Mabuse after their must-watch couple’s choice dance to Rapper’s Delight.

Emmerdale actor Kelvin Fletcher and Mabuse took home the trophy in 2019 and presenter Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton were crowned dancefloor champions in 2018.