Strictly Come Dancing 2026 couples revealed as new hosts take over for series 24

Strictly Come Dancing has returned for its 24th series, and it has come back looking noticeably different. The launch show went out on Saturday 19 September 2026 on BBC One and iPlayer with a new presenting line-up, a new way of pairing the celebrities with their professional partners, and a cast that mixes soap, sport, pop and Paralympic gold.

The headline change is at the front of the show. Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe now present, replacing Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, BBC News reported. That is a three-way split of a job that has been done by a pair for most of the programme's modern run, and it moves one of the show's own professional dancers out of the ballroom and onto the presenting team.

The second change is structural. Rather than the straightforward pairing reveal that has opened recent series, the couples were put together through a new group-dance format, Radio Times reported. The effect was to spread the reveal across the show instead of delivering it in a single block, and it gave the professionals more to do on a night that has historically been light on actual dancing.

• Series: Strictly Come Dancing, series 24
• Launch show: Saturday 19 September 2026, BBC One and iPlayer
• Presenters: Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe
• Replacing: Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman
• Pairing method: a new group-dance format
• First live show: Saturday 26 September 2026, BBC One and iPlayer

Who is in the series 24 cast

The celebrities taking part include the actress Lacey Turner, the television personality Dani Dyer, the singer Delta Goodrem, the former footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips and the Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey.

That spread is close to the template the show has settled into: a recognisable soap face, a name from reality and daytime television, a musician with a performing background, a retired sportsperson and an elite athlete whose competitive instincts tend to survive contact with the ballroom. It is a casting formula that works because each of those routes into the show brings a different audience with it, and because the contrast between them is what makes the early weeks watchable before anybody is actually any good.

Of the confirmed pairings, the one that has travelled furthest is Dani Dyer with Nikita Kuzmin. It has been described as a reunion, and it drove a large share of the social media conversation after the launch, BBC News reported. Beyond that pairing, the partnerships were revealed across the group-dance format rather than announced as a list, and the rest of the line-up will become familiar over the first two live shows.

Why a three-host format matters

Swapping two long-serving hosts for three new ones is not a cosmetic change. The Strictly presenting job has two distinct halves: steering a live, tightly timed entertainment show, and handling the human side of it — the nerves before a routine, the disappointment after a low score, the exit interview at the end of the night.

Splitting that across three people changes the rhythm of both. Emma Willis arrives with a long grounding in live-format television. Josh Widdicombe brings a comedian's timing to a show that has always had a streak of gentle silliness running underneath the sequins. Johannes Radebe knows the mechanics of the competition from the inside, having lived the week-by-week grind of choreographing, teaching and performing to a Saturday deadline.

That last point is the genuinely new element. A presenter who has been a professional on the same show can ask a different question after a routine, because they know exactly which bit of it went wrong and why. Whether that expertise sharpens the programme or slows it down is the thing to watch across the first month.

What the launch show did and did not tell us

A Strictly launch show is not a competition episode. Nobody is scored, nobody goes home, and the routines performed on the night sit outside the contest. What it exists to do is introduce the cast, settle the pairings and set the tone for the series.

On that measure it did its job, and it did it in front of the biggest available Saturday-night audience in British entertainment television. The launch dominated Saturday-night conversation in the UK, and the format refresh — new hosts, new pairing mechanic — was the main talking point rather than any individual performance.

What it did not do is give any reliable signal about who can dance. Launch-night group numbers are heavily choreographed around the professionals, and celebrities who look assured in an ensemble can struggle badly when they are exposed on their own in week one. The reverse is also true, which is part of why the first live show carries more weight than the launch.

The first live show: Saturday 26 September

The competition proper begins on Saturday 26 September 2026 on BBC One and iPlayer, when the couples perform for scores for the first time.

That is the episode that starts everything the series runs on: the judges' marks, the leaderboard, the public vote and the first real sense of who is in trouble. It is also the first genuine test of the new presenting arrangement, because a live scored show has a clock, a panel to hand over to and a running order that can slip — pressures a launch show does not have.

What to watch on the night

• How the three presenters divide the floor, the panel links and the post-dance interviews under live timing.
• Whether the group-dance pairing format has produced partnerships that look considered rather than arbitrary.
• How the sporting contingent — Shaun Wright-Phillips and Dame Sarah Storey — handle the gap between athletic fitness and ballroom technique, which are much less transferable than they look.
• Whether Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin can convert the attention their pairing has attracted into an actual scoreline.

What happens next

From 26 September the series settles into its familiar weekly shape, and the questions change quickly. Early on, the story is usually about who has been badly underestimated. By the fourth or fifth week it is about which couples have improved fastest, which is the metric the public vote tends to reward more than raw ability.

For the BBC, the immediate measure is simpler: whether an audience that has watched Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman present this show for years stays with it through a change at the top. The launch suggested the interest is there. The first live show is where that gets tested against a scoreboard.

Frequently asked questions

When did Strictly Come Dancing 2026 start?

The launch show for series 24 was broadcast on Saturday 19 September 2026 on BBC One and iPlayer, BBC News reported. It introduced the cast and paired the celebrities with their professional partners, but no scores were given on the night.

Who are the new Strictly Come Dancing hosts?

Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe present series 24, replacing Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. Radebe is a professional dancer from the show's own cast who has moved into presenting, according to BBC News and Radio Times.

Who is in the Strictly Come Dancing 2026 line-up?

The celebrities taking part include Lacey Turner, Dani Dyer, Delta Goodrem, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Dame Sarah Storey. Dani Dyer has been paired with the professional Nikita Kuzmin, a pairing widely described as a reunion.

When is the first Strictly live show of 2026?

The first live show is on Saturday 26 September 2026 on BBC One and iPlayer. It is the first time the couples perform for scores, and the first episode in which the judges' marks and the public vote both count.