With any fears unfounded, a second series was commissioned within four months. ⁘It was an overnight sensation,⁘ reflected judge Craig Revel Horwood . ⁘I was recognised in the streets, so people were immediately booing. It was bizarre.⁘ As the only original judge remaining today, Craig has overseen plenty of change, and there were only eight celebrity contestants in the first series – a far cry from today. The variety of routines has ballooned, too. ⁘In the initial shows, there were only two dances per week, so there might be four couples doing the cha-cha-cha, and four couples doing a waltz,⁘ Alison points out. ⁘Now there's so much variety – they really mix it up.⁘
Visually, the show has gone through a major transformation too. ⁘The set was really basic at first – it was just the stairs and the dance floor,⁘ recalls Alison. The show was originally broadcast from BBC Television Centre, but the site's closure in 2013 prompted a move to a bigger set at Elstree. ⁘Since then, the props and technology have grown increasingly sophisticated. The LED screens make these magnificent patterns on the floor and can basically turn the studio into a Parisian boulevard or a nightclub.⁘
Former executive producer Andrea Hamilton, who worked on the show in 2012 and 2013, agrees that the production values are now far more ambitious. ⁘In the beginning it was more stripped back, generic and not about big concepts. It was more, 'This is the song and style, and here's your track.' But from around 2010 onwards, the dances were thought of as stories, and it became about building worlds to draw people in.⁘
Another big difference in the Strictly of old was that the performances and the results were both screened on Saturday nights. But that changed in 2007, when the results show began transmitting on Sunday evenings, ramping up the tension for an extra 24 hours. ⁘Now you can plan your whole weekend around Strictly and, if you're really devoted, watch It Takes Two in the week as well,⁘ jokes Alison.
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