The Guardian view on Strictly Come Dancing: a serious stumble but hopefully not a fall | Editorial
The duty of care must be taken more seriously as illusion meets the tough reality of the dancefloor
The new political dawn, when the BBC might have hoped for at least a brief period of tranquillity, came to an abrupt end with the double whammy of a scandal on one of its flagship programmes, Strictly Come Dancing, and an annual report which revealed that half a million households had cancelled their licence fee last year. Though there is no direct link between the two the coincidence demonstrates the delicate line the corporation is treading in terms of keeping itself match fit and beyond criticism in an era of proliferating competition and sniping social media.
For the last 20 years, Strictly Come Dancing has been one of the pillars on which the BBC has been able to lean in demonstrating its capacity to entertain multiple generations simultaneously, while reflecting their own diversity back to them as something to be celebrated, with stars excelling regardless of age, physical disability, ethnicity or sexual orientation.