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Strictly Come Dancing’s 'huge risk' as BBC boss branded 'mad'


The BBC's former controller, Lorraine Heggessey, remembers how much of a risk it was to launch Strictly Come Dancing 20 years ago, with many people thinking she had "gone mad"

Inevitably, for such a long-running series, there have been multiple shifts in the judging panel, and for the first four years, the line-up consisted of Craig, the late Len Goodman, Arlene Phillips and Bruno Toniol i. “As well as same-sex couples, we’ve had Paralympian Jonnie Peacock as the show’s first amputee, Ellie Simmonds as the first with dwarfism, and Rose Ayling-Ellis as the first deaf contestant,” says Alison. In this special commemorative edition of OK!, we celebrate two glorious decades of one of the nation's favourite TV shows As the new series kicks off, we look back at the winners who have danced their way to the top of Britain's sparkliest dance competition and remember the iconic performances that have provided moments of joy, tears and laughter We also pay tribute to Strictly's hosts, Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, the hard-working professional dancers and, of course, legendary judges Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton du Beke

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