Norton To Front Come Dancing Spin-Off For BBC
The BBC has revealed that its latest high-profile signing, Graham Norton, is to present a new dancing talent-competition called Strictly Dance Fever.
The show follows the success of the the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing and aims to capitalise on the current wave of interest in amateur dancing by giving thousands of ordinary people the chance compete in a glitzy dance-off.
The hopefuls will be whittled down to ten specially selected couples, who will be trained to a professional standard in salsa, swing and lambada before each round of the competition. The public will vote for who stays on the dance floor and the winner will walk away with a £50,000 cash prize.
The show is the first to be fronted by Norton since he defected from Channel 4 last year after signing an exclusive two and half year deal, reportedly worth around £5 million, to work with the Corporation on a range of new entertainment formats (see BBC Bags Norton As Channel 4 Contract Expires).
Commenting on the new show, Jane Lush, BBC Controller of entertainment commissioning, said: “Graham’s unique brand of humour and fantastic rapport with members of the public makes this the ideal show to demonstrate his talents. Britain has been gripped by dance fever this year and I can’t wait to see our couples get down and dirty as they battle it out head-to-head.”
Strictly Come Dancing proved extremely popular for the BBC earlier this year, attracting an average of around 6.6 million viewers each week. The show also propelled BBC breakfast anchor Natasha Kapinksy to major stardom after she won the coveted Come Dancing trophy.
The new Strictly Dance Fever format is reportedly being lined up as a long running vehicle for Norton on BBC One. It is expected to go out on Saturday nights sometime next year and is being seen as something of a cross between Fame Academy and Come Dancing.
Last week Ofcom published controversial proposals for the launch of an entirely new public service broadcaster to rival the BBC in the digital age. The suggestion was put forward as part of a wide-ranging set of proposals designed to protect the future of public service broadcasting as Britain prepares to switch off the ageing analogue television signal in 2012 (see Ofcom Plans New Public Service Channel To Rival BBC).
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