Strictly Come Dancing announces latest contestant to take part in BBC series

Strictly Come Dancing 2023 is nearly upon us.

On Friday (4 August), the first batch of celebrity contestants for the new season of the hit BBC dance series was revealed on The One Show.

Sherlock star Amanda Abbington was the first to be announced. The 49-year-old actor who played Dr Watson’s wife Mary Morstan in Steven Moffat’s Sherlock Holmes series told Alex Jones and Roman Kemp that she was “incredibly competitive”.

After being asked why now Abbington explained: “Well the main reason was to embarrass my two teenage children but also because I’m perimenopausal and I just want to you know take the bull by the horns and embrace 51.”

Broadcasting icon Angela Rippon was the second star to be announced. The 78-year-old became the first female journalist to permanently present the BBC national television news in 1975.

“It’ll be wonderful if I can last long enough, a few weeks, and demonstrate that even at my age that it genuinely is possible for people who are older to be able to dance... to keep fit and strong... and feel a million dollars,” she said.

The veteran presenter was then shown dropping into the splits.

Bad Education star Layton Williams was then announced as the third contestant on The One Show. The 28-year-old has recently performed the title role in Billy Elliot the Musical on the West End.

Williams said he was a “perfectionist” when it came to dancing but he wasn’t trained in Latin and Ballroom dancing. He added that he wants a male dance partner who will “throw me around”.

“Basically, at college I used to always be very jealous of the girls being thrown around and I was like ‘I want to be that’, so I can’t wait to be flung around and wear some glittery costumes,” he said.

The following morning, broadcaster Krishnan Guru-Murthy became the fourth contestant to be announced.

The Channel 4 presenter said: “I’m surprised, delighted and slightly confused to find myself taking part in Strictly on the basis of ‘you only live once!’ and I can’t wait to start learning to dance, but I am slightly worried about my general decrepitude.

“I know I’m going to love it and have a brilliant time and just hope I’m not the only one enjoying my participation.”

Dame Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse are all set to return as judges.

Professional dancer Amy Dowden, however, announced last month that she would not be competing on this year’s show after a second cancer diagnosis.

The 32-year-old dancer announced she had grade three cancer in May but was hopeful surgery would solve it. However, doctors found more tumours and another type of cancer, meaning more treatment is required, including chemotherapy.

Dowden joined Strictly in 2017, and has competed in every series since, reaching the final in 2019 with kids’ TV presenter Karim Zeroual.

The release date for Strictly 2023 has yet to be confirmed by the BBC; however, it normally hits screens in September. 15 contestants will compete on the competition series, which lasts all the way up to Christmas.