11.3 million tune in to watch Strictly Come Dancing extravaganza at Blackpool Tower

Strictly Come Dancing had a boost in the ratings, thanks to its annual Blackpool episode.
Charles Venn and Karen Clifton taking part in Saturday's Strictly Come Dancing live show from Blackpool on BBC One.Charles Venn and Karen Clifton taking part in Saturday's Strictly Come Dancing live show from Blackpool on BBC One.
Charles Venn and Karen Clifton taking part in Saturday's Strictly Come Dancing live show from Blackpool on BBC One.

Saturday night’s programme, broadcast live from the Blackpool Tower Ballroom, drew an average of 10.2 million viewers and a peak of 11.3 million in the overnight ratings, the BBC said.

The episode, considered the most highly-anticipated and glamorous of the series, had an audience share of 48.6 per cent. This is an increase from last week’s episode, which had 9.9 million on average, and the previous week, which had an average of 9.5 million viewers. The last time a Saturday night edition of Strictly scored as highly in the ratings was in mid-October, when Seann Walsh and his partner Katya Jones performed for the first time after they were pictured kissing.

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That episode drew an average of 10.6 million viewers and peaked at 11.9 million viewers. Strictly’s Blackpool episode saw Pussycat Dolls star Ashley Roberts and her partner Pasha Kovalev score the first perfect score of the year, 40 points for their jive.

Over on ITV, The X Factor pulled in an average of four million viewers with a peak of 4.7 million.