Strictly Come Dancing launch gets 8m viewers

Published on 17/09/2012 02:07

STRICTLY Come Dancing had its biggest launch for three years as it returned to BBC1 on Saturday night.

The first show in the series – in which viewers saw contestants such as Victoria Pendleton and Jerry Hall team up with their professional partners – was seen by an average of eight million viewers.

There was also a resurgence for ITV1’s The X Factor on Saturday after weeks of disappointing ratings, although the programme is still more than two million down on last year’s figure at this stage of the contest.

Strictly saw its audience peak at 9.8 million last night, but had an average of eight million viewers. It was the show’s biggest series debut since 2009 when it pulled in 8.4 million.