Strictly Come Dancing 2018 live shows start date and time confirmed

The start date and time for the first Strictly Come Dancing 2018 live show has been confirmed.

There will be just the one live show to open the series rather than two split over Friday and Saturday.

When do Strictly’s live shows begin?

Strictly 2018’s first live episode airs on Saturday, September 22. It will start at 6:15PM on BBC One.

Having been paired up with their professional dancer, the celebs have two weeks to rehearse before returning to the ballroom to perform live to the nation every Saturday night.

As always, there will be no public vote in the first week however they will be marked by the returning judges – Bruno Tonioli, Craig Revel Horwood, Darcey Bussell and head judge Shirley Ballas.

Those marks will carry forward to the next week where one unlucky celeb will get the boot.

The results show with Tess and Claudia will begin from week two on Sunday nights. From then, each week the two couples with the lowest combined scores, from the judges and public vote, will face each other in the dance off, and one couple will leave the competition for good.

Meanwhile, BBC Two spin-off It Takes Two begins at 6:30PM on Monday night from September 24.

The couples starting Strictly Come Dancing 2018 are Oti Mabuse and Graeme Swann, Katya Jones and Seann Walsh, Janette Manrara and Dr Ranj Singh and Pasha Kovalev and Ashley Roberts.

They’re joined by Giovanni Pernice and Faye Tozer, Dianne Buswell and Joe Sugg, Aljaž Škorjanec and Kate Silverton and AJ Pritchard and Lauren Steadman.

Also on this year’s series are Karen Clifton and Charles Venn, Graziano Di Prima and Vick Hope, Kevin Clifton and Stacey Dooley and Anton Du Beke and Susannah Constantine.

Rounding off the line up are Amy Dowden and Danny John-Jules, Gorka Marquez and Katie Piper and Nadiya Bychkova and Lee Ryan.

But who will lift the glitterball come December?

Strictly Come Dancing 2018’s live shows begin Saturday, September 22.