Strictly Come Dancing 2017 live shows start date and time confirmed

The start date and time for the first Strictly Come Dancing 2017 live show has been confirmed.

And unlike in recent years, there will be just the one live show to open the series rather than two split over Friday and Saturday.

Strictly 2017’s first live runs for a marathon 2 hours, 20 minutes starting on Saturday, September 23 at 6:25PM.

The show will wrap up at 8:45PM, meaning an overlap with The X Factor on ITV which will air its latest episode the same night from 8PM.

As always, there will be no results show in the first week with the stars safe from elimination.

However they will be marked by the returning judges – Bruno Tonioli, Craig Revel Horwood and Darcey Bussell – plus new head judge Shirley Ballas.

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

Meanwhile, BBC Two spin-off It Takes Two begins at 6:30PM on Monday night from September 25.

Last Saturday night saw the celebrities get their pro partners in the official launch, watched by over 9 million viewers.

The Strictly 2017 pairs start off with Mollie King & AJ Pritchard, Susan Calman & Kevin Clifton, Alexandra Burke & Gorka Marquez, Charlotte Hawkins & Brendan Cole and Ruth Langsford & Anton Du Beke.

More confirmed pairings from the launch show are Simon Rimmer & Karen Clifton, Chizzy Akudolu & Pasha Kovalev, Debbie McGee, & Giovanni Pernice, Gemma Atkinson & Aljaž Škorjanec and Aston Merrygold & Janette Manrara.

Finally, rounding off the pairs are Reverend Richard Coles & Dianne Buswell, Davood Ghadami & Nadiya Bychkova, Joe McFadden & Katya Jones, Jonnie Peacock & Oti Mabuse and Brian Conley & Amy Dowden.

But who will lift the glitterball come December?

Strictly Come Dancing 2017’s live shows begin Saturday, September 23 at 6:25PM.