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Thursday, 10 September 2009

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Strictly Come Dancing to go head to head with The X Factor

Shows will overlap by over an hour

Strictly Come Dancing is hosted by Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly

Strictly Come Dancing is to go up against The X Factor on Saturday nights.

The shows will overlap by 65 minutes now that the BBC has decided to schedule the latest series against the ITV programme.

Last year, Strictly started between 6pm and 7pm, which meant a clash was avoided.

But the first Saturday episode will now air live between 7.25pm and 9.05pm.

It puts it in direct competition with The X Factor, which starts at 8pm.

But the BBC - who've also announced plans to introduce a special Friday night episode for the first 2 weeks - have defended the move.

‘Strictly and X Factor have successfully co-existed on Saturday night for many years,’ a BBC spokesman tells The Guardian.

‘This year is no different. There is even more choice for viewers with Strictly launching on Friday and with an X Factor results show on Sunday.’

Strictly Come Dancing kicks off on BBC1 on Friday 18 September.

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