TV & Showbiz

ITV’s Dancing on Ice is being taken off the air after nearly two decades

Sorry to the bearers of bad news.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 27th March 2025

A UK TV staple looks to have come to an end after nearly 20 years as ITV appears to have axed, or at the very least shelved, their long-standing annual show, Dancing on Ice.

The celebrity ice-skating competition and reality programme started all the way back in 2006 and was a British favourite for a long time, especially during the heyday of X-Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, I’m A Celeb and the like.

However, following a slump over recent years, ITV has announced that Dancing on Ice will not be returning next year and could be seemingly be sidelined indefinitely.

Confirmed on Thursday, 27 March, just over a fortnight after Coronation Street star Sam Aston (Chesney Brown) won the 2025 final, it looks like you won’t be seeing celebs skating on ice again for some time.

Speaking to the Metro, a spokesperson for the broadcaster said in an official statement: “Following another successful series earlier this year, Dancing On Ice will be rested in 2026 with no current plans for another series.”

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dancing on ice finished ITV
The 2025 Dancing on Ice lineup (Credit: ITVX)

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the cast and crew who have worked on the show since 2006, and over the previous 17 series, for all of their hard work both on and off the ice.”

An average of just under three million viewers tuned into ITV1 live for the launch of the most recent show back in January, while approximately 3.6 million tuned in to watch the first episode last year.

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Presented by familiar famous faces, Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern, judged by ice skating legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, as well as dancing duo Ashley Banjo and Oti Mabuse – with previous hosts including Christine Lampard and Phillip Schofield – it’s been a mainstay for 19 years.

ITV has actually halted Dancing on Ice once before just over a decade ago, when the show was rested after its ninth season; the ‘first’ run ended with an all-star series, only for it to ultimately return to our screens just four years later in 2018.

Having now been cut short just 12 months short of its 20th anniversary, fans as well as former cast and crew members alike have been bidding it bittersweet goodbye:

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Radio and TV enthusiast Ryan Glendenning went on to add: “Also take a moment to acknowledge the hard work that went into Dancing on Ice from the pros, behind the scenes people, choreographers, judges and the celebs.

“Back in the Ray Quinn/Hayley Tamadon days, the show thrived – sadly, that’s not the case anymore. ITV killed this show!”

Dancing on Ice isn’t the only ITV product struggling with viewing figures of late, as even Corrie had to pause filming back in February following news of more cutbacks.

Were you a fan since day one? Are you gutted to see it go, or are you expecting it to make another comeback somewhere down the line?

Let us know in the comments.

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Featured Images — ITV (screenshot/press image)

TV & Showbiz

A first look into the highly-anticipated TV soap crossover ‘Corriedale’ has just dropped

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia

The wait is nearly over for TV soap fans, as producers behind the highly-anticipated ‘Corriedale’ crossover have just dropped an exclusive first look.

Whether you’re team Coronation Street or team Emmerdale, this show has all areas covered as it merges both the iconic TV soaps into an hour-long special.

When the news that Coronation Street and Emmerdale were teaming up for a special crossover episode back in May, it’s safe to say we didn’t quite believe it.

Now, it feels like Christmas has come early as pictures of two very distinctive cast members smiling next to each other while filming the crossover episode have been released.

In the newly-released images we can see Vicky Myers, known for playing the assertive and dedicated DS Lisa Swain, representing the Manchester-based production Coronation Street.

Vicky Myers (DS Lisa Swain) and Danny Miller (Aaron Dingle) pictured together ahead of upcoming TV soap crossover Corriedale / Credit: ITV Press Centre (Supplied)
Vicky Myers (DS Lisa Swain) and Danny Miller (Aaron Dingle) pictured together ahead of upcoming TV soap crossover Corriedale / Credit: ITV Press Centre (Supplied)
Vicky Myers (DS Lisa Swain) and Danny Miller (Aaron Dingle) pictured together ahead of upcoming TV soap crossover Corriedale / Credit: ITV Press Centre (Supplied)

Stood by her side is Danny Miller known for his role as the complex and vulnerable Aaron Dingle in Leeds-based hit soap Emmerdale.

Both can be seen on-set and are pictured in front of a white trailer filming for the upcoming Corriedale special.

Although the shows are set just a one hour’s drive away from each other, separated by The Pennines, this soap special marks the first time that characters from each drama will have ever crossed paths.

Most details for this soap crossover are being kept very tight-lipped although filming kicked off in September with this latest update marking the first-ever major cast announcement for Corriedale.

ITV Executive Producer for Continuing Drama Iain Macleod said: “It’s beyond exciting that filming is under way on Corriedale.

“There is a massive buzz around both the Leeds and Manchester sites and the images coming out of the shoot are utterly spectacular. And that’s before we’ve even got to all the brilliant transpennine interactions between characters from the different shows!

“As a soap fan myself, I think my head is going to explode when the episode airs next year. It will be mind-blowing, historical and unmissable.”

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Corriedale is coming to our TV screens in early 2026 and heralds the start of a new soap power hour with 30 minute episodes of both Coronation Street and Emmerdale to air every weekday.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images: ITV Press Centre (via Supplied)

TV & Showbiz

Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman to step down from Strictly Come Dancing

Danny Jones Danny Jones Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman stepping down from Strictly Come Dancing

Long-serving Strictly Come Dancing presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman have announced that they will be stepping down from the beloved reality TV competition after more than three decades between them.

The Strictly team will, of course, ‘keep dancing’, but this still feels like the end of an era.

While Claudia Winkleman only became a joint co-anchor back in 2010 in preparation for the legendary Sir Bruce Forsyth’s eventual retirement in 2014, Tess Daly has been one of the two lead presenters since the hit smash-hit UK show first started way back in 2004.

Boasting a cumulative and incredible 31 years as the respective lead faces on one of the nation’s favourite IPs, Daly and Winkleman released a joint video on their social media pages confirming the bittersweet news.

Writing in the caption on Instagram, the pair said: “We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream. We were always going to leave together, and now feels like the right time.

“We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series, and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show.

“They’re the most brilliant team, and we’ll miss them every day. We will cry when we say the last ‘keep dancing’, but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza.”

Although Winkleman, 53, began as the presenter of the spin-off programme ‘It Takes Two’, it now seems hard to imagine the main show without either of them.

Confirming that they will be departing the British telly favourite at the end of the current series, which is around a month into its 23rd series.

Daly, 56, went on to share a further statement addressing the decision to quit the Strictly lineup after such a lengthy stay on BBC One.

It goes without saying that, much like when ‘Brucey’ left 11 years ago now, the show just won’t be the same without them.

For now, all we can say is thanks for all the memories, and we’d better see them back in the ballroom or popping up for special cameos in Blackpool again one day soon.

What do you make of the announcement, Strictly fans – and who do you think should replace them?

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Featured Images — BBC Media Centre/Screenshot (via BBC)

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